A plan for Rennes

Rennes has long been one of the main towns of Brittany, but until 1806 it was overshadowed by the capital and Atlantic port Nantes. Then under Napoleon I Bonaparte, Nantes lost that role and indeed was removed from Brittany, so Rennes came to the fore. Its small river Vilaine was canalised and made navigable, and connected to other towns, so freight and industry were boosted even before the arrival of the railway. Its higgledy-piggledy medieval streets and half-timbered houses were mostly lost to a great fire in 1720, and replaced by stately stone mansions on a grid pattern, though the area east of the cathedral retains some of its older style.

The city was badly damaged in the Second World War: in 1940 German bombing hit an ammunition train parked next to troop and refugee trains, the day before the occupation of the city; and then it was heavily bombed by the Allies in 1943 and 1944. Postwar Rennes developed metal-bashing heavy industries, but as elsewhere in the West these succumbed to Asian competition from the 1970s. There were many strikes, demos and riots. From the 1990s the city regrouped around telecoms and service industries. The university also grew, so modern Rennes has a large student population, which gives it a bit of a buzz. Traditionally the students throng the bars on Thursday nights.

The climate is Atlantic: it can rain any day, though not as much as on the coast: see the Météo forecast.

1 Destination Rennes is the Tourist Office, at 1 Rue Saint-Malo 50 m north of Metro Sainte-Anne a b . It's open M 14:00-18:00, Tu-Sa 10:00-18:00, Su 10:00–13:00 & 14:00–17:00.

Musée de Bretagne, 10 Cours des Alliés (within Les Champs Libre just north of station), ☏ +33 2 2340 6600. Tue-Fri 12:00-19:00, Sat Sun 14:00-19:00 (and slightly longer hours during school breaks). 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. Free entry (permanent exposition), 4€/2€ (temporary expositions). (updated Mar 2024)

Espace des Sciences is also within Les Champs Libre, same hours. The planetarium is €7, exhibitions €7, "Merlins lab" €5, and the combi ticket valid for a year is €19.

1 Cathedral Saint-Pierre, Rue de la Monnaie, ☏ +33 2 9978 4880. Daily 09:30-18:00. 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. (updated Jun 2023)

2 Portes Mordelaise is the last remaining city gate. Rennes acquired city walls and gates in the 3rd century AD, but the present structure is 15th century, when the gate and alley towards the cathedral were the principal entrance to the city. This route led 15 km west to the village of Mordelles, hence the name.

Old town with half-timbered houses (maisons à pans de bois) is best preserved is the little streets just east of the cathedral, such as Rue Saint-Sauveur, Rue Saint-Guillaume, and Rue du Chapitre. Most were lost in the fire of 1720, after which the northern districts were rebuilt in stone on a grid pattern.

Saint-Sauveur Basilica is in the Old Town 50 m east of the cathedral. It was rebuilt in the 18th century in classical style.

Church of Saint-Pierre & Saint-Etienne is the parish church, somehow squeezed in between cathedral and basilica.

Théâtre National de Bretagne is at 1 Rue Saint-Hélier, 500 m north of the railway station.

Opera de Rennes is on Place de la Mairie just south of Parliament.

Cinemas in city centre are Cinéma Arvor south side of the railway station, and Pathé Rennes by Charles de Gaulle metro station.

1 Le Blizz, 8 Ave des Gayeulles (Bus C3 to Parc des Gayeulles), ☏ +33 2 9936 2810. An ice rink with public and sport skating, lessons and skate hire. (updated Jun 2023)

Football: 2 Stade Rennais FC, Roazhon Park, Rue de Lorient, ☏ +33 2 9914 3580. 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. (updated Jun 2023)

3 Jardin Moderne, 11 Rue du Manoir de Servigné, ☏ +33 2 9914 0468. Concert hall and event space on an industrial estate west edge of the city. (updated Jun 2023)

Fest Noz is Breton for "festival of the night" - an evening of traditional music and dancing. See the Tamm Kreiz website for upcoming events, which are usually inexpensive. See also below for the biggest, Yaouank in Oct / Nov.

Events

Travelling. February. Cinema festival that each year focuses on a different world city.

Mythos Festival. 2025: 28 March–6 April. About music, story and song.

Rock'n Solex (INSA Beaulieu campus). May. Student rock festival, with Solex powered bicycles loosely involved.

Les Tombées de la Nuit. Art festival with many shows and installations in public spaces.

Quartiers d'été. Summer festival.

4 Yaouank. November. 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.

Les Transmusicales (Rencontres trans musicales). Early December.

Galette-saucisse je t'aime, J'en mangerai des kilos! Dans toute l'Ille-et-Vilaine, Avec du lait ribot ! - sung by the fans of Stade Rennais FC

Galettes are Breton salted crêpes made with buckwheat flour, and galettes-saucisses are roasted pork sausage wrapped in a galette. Lait ribot is half-fermented milk, sometimes served with boiled chestnuts.

Budget

1 La Criée Marché Central is a large fresh-food market hall, north side of Blvd de la Liberté. It's open M-Th 09:00-14:00, 15:30-19:00, F Sa 09:00-19:00, Su 09:00-13:00. There are places within to sit down and eat. Le Marché à Manger is a street food market there on the first Sunday of each month 11:00-17:00; various restaurants have stalls to demonstrate their cuisine.

Le Fournil Vasselot, 13 Rue Vasselot (50 m east of La Criée Marché), ☏ +33 2 9979 0207. Tue-Sun 07:00-20:00. Popular bakery, good choice of bread, cakes, cookies, viennoiseries (puff pastry) and croissants. (updated Jun 2023)

Rue de Saint-Malo just north of Basilica Notre-Dame and the Tourist Office is a "Little Asia" of cheap eating places.

Rue Saint-Georges in town centre has wall-to-wall cheap eating places at its east end off Rue Gambetta. Bistro Volnay (see "Mid-range" below) is the pricier pick of the bunch.

La Sarrasine, 30 Rue Saint-Georges, ☏ +33 2 9938 8754. Mon Tue Thu-Sat 12:00-1400, 19:00-21:30. Crêpes and other Breton home cooking. (updated Jun 2023)

2 Les Petits Papiers, 2 Place Saint-Germain, ☏ +33 2 9979 7103. Mon-Fri 09:00-01:00, Sat 10:00-01:00, Sun 16:00-23:00. Great value cafe. (updated Jun 2023)

Chez Nous, 6 Rue de Montfort (just east of Basilique Saint-Sauveur), ☏ +33 6 593 31288. Mon-Fri 08:30-16:00. Friendly cafe-bar for the lunchtime office crowd. (updated Jun 2023)

3 Ouzh-Taol, 27 Rue Saint-Melaine, ☏ +33 2 9963 3633. Mon-Fri 12:00-14:00, 19:00-21:30. Good crêperie near the university library. (updated Jun 2023)

4 Wooded, 10 Rue d'Antrain, ☏ +33 9 8841 0480. Mon-Sat 12:00-15:00, 19:00-22:30. Wood-fired wraps and kebabs, in, er, Korean style? (updated Jun 2023)

Frencheez, 8 Rue d'Antrain (next to Wooded), ☏ +33 2 2320 9702. Sun-Wed 11:00-00:30, Thu-Sat 11:00-01:30. Burger place with halal and vegetarian choices. (updated Jun 2023)

Most bars close midnight to 01:00; late bars to 03:00 include Contrescarpe, La Place and Café Cactus.

L'Heure du Jeu, 11 Boulevard Magenta (200 m north of railway station), ☏ +33 2 9931 4348. Mon-Wed 17:00-23:30, Thu-Fri 17:00-00:30, Sat 14:00-00:30. 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. (updated Jun 2023)

Haricot Rouge, 10 Rue Baudrairie (50 m north of Place de la République), ☏ +33 2 9979 3623. Tue Fri Sat 11:00-20:30, Wed Thu 11:00-00:00. Relaxing cafe-bar with hot chocolate and board games. (updated Jun 2023)

O'Connell's, 6 Place du Parlement, ☏ +33 2 9979 3876. Mon-Sat 11:00-01:00, Sun 17:00-01:00. Popular Irish pub in the square facing Parliament, friendly anglophone staff and live TV sport. (updated Jun 2023)

Le Bateau Ivre, 28 Rue de la Visitation (100 m north of Parliament). Mon 15:00-01:00, Tue-Fri 09:30-01:00, Sat 11:00-01:00. Friendly central cafe-bar. (updated Jun 2023)

La Contrescarpe, 5 Rue de Champ Jacquet (200 m west of Parliament), ☏ +33 2 9979 3697. Mon-Sat 21:00-03:00. Late-night cocktail bar in vaulted cellars. (updated Jun 2023)

La Place, 7 Place de Champ Jacquet (next to Contrescarpe), ☏ +33 2 9979 0575.

Barantic, 4 Rue Saint-Michel (50 m south of Metro Sainte-Anne a b ), ☏ +33 9 8257 4434. Mon-Fri 09:00-01:00, Sat 07:00-01:00, Sun 14:00-00:00. Great selection of draught beers, mostly Belgian, a good way to wash down your saucisson. (updated Jun 2023)

Café Cactus, 3 Rue Pongerard (100 m south of Metro Sainte-Anne a b ), ☏ +33 2 9979 2390. Tue-Sat 19:00-03:00, Sun 21:00-03:00. Late bar where a dinky toy train delivers your shots.

Westport Inn, 36 Rue de Dinan (200 m west of Metro Sainte-Anne a b ), ☏ +33 2 9935 0543. Daily 16:30-01:00. Another Irish pub, smaller and less touristy than the others. (updated Jun 2023)

1988 Live Club, 27 Place du Colombier (200 m west of Metro Charles de Gaulles a ), ☏ +33 6 8101 0634. Tue Wed 14:00-18:00, Thu Fri 14:00-18:00, 00:00-06:00, Sat 00:00-06:00. Large music venue with three stages. (updated Jun 2023)

Walking is always first choice in the compact city centre.

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. The principal routes run 05:30 to 00:30. The metro lines run an extra hour longer until almost 02:00 on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings.

In 2023 a single ticket is €1.50, valid for one hour and unlimited transfers. A one day pass is €4.20, three days is €11.70 and seven is €18.35. Longer passes (KorrigoCards) are available from Gares travel centre - you'll need photo ID, which they scan onto the card.

Metro Line A runs northwest to southeast, from JFK to Villejean University, Sainte-Anne, Gares and out to La Poterie. Line B, opened in 2022, runs northeast to southwest, from Cesson via Sainte-Anne, Gares, and out to Saint-Jacques.

By bike

Rennes has plenty of cycle lanes, and for a pleasant excursion follow the canal.

STAR, le vélo is the rental bike system, part of the public transport system. You register online and pay €150 deposit, which enables you to pick up a bike from any of the 50-some docking stations. Then you pay €1 for a trip up to one hour and €2 for 24 hours; electric bikes cost more. Longer tariffs are available up to 12 months.

By car

Avoid using a car in city centre: many routes are barred to private vehicles, and parking is scarce and expensive.

Parcs-relais is the Park & Ride system. Eight metro / bus stations have car parks, free to enter and more importantly free to exit by using your transport ticket. These are J.F. Kennedy a (not Su), Villejean-Université a , Cesson-Viasilva b , Les Gayeulles b and Saint-Jacques - Gaîté b (not Su) in the north, Les Préales in the east (bus only, not Su), and Henri Fréville a (not Su) and La Poterie a in the south.

Taxis wait at Gares. There are over a dozen operators.

Standard advice over care of valuables, traffic, and staying clear of unruly drunks.