We are headed to Brittany at the end of August

We toured the interesting Cathar castles and their ruins from our base in beautiful Collioure on the Mediterranean coast.

I assume you will be visiting the replica of the Chauvet cave in Pont d'Arc -- really wonderful. Also plan to get canoes and play in the water below the Pont d'Arc (we saw dogs enjoying the water there as well). I had an arm in a cast and couldn't go in -- really sad about that as it looked very fun. The valley of the Arc is beautiful; be sure to stop at every view point along the way -- some of the most stunning scenery we have seen.

For Brittany -- we spent several days in St. Malo and loved it -- you can visit Dinan by boat from there as well as Dinard (we didn't do that one). There are a number of really good restaurants there -- be sure to reserve a day ahead at least as the good ones are tiny and book up. There are lots of tourist trappy places you won't want.

We wanted to see the Neolithic sites near Carnac and I didn't want to drive and my husband can't, so I booked a private guide through http://visite.bretagne.free.fr/index.php/en/home.html. This was terrific. Samuel our guide picked us up at our hotel and took us to the sites we wanted to see. If you are driving you could do these sites on your own.

We really enjoyed Brittany. THe megaliths at Carnac were interesting and the beach in Carnac was lovely for a picnic. We stayed overnight in Locronan and were completely enchanted by the quaint town. It was a peaceful and beautiful place to wander around. We stayed in a modest inn that had a wonderful restaurant. We spent a couple hours nearby in Douarnenez and had a picnic on beautiful beach. Quimper is a bigger town famous for beautiful, Breton, hand painted pottery. it was a little too big and busy for us, but we had a fine time walking around in the old town for a few hours. We drove along the coast at Cote de Granit Rose and Cote D'Emeraude. We absolutely loved the 40s feeling resort town of Dinard. We walked along the coast with views of Saint-Malo for several miles. It was spectacular. From Dinard we visited both Dinan and Saint-Malo. Walking the walls around Saint-Malo was fun and the views were stunning. I was happy we stayed in quieter Dinard vs. Saint-Malo. From there we went to Mont Saint Michel. We were there at the end of September and the weather was lovely.

I heartily recommended Rick’s “backdoor” village of Cucugnan to visit the Cathar region. Auberge du Vigneron is a great small hotel with an excellent restaurant- try the cassoulet! Wander through the town and pick up some baked goods from the bakery located in the base of the windmill that grinds its flour. It’s a unique experience in a lovely place.

I enjoyed day-trips to the inland towns of Fougeres and Vitre, where I think I was the only American tourist. For a city break, Rennes is worthwhile.

Fougeres is on the top of my list. Planned to visit it 4 years ago but timing and a wonderful detour to Saint Ceneri le Gerei made us skip it on our way to Mont St. Michel. As we did more research on places the forum recommended we came across the Dolmen near Fougeres (near Esse). Has anyone visited it? Thoughts?