Vitre or Fougeres or Saint-Malo: If you had time to stop in one of these towns in Brittany, for a few hours mid-day, which one would you choose?
Posted by
87 posts
Have stayed in St. Malo but not the others. I loved St. Malo. We wandered around the old town after dinner and were totally captivated. I am sure a stroll during the day would be great too!
Posted by
Washington DC
27122 posts
There was a huge difference in the tourist load in those cities for me in 2017. St-Malo's historic center was so packed with obviously-foreign tourists that I wanted to escape rapidly. I don't remember encountering any other tourists in Vitre of Fougeres. I don't know how the parking challenges would compare.
Posted by
424 posts
Gotta go with acraven on this one. Either Vitre or Fougeres would be an excellent choice for a mid-day visit, way easier to get in and out of…less crowded is always better. St Malo was almost totally destroyed in 1944.
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10196 posts
Vitre or Fougères.
If it were way off season, yes for St. Malo, but it has gotten so overrun that the residents are up-in-arms.
Posted by
Paris
6901 posts
Fougères if coming from Normandy/ Mont Saint Michel, Vitré if coming from Le Mans/Loire Valley. They're both quite interesting so I'd choose according to routing convenience.
St Malo is pretty but it never "wowed" me (it's a good launch pad for the coast, IMO), and yet my last visits pre-date the post-2015 tourism rush.