Starting to organize Brittany - August 2027

If those "3 or 4 nights" are intended for Brittany, it will be difficult to accomplish everything you have planned without "running around all over the place." You might consider extending your stay to at least 7 nights (6 full days).

While there may be 1 or 2 Brittany, most prehistoric caves featuring paintings are located further south, in the Dordogne region.

Be sure to look for accommodations well in advance if you want a good selection, August is the busiest month of the year.

On our trip 10 years ago, we started in Brest (sorry, but I don’t recall exactly where we stayed or ate), then picked up our rental car there, and worked our way south.

For your husband’s megalithic interest, an essential, must-see sight is in Carnac - row after row after row of perfectly aligned stones, disappearing into the distance. It’s absolutely stunning.

On the way there. we spent a couple of nights in Pont-Aven, renowned for being a major center of artists, like Gauguin, who gathered there in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. We were even there for fireworks the night of Bastille Day, July 14.

We also really, really enjoyed our stay in Quimper (aka Kemper in Breton). Our stay included seeing the parade and musical events of Breton culture at the Festival de Cornouaille that happens in late July.

Josselin has a fairy-tale castle, and was worth a visit one day. Our time-out “vacation from our vacation” was in Concarneau.

We didn’t see Rennes, or go as far south as Nantes, so I can’t offer a suggestion for them. We rented and returned our car in Brest, so heading back north, we went up to the Granite Rose coast, with its stunning pink boulders and cliffs. You could include this on your way to/from Brest and St. Malo, or the area around Trégastel could be another chilling-out location.

I was in Brittany this past February, starting in Rennes for one night (yes, worth it), then rented a car (our first rental in Europe, as we usually take trains; went very well), basing out of Dinan. I generally prefer moving around more but this worked best for this trip. We did day trips to MSM, St. Malo, Josselin and Vannes (where it was raining SO hard, we couldn’t get out of the car, even with umbrellas! Such is Brittany in February!). It was a great trip overall and we loved staying in Dinan, which I would encourage you to check out. MSM was our favourite outing. While I very much hope you enjoy St. Malo, for me, it was my least favourite place. It felt claustrophobic, totally lacking in authenticity and just had a weird vibe for me. Others, however, seem to love it.

Good luck with your planning!

We did 4 nights in St. Malo and used one to bus to Dinan (there would be a boat in August), boated to Dinard, and walked to St Servan. We spent one night near Carnac on the way back to Paris and hired a private guide to take us to neolithic sites which was wonderful. Here are some snapshots of the neolithic sites we visited. St. Malo and St Servan
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/category/brittany/

I'd plan to have at least a day for the neolithic stones. With a car you would not need a guide and you could easily do Mont St. Michel -- but I'd add a little time - there is so much.

Not 3-4 nights total - but 3-4 nights in the St. Malo neck of the woods then onward. Thinking a total of 8 nights.

We have been to the Dordogne - twice! (He loves those caves!). Definitely have the Cairn on our list.

Will be writing down all suggestions!

Between Brest and Quimper is the small town of Locronan. Very beautiful. During the summer they do a night market and is very interesting.

Between Rennes and Brest is the Valley of the Saints. You could pack a picnic and stop there while traveling.

In Nantes there is Les machines de líle. It is a site that has some incredible "puppets". Very different and worth a look.

I have an affinity for Nantes. It was an industrial ship-building city (and darkly was one of the leading French slave trade centers). It fell upon hard times and has re-invented itself as a city of arts. There are numerous quirky public art installations. "The Green Line" is a walking path through the city that connects many of the art installations as well as historic areas, marked by a green line painted onto the streets.

The city center is very vibrant, with a youthful energy. Maybe a little rough around the edges in places, although I never felt uncomfortable anywhere. There are many public spaces, with city sponsored concerts and other events.

