Located on the northwest coast of France, Brittany is best known for jazzy stripes, military history, and old-world architecture. However, hiring a car and exploring this region can soon get expensive. So, here’s how to explore Brittany without a car.
Where to stay
Finding a decent base to explore Brittany is super important. You want a city that’s big enough to have a bus and train station, but not so big that accommodation gets expensive.
Luckily for me, my friend Ruth works as an English teacher in the beautiful city of Rennes. so this was the ideal base for me. Ruth and her partner, Vasea, showed me around the region, so many of these tips and tricks are down to them!
As Rennes is a university town, there are plenty of affordable options to check out on Hostelworld and on Booking.com if you’re not lucky enough to have a friend in the city to crash with!
Getting to Brittany
While there is an airport in Rennes itself, the most common place to fly into for Brittany is Nantes. There are cheap flights from all around the world to this airport and it’s only a short bus or train ride into Rennes from here.
Alternatively, you can fly directly into Paris and jump on a three-hour bus or train across to the region from the city centre. Flights are often cheaper in Paris, but the rail prices can make this not only a longer option but a more expensive one.
Public Transport in Brittany
The main ways to get around in Brittany are by rail or by public bus. Although my default platform for both trains and buses is usually Omio, in Brittany as in much of France, the SCNF app rules above all.
I’d recommend downloading this app and setting it up before you arrive in France so that you can sort out your airport transfers ahead of time.
As we were staying in Rennes, it was super easy to find your way around as the train and bus station are in the same place, and accessible from the metro stations that are dotted all around the city.
There are several different bus and train stations that operate in this area, so make sure you jump on the right one as certain tickets won’t work on certain operators. You can also use operators like Flixbus or BlaBlaBus, and even BlaBlaCar which is a carpool part of the BlaBla family.
Where to visit on public transport
Although there are plenty of amazing places to visit in Brittany and neighbouring Normandy by train or bus, here are the places that we visited during my four-day visit.
Vannes
If you want to feel like you’re in a French fairytale, you need to visit Vannes. We took a direct bus from Rennes and it took around 1hr30 to get there. There are also direct trains that take 40 minutes but the price difference was pretty steep for a day trip!
While wandering around the picturesque streets and cobblestone alleyways of Vannes is often entertainment enough, the pretty much constant rain meant we needed a plan B.
For a cheap and dry thing to do in Vannes, head to the Musée des Beaux Arts de Vannes. This beautiful art museum is cheap, costs around five Euros, is central and has a range of rotating exhibits, which keeps things interesting. There are also plenty of interactive displays and films with the artists which is a cool touch.
As with many towns and cities in Brittany, Vannes is also home to some beautiful churches and medieval city walls, that are well worth a visit – come rain or shine!
Mont St. Michel
Let’s be honest, no trip to Brittany or Normandy is complete without a trip to the famous walled town of Mont. St. Michel. While it’s changed hands over the years and is currently located in Normandy, it’s such a convenient day trip that it has to be included!
A direct bus from Rennes to Mont St. Michel that takes just over an hour. However, this brings you to the Mont St. Michel car park, rather than the town itself. From here, you’ll jump on the free shuttle that comes every 10 minutes or so.
It’s worth noting down the times of the shuttles coming back to the car park, especially towards the end of the day as they get really full and the queues are insane. We ended up speedwalking around a mile and a half back to the car park due to the huge queues.
Mont St. Michel itself is obviously a beautiful walled town and abbey with amazing views across the bay. It is also one of the most touristy places in France. Prices here are at a premium, so prepare yourself before you visit.
You’ll find tons of souvenir shops and galleries all around the mount, but honestly, you can get most of these things in any town in Brittany or Normandy, and the prices are hiked right up for the captive audience.
However, if you splurge on one thing here, it has to be the mussels. You can see them hauling them in from the bay, so they are some of the freshest mussels you’re ever going to eat! Of course, a glass of local wine or cider doesn’t go amiss either…
Rennes
So, the city centre of Rennes is highly walkable, and with the timbered buildings and cobbled streets, it’s a wonderful place to just aimlessly wander.
However, if you find yourself staying further out, or just don’t fancy ranking up over 20,000 steps a day, like I did, the Rennes metro system is super easy to use and really affordable.
There are two main lines that overlap in a few key places but it runs until around 1am in the morning. You simply tap your card at the barrier to get on and off the train.
Price-wise, it’s a little weird. When you first tap in the morning, your card gets authorised for a full-day ticket (around 4.70 Euros) and then you’ll be refunded if you use less than that amount at the end of the day.
Single tickets cost 1.70 Euros and last up to one hour from when you first tap into the system. So if you’re only on a short adventure or just need to pop out for coffee and back and can do it within an hour, the whole trip is just 1.70.
Nantes
As one of the biggest cities in the region, Nantes is a great day trip from Rennes and only takes 1hr15 on a direct train.
We jumped on the train the day I flew home as it was an evening flight, and ended up basically being on every form of transport that day…
Once we arrived in Nantes, we checked out the insanely cool Les Machines de l’Île. Basically, it’s a huge warehouse filled with mechanical automatons that mimic animal movements and are shown off by expert guides. The headliner? A giant elephant that you can ride.
After that, we jumped on the tram and headed to the harbour for a quick visit to the Trentemoult neighbourhood. Characterised by the colourful buildings, river views, and unique boutiques and restaurants, this neighbourhood is a calm and charming place to visit if you need to get out of the hubbub of the main city.
To get back out to the airport from Nantes city centre, simply jump on the shuttle bus which costs 10 Euros each. For reference, an Uber or taxi costs around 30 Euros so if there are three of you, it’s worth the convenience of a taxi.
As a pro tip, you need to double-check where the shuttle leaves from. On the way into the city, it stops right outside the train station, but on the way to the airport, the bus stop is around the corner by the river!
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