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Prefecture and commune in Brittany, France
Photo: Tango7174, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Rennes is the chief city of Brittany in northwest France. It's mostly modern and industrial, but has many grand 18th and 19th century buildings, and survivors of earlier times. It's also well-endowed with cultural attractions. In 2020 the city population was 222,485, with about 150,000 more living in the wider metropolis.
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Large museum of Breton culture, in its present futuristic building since 2006. There's also material from the infamous trial of Alfred Dreyfus, held in the nearby Lycée in 1899.
This was built ever so slowly from the 12th century, and was still unfinished when it began collapsing in 1754. They decided to demolish it and build afresh in neo-classical style, and this took until 1845. It was renovated from 2009 to 2015.
This extensive museum was established in 1794, stocking artwork confiscated from churches. It later came to house the private collection of Christophe-Paul de Robien (1698–1756), a president of the Parlement de Bretagne. Its highlights are its 17th century paintings, and works of the Pont-Aven school led by Gauguin.
A large park in the northeast of the city. It was originally a monastery orchard, confiscated during the Revolution, and laid out as public gardens. Today it includes a formal French garden, an English-style landscape garden, and a botanical garden with an extensive rose garden.
Contemporary art gallery: Frac stands for "Fonds régionaux d’art contemporain".
An ice rink with public and sport skating, lessons and skate hire.
They play soccer in Ligue 1, the French top tier, and often qualify for European tournaments. The stadium, capacity 29,778, is 4 km west of the city centre off ring-road N136.
Concert hall and event space on an industrial estate west edge of the city.
Cinema festival that each year focuses on a different world city.
About music, story and song.
Student rock festival, with Solex powered bicycles loosely involved.
Art festival with many shows and installations in public spaces.
Summer festival.
A music festival named after a rock group that reinvigorated Breton folk music in the 1980s; the name means "the young ones". It's now a music festival in November.
Rencontres trans musicales
Popular bakery, good choice of bread, cakes, cookies, viennoiseries (puff pastry) and croissants.
Crêpes and other Breton home cooking.
Great value cafe.
Friendly cafe-bar for the lunchtime office crowd.
Good crêperie near the university library.
Wood-fired wraps and kebabs, in, er, Korean style?
Burger place with halal and vegetarian choices.
Small organic cafe with vegetarian and vegan options.
French cuisine with seasonal menus.
Quality French cuisine, friendly service.
Enthusiastic reviews for this inexpensive chain, aiming for cuisine like Mama used to make.
A long-standing favourite crêperie in the square.
Buzzing cafe-bar, sometimes has live music.
Fine dining with fresh seasonal ingredients.
Excellent restaurant (Michelin 1-star) creatively blending French and Far-Eastern. The chef is Julien Lemarié.
Rave reviews for this restaurant (Michelin 1-star), where the chef is Virginie Giboire.
Outstanding restaurant (Michelin 1-star) worth coming the extra distance, the chef is Ronan Kervarrec. They also have rooms.
Superb restaurant (Michelin 1-star), trad French with eclectic influences, the chef is Sylvain Guillemot.
L'heure du jeu means "play time" and they have over 1000 board and card games. There's another branch in Anatole France district to the northwest.
Relaxing cafe-bar with hot chocolate and board games.
Popular Irish pub in the square facing Parliament, friendly anglophone staff and live TV sport.
Friendly central cafe-bar.
Late-night cocktail bar in vaulted cellars.
Great selection of draught beers, mostly Belgian, a good way to wash down your saucisson.
Late bar where a dinky toy train delivers your shots.
Another Irish pub, smaller and less touristy than the others.
Large music venue with three stages.
Large parkland site northeast edge of city and open year-round, mostly clean and well-run, some guests inconsiderate.
Friendly youth hostel by the canal, open mid-Jan to mid-Dec.
formerly Venezia Hotel
Chic friendly hostel near city centre.
Standard Ibis chain hotel, helpful staff.
Tiny rooms, no parking, but very convenient for station.
Comfy convenient budget hotel.
Accor mid-price chain hotel, good scores for comfort and service, but the a/c is inadequate on hot days.
Friendly comfy hotel off Place Republique.
Cosy hotel near old town centre, some noise from nearby bars.
By train
Trains run hourly from Paris Montparnasse, taking 90 min nonstop to Rennes.
By bus
Blablacar runs eight times a day from Paris (Bercy-Seine), taking 4-5 hours via Le Mans. In 2023 an adult single is about €35. There's one direct service daily from Paris CDG Airport.
By road
From Paris follow A10 / A11 west past Chartres to Le Mans then A81 past Laval.
By public transport
Star is the city transport system, with 50 bus lines and two Metro (VAL and Neo VAL) lines. The hub for these is the mainline railway and intercity bus station Gares.
By bike
Rennes has plenty of cycle lanes, and for a pleasant excursion follow the canal.
By car
Avoid using a car in city centre: many routes are barred to private vehicles, and parking is scarce and expensive.
Choose an airport to see hotels, stations, taxi ranks and car rental desks around it.
Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande, Ille-et-Vilaine · Regional · RNS
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