Culturally it has one foot in Brittany, but it is administratively separate now, and is the administrative center of the Loire-Atlantique. We stayed there first as the capstone of our Loire Valley trip, which I think worked well after spending time around the rather genteel Loire Valley towns. It's only a little over 2 hours away from Paris on the TGV.

I don't know that I would recommend it as a detour from a Brittany focused trip. But if you end up with a flight out of Nantes you could easily spend a day exploring the green line, the Jardin des Plantes, the famous mechanical elephant, the Memorial of the Abolition of Slavery, etc..

Yes Rennes is worth at least a day. I don't know anything about South of there, but St. Malo, Dinan and MSM are all wonderful. DInard can be done easily via a short ferry from Saint-Malo—particularly if you are spending a couple of nights there—and is worth it.

We really liked Dinan...worth a couple of days on it's own. St Malo is not far... it is possible to take a ferry from Dinan. Be aware that St Malo can be very busy, it is a major cruise port. Sanchez is the best ice cream vendor in all of France.
Dolmens, menihrs and alignments are all over. Try to get to any of the islands. No matter how many nites you have you'll need more!
Brad

We stayed in Bretagne Feb-Mar and visited a lot of the area.

1) Brest is not much worth a visit - flattened during WWII
2) We stayed near Quimper. That area is very nice - Concarneau, Pont l'Abbey, Pont Aven, Benodet - all charming.
3) The Valley of the Saints is very interesting - hundreds of sculptures of various saints
4) The Grail Church in Tréhorenteuc in the center of Bretagne is great. I loved it - a melange of Christian, Arthur, and pagan images - many French persons believe that the Arthur events took place in France
5) In Bretagne, there are many churches called "enclose parishes". They have a church, are walled, have an ossuary, and have a calvaire. These are outdoor sculptures showing the life of Jesus, which allowed those not baptised who could not enter the church to learn about Jesus. There are 7 "monumental calvaires" which have many figures - more than 100. I can recall no other place in France with such sculptural monuments. Morlaix is a center of such churches with Landerneau at the other end of the circuit.
6) The drink is cider - alcohol at beer strength. Lots and lots of cideries.
7) My wife dreams of the butter.
8) Gallettes are buckwheat pancakes. Also koign amman are Bretagne pastries. That's where all the butter is.
9) Interesting places on the N coast W of St Malo include Roscoff (home of the rose onions), Chateau de La Roche Goyon, Dinan. We visited St Malo and Dinan, but did not find that much to do there. Perhaps if we stayed longer ...
10) Many place names begin with "Plo"
11) Bretagne is very agricultural, and in the middle, that's what there is - lots of farms and cows. There are a lot of very small towns.

Fly into St. Malo, out from Nantes. As others have noted Nantes is not part of Bretagne, but was years ago. I would do longer rather than shorter.

We greatly enjoyed restaurants in Roscoff (Le local), Benodet (Le cafe du Port), Penmarch (Cafe Kerity), Douarnenez (La moussette). Of course, it's not difficult to find good restaurants. We like less expensive places. Lots of fishy restaurants - Bretagne has a long coast, and working fishermen.

Visiting in August you will find crowds. Can you go in late September or early October?

koign amman (say “queen ah-mahn”)

The best! It’s a turbocharged cinnamon roll on steroids.

It has not been very long since Nantes ceased to be part of Brittany; this change took place in 1941, during the German occupation, under the government of Philippe Pétain. Furthermore, the Breton language was once spoken in the western part of the Loire-Atlantique department, as evidenced by local place names. Names such as Penhoët, Le Pouliguen, Mesquer, and Guérande are all Breton names that have been adapted into French. All the small ports along this coast possess a distinctly Breton atmosphere—for instance, one might visit Batz-sur-Mer, Le Croisic, Piriac, or La Turballe. However, this stretch of coast becomes very crowded during the summer. I have visited the Barnenez cairn; it is somewhat off the beaten path, but well worth a visit if you have an interest in prehistory. That said, it is not a cathedral, so the explanations provided by a guide are necessary. Megaliths can be found absolutely everywhere in Brittany. Near Penmarch (in southern Finistère), you can visit the garden of the prehistory museum; although the museum itself has closed, the megaliths remain in the garden. In southern Finistère, you can also see the megaliths at Poullan and Lesconil.

I found Barnenez cairn to be underwhelming. If you are tailoring your trip around these types of sites I recommend Gavrinis over Barnenez cairn.

Yes, me too—though it must be said that some guides manage to lend a certain grandeur to the site, which is lovely in its own right, given its proximity to the sea and its view over the Bay of Morlaix. It’s a spot that’s actually very little known, even among the Bretons themselves.

Not answering your questions here but…
Before we went to St Malo I listened to this episode https://share.google/kzhWCZ1Ny9mtHzfUr from the podcast Join Us In France titled “ All the Light We Cannot See and Saint-Malo”. I loved the book so following the “map” of places referred to in the book was a lot of fun especially when we found the sea grotto.

Wow...amazing replies - I'm saving every single idea. Right now, I'm wrapping my brain around a route...we have to fly in from Cambridge and the nearest airport is Stansted. That gives us one non-stop option: to Nantes. The idea is 11 nights.

Fly Cambridge to Nantes airport. Pick up a car and drive North to St. Malo region. Stay min 4 nights. The drive west 'toward' Brest (a few different stops/overnights) and, at the end, drive to Rennes...do a last day there. Drop car at airport and do a 2 flight on either Air France or KLM back to NYC (either through Paris or Amsterdam).

Thoughts?

FWIW, this is how we spent 10 nights in Brittany in September of 25. We picked up a car at the Rennes train station. From there, we drove to a guesthouse just outside of Paimpol. Called Le Cornec. We had a lovely four night stay here. It’s within walking distance to the ferry for Ile de Brehat. We also did hikes along the Pink Granite Coast and another closer to Briec. From there, we spent a halfway in Tréguier while doing laundry and then drove onward to the Crozon Peninsula. We stayed four nights in Morgat along the harbor. We mostly hiked here, but did a day trip to Morlaix. We then drove to Quimper and dropped the car off. Spent two nights there. It’s a pleasant city with some great restaurants, but we missed being on the coast. From there, we took the train back to Paris.

I'm just organising a similar trip for next May, but taking our own car on the ferry to Caen (first night).
Then we are driving to Nantes (2 nights), as I want to see the Grand Elephant.
After that, St Nazaire for the submarine pens, and Carnac for the megaliths.
Then three nights in Quimper, with day trips to heritage railways, Valley of the Saints and other delights still to be decided.
Then three nights in St Malo, before the ferry back to Portsmouth.
On site car parking is important for us, due to mobility issues ( we are in our 70s). Book hotels well in advance if this is important to you.

In preparation for your trip I highly recommend the detective mysteries written by Jean-Luc Bannalec. There are a dozen books taking place all over Brittany and featuring Commissaire Georges Dupin. Halfway through the series I realized that the hotels and restaurants featured in the stories are real. The author conveys his deep respect and affection for all things Breton and makes me hungry for the delicious meals he describes. I’ve only visited Brittany once for ten days and look forward to returning for more exploring and eating.

Yes, the Brittany mysteries are a lot of fun. Amazingly, they are written by a German. We visited the Grail Church in Bretagne, and then I reread the "King Arthur case". So much fun to read after having been there.

ebean,
We have family who live in Bretagne and the Bannalec books are very accurate re the Bretons and their "ways". Reading them will put you in the mood for Bretagne, as well as watching the Agathe Koltes TV series (I have seen them on Acorn TV and PBS). Enjoy yourselves!

ebean,
Brittany has several festivals in August, beginning in late July through mid-August. Earliest in Lorient, then Vannes, then Concarneau. Also Guingamp and the Crozon peninsula. Lots of cultural and historical celebrations. Check out the tourist websites for schedules.