Traveling from London to Brittany

Flying to either Rennes or Nantes should be reasonable options. Try www.skyscanner.com to search for those and then www.voyages-sncf.com to see train ticket prices. Or the Deutsche Bahn link at Looking Up Train Schedules and Routes Online gives schedules but doesn't sell tickets.

You could take the train from London to Paris to Lorient

You could fly from Gatwick or Luton to Nantes.

You could fly from Gatwick or Southend (or maybe at a pinch even Southampton) to Rennes

and if you use the UK version of http://www.eurostar.com/uk-en

you can book tickets all the way to Lorient in one go

Neil, maybe it doesn't seem relevant to your question, but we can't tell if you're starting from London or arriving from the U.S. You left off your home from your visible profile. For example, having to change airports in London vicinity ...

Ryanair fees and annoyances aside, the it's not an easy route to follow, except by direct air. Make sure about whether you have to change rail stations in London, which would be a deal-breaker for me. We needed a car in Brittany/Normandy, so we drove from previous stops in the Loire.

We certainly saw constant ferry activity in St. Malo, but I don't fancy riding the waves in the English Channel. And of course, London is not the departure point. Do you have any interest in including a Channel Island in your itinerary? You could fly there and ferry to France, a less grueling boat voyage. I believe this part of France has the same climate as southern England.

Thank you all for the replies. Different ways to get there.

@Tim - We will leaving London and heading to Brittany. I have a friend who lives near Lorient (Étel) so we are looking at the most convenient way to travel to that region.

There are other options. Train from London to Portsmouth and then the ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo. Don't worry about the crossing, I've taken ferries across to France and back many times and only once was the crossing rough enough to cause me sickness. My solution was to forget about the crate of beer and rent a cabin for the remainder of the journey to sleep.

http://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/ferry-routes/ferries-france/portsmouth-st-malo

The overnight ferry from Portsmouth is always good fun. They put on a disco and there's a real party atmosphere although of course there are quieter areas of the ship to relax in.

If the reason for travelling to Brittany is WWII related then an extended visit to Portsmouth would be a good option. A visit to the Historic Dockyard, Royal Marines Museum and D-Day Museum are all worthwhile and are all within walking distance of each other. Dinner in Gunwharf prior to the ferry and you'll have the perfect start to your trip to France.

There are also ferries from Poole to St. Malo by way of the Channel Islands, but they'd make sense only for someone interested in the islands.

I got very queasy on a Channel ferry back in 1975 and had to pop a quick Dramamine. I'm hoping stabilizers have improved since then, because I'm going to repeat that experience in a couple of days.

Get to Portsmouth to catch the ferry to St Malo. In 1987 I took the ferry from Folkestone to Boulogne. I didn't know about Portsmouth then.