Vannes and/or Rennes

I stayed a few nites in Vannes. It was ok, no complaints, but if I was going back to the area I'd probably try somewhere else, Although this isn't to say there is something wrong with Vannes or that it wouldn't be a good base.

There is an old-town area to visit and the castle grounds are nicely maintained. At night, though, this area was pretty quiet. In fact the whole town seemed quiet at nite. I was staying on a hotel near a larger road and during the day there was a lot of traffic and I was wondering if I'd be disturbed by the road noise at night, but at 7pm or so it was as if someone flipped a switch. There were literally no cars out at all! Perhaps the norm is for people in smaller towns to be home at nite. The old town was pretty dead in the evening; a few restaurants were open, but you didn't see people walking around the area; personally it felt a little spooky to be walking down narrow empty streets alone at night. The action is down at the harbor, with a number of restaurants facing the water with outdoor seating and those were busy. Vannes is not actually on the gulf, though, from the harbor a channel leads eventually to a mini-bay (see a map online). So if I was going again I'd look for a town that is actually on the bay, but that's just my preference

I also stayed in Rennes and thought it was great! More to do and see, a medieval core, museums, plenty of restaurants.

What Bill said makes a lot of sense. Rennes is a larger city (>200k), while Vannes is about 50k. It's like comparing my town in OR, which is a college town of a little over 50k with Portland. Definitely quieter at night here and not quite as much to do; we have a nice little downtown area of a few square blocks, a few theater and music venues and OSU activities. Portland has several live theaters and music venues, museums, a zoo, and lots of varied nightlife.

The nice thing about even the larger cities in Europe is that so many of them have wonderfully preserved compact historic city centers, something we lack over here. Both of these towns are nice to visit and you'll find interesting and historic things to see and do in either of them. A lot would depend on whether you are going to be driving out of your way, off your planned itinerary, just to see a particular city or if there are several sights in the area that you want to see when there or on the way to them.

I liked them both, but I think most people would like Rennes. I preferred Vannes, but was there during some sort of boating festival and the harbor area was jumping every night (lots of drinking, oysters, young people etc.)

You can decide for yourself what you want to see and do in either city:
http://en.tourisme-vannes.com/discover
http://www.tourisme-rennes.com/en

It depends on the period you are going to Bretagne. If it is during winter / early spring, probably you would feel Rennes more interesting, Vannes would be too quiet. It also depends on your interests : for example if you'd like to ride a bike or go hiking, there are very pleasant paths right from Vannes, next to the gulf of Morbihan.

I really enjoyed Vannes. It has a larger than expected medieval center, mostly restaurants and shopping now, adjacent to a large port area with more cafes. Vannes is convenient to Carnac and other prehistory sights as well as the Gulf of Morbihan. I'm not a huge nightlife person, I choose to take advantage of daylight and see as much as I can rather than stay up late and sleep in. Unless I have something specific planned, my day usually ends after a long dinner at an open air cafe, for which Vannes was great. I chose not to visit Rennes, primarily because it's away from the sea and Brittany is a sea focused part of France.