Where to stop for a night between St. Malo and Amboise

Is a 4h 15m drive too long for you?

@MaryPat: it kind of is! Especially if I am driving a decent amount every day. My back starts to hurt, and equally importantly as I am on vacation, I do not enjoy it whatsoever.

Going via Rennes either way, it's about 3.5 hrs nonstop if you go by way of Le Mans, or a few minutes longer by way of Angers. Look them up and see which one might be of interest for lunch and a bit of sightseeing. I'm not sure I'd do an overnight stop in either, given how short the drive is to Amboise, but if you have no time constraints, then again, see which one appeals to you more.

Make sure you take anything valuable with you if parking the car. Leave nothing in view in the interior. Have everything else out of sight in the trunk BEFORE you park. If possible, park with the back end against a wall or fence. Or park in a guarded parking lot.

@CJean I'm worried I will end up with a hatchback. I'd be open to baggage storage but I'm assuming it would be physically hard to get the bags from parking to wherever that is, so it probably isn't an option.

Hatchbacks have luggage covers. Never had a missing luggage cover in France (unlike the US, where there seems to be always missing in rental SUVs). Also, NW France is generally a low-risk area for theft. I would have no qualms parking a car with luggage inside in Fougères. Perhaps just don't open the trunk at your parking spot to not show what's inside.

Le Mans is great and the Best Western right at the edge of the old town is really very nice (French Best Westerns usually are) and has a parking lot.

Can you define unsafe, as in "Nantes (sounded potentially unsafe?". I've never thought of Nantes as particularly wild west, and wouldn't hesitate to visit. It's certainly no more unsafe than St Malo or Amboise.

Luggage management comes down to individual hotels and access to your rooms rather than the towns they're in.

Personally I'd drive in one day, and chose an attraction near le Mans to stop at for lunch and a walk around.

I spent several nights in Nantes in 2019 and never felt the least bit unsafe. It's a good-sized city; I suppose there might be an iffy suburb somewhere. However, Rennes and Fougeres are also nice, and there have been positive comments about Le Mans from folks here. I found St-Malo terribly touristy in 2017, but others like it a lot; if you can overlook all the other visitors, the historic center is very attractive.

Hi all -- sorry for the delay in responding. I am sure Nantes is perfectly safe for a quick visit, and I overreacted to some articles I found online. Happens when I spend too many hours planning. As it stands, though, it is not exactly on the way, so I probably will be skipping it. I have to give some thought as to whether I want to drive through or spend the night. As I don't enjoy driving and eventually it hurts my back, if I do drive through, I probably won't take the scenic route, but may want to stop somewhere and walk around, so maybe Fougeres and/or Le Mans may be the best for that, I will have to review them more closely.

This is a frustrating planning experience because every time I make a decision like this, it prevents me from booking the next hotel and the next because I don't know the dates.

My current plan (kind of can't believe I am saying this) is to pick up the car in Caen the day after I arrive at Bayeux and keep it all the way through my trip until Dijon, return it in Dijon and take a train back to Paris.

As of right now, it looks like this:

Night 1 - land in Paris, train to Bayeux
Night 2-3 - pick up car, stay in Bayeux, D-day tour, explore Normandy/Honfleur, etc.
Night 4-5 - St. Malo, explore Brittany
Night 6 - Mont St. Michel
Night 7-9 or 10 - Amboise/Loire Valley
Night 10 or 11-13 - Dijon or Beaune/Burgundy
Night 14 - CDG

I have that extra night somewhere, I suppose maybe it goes better in Normandy or Brittany, I don't know! It should probably go with the longest drive or the place that is nicest to stay.