Rennes is the capital city of Brittany, France. Rennes is not often mentioned on tourist guides but this medium size town is well worth a visit. It has a bit more than 200,000 inhabitants, of which about 60,000 are students. This gives the town a vibrant night life. Some streets, such as the Rue Saint Michel, have only one type of shop on both sides: Bars!
Rennes is particularly nice in early July, during the "Festival des Tombées de la Nuit". Its streets are then full of people enjoying the free street entertainment and eating or drinking at the terraces of the restaurants and cafés.
A stroll down Rue Saint Michel on a Friday or Saturday evening is a very interesting experience indeed. However, if you're really in the mood to "faire la fête", celebrate or just have fun in other words, the most exciting night on "Rue de la Soif" would be the "Jeudi Soir", Thursday nights, during the school year. Jeudi Soir is the night when bars are most often packed to the brim with students. The sights on Thursday nights out on the town are very memorable and interesting.
PLACE TO VISIT
The Parlement de Bretagne - is arguably the most famous 17th century building in Rennes. It was rebuilt after a terrible fire in 1994 caused by a flare launched by a protester during a demonstration. It houses the Rennes Court of Appeals.
Thabor - This park has a stunning collection of plantlife, including a large bed of hundreds of species of roses, tropical, African and European trees, other beautiful and rare plants, and offers the traveller a chance to see some budgies. There are cages with a dozen of different sorts of small colourful birds. To get to Parc Thabor from Republique station, take bus number 3 (direction St. Laurent) and get off at the Thabor stop. Or you can simply walk northestwards, it's 10 minutes away.
Mont Saint-Michel - is a granite island located north-eastward of Rennes in the region of Basse-Normandie. It's the 3rd most visited monument in France, which will be under restoration until 2012. The main part of the island is the abbey of Mt St Michel.
Les Champs Libres - is a building on Esplanade Charles de Gaulle designed by the architect Christian de Portzamparc that houses the Brittany Museum (Musée de Bretagne), regional library Bibliothèque de Rennes Métropole on six levels and a Espace des Sciences science centre with a planetarium.
Fest-Noz - A translation could be Festival of the night. It is a traditional ball where all generations meet and listen traditional music, drink beer or chouchen, and dance on breton music. Most of them happen on Saturdays, but still, you can find some on Thursdays or fridays. You can find them by looking at the posters in the streets, in the universities.
Market - Every Saturday morning, from 6am to 1:30PM, there is a large food market in the centre of town, where you can buy low price fruit and veg, a vast array of fish, crêpes, galettes, fresh meat and other French delicacies such as wine, snails and cheeses. Le marché des Lices is always bustling with people trying to buy low-price groceries and meat. The market is based in the Place des Lices, an 8 minutes walk from the main bus station, Republique.
HOW TO REACH
By plane - Rennes airport has budget flights to and from Southampton and Belfast thanks to Flybe, or Dublin and Cork with Aerlingus which has good offers. The airport is less than 5km away from the city center, and bus No 57 links it with the city.
Dinard/Pleurtuit/Saint-Malo AirportOne hour away, Dinard's airport offers other cheap options, with for example a connection to London with Ryanair.
By train - Gare de Rennes The easiest way to get to Rennes from Paris is through Gare Montparnasse. There are TGVs almost every 30 minutes and the ride is 2hrs and 3 min. Tickets are available on the SNCF website, and between 25 and 65 Euros for one way. If you're under 26 years old, and planning to travel in France by train, get the "carte 12-25" (49 €) which will offers you 50% off most of the time. The Rennes Train Station also provides train service to Nantes, Brest, Quimper, St. Brieuc, and other cites in Brittany.
By shared ride - The cheapest way will be covoiturage or car-sharing. A lot of websites offer information about people wishing to share their car and budget. 123envoiture.com or Allostop will help you out. Since 1968, traveling by car on motorways within Brittany is free thanks to a deal made between René Pleven and Georges Pompidou.
By bus - Rennes has also an international and local bus station, right next to the rail station. This is where you can get information about Illenoo and where buses such as Eurolines.
