Bretagne Travel Answers

Well as someone that does a lot of traveling just do some research and stay near places you think are interesting. I mostly travel in asia and just find places near where I am headed and then get hotels or bed and breakfast near these places. I also like to go to out of the way places. If you are looking for good hotels at really good rates it is hard to beat a site I often use. http://todaysgreattraveldeals.com You could also check Craigslist for the areas you like and see if there are some cottages that you can rent. You can usually find pretty good deals. If you were headed to the Philippines I could help you a lot more. Good luck with your trip, just make sure you plan it out and then execute your plan.

As soon as gwened reads this post, I'm sure you'll get a very accurate info

I can tell you about Flybe. I've flown with them several times. They do indeed fly to Rennes (and Nantes, and Brest). They use prop planes of various sizes (so it's a bit noisier inside, though not a lot) and are absolutely fine. I've had no problems at all with them. Easiest route for you (assuming London base) would be Southampton>Rennes. They don't fly to France from Luton and don't use Stansted. http://www.flybe.com/

Thanks J. I was under the impression that they also flew Gatwick - Rennes, but maybe the information was outdated? or are the other routes in addition to this one? I know that you usually try to travel light, but do you have any insight into the way that they handle the luggage issue? Is it the draconian Ryanair model, or the pay-by-the-hold-item EasyJet approach, or do they actually give you a real luggage allowance? Regards Cathy

Travel light? Moi? No..I *always* have a wheeled hold bag as well as a small backpack when I go away for more than a couple of days. :-) Flybe are abs fine in terms of luggage handling (I've flown with them with changes of plane in the UK as well as to mainland Europe). Free 20kg max hold baggage. They do fly Gatwick>Nantes..but explore their site because they don't fly every route every day, so you'll need to see which route fits your plans best.

Very encouraging - thanks for the clarification. Perhaps 'travelling light' is a comparative term, as I'm notorious for travelling 'heavy'!

Think it is relative. I think those with just cabin baggage are travelling light...and I just can't do it! :-)

Cabin baggage and travelling light are not necessarily harmonious!! I have been amazed and not a bit disgruntled at the weight of what people put in the cabin bag - it's getting to the stage when the overhead lockers are filled with these bags and not even space for a coat. Sometimes cases have had to be removed and put in the hold due to lack of space. It's ridiculous. Coming back from Peru, there was a woman with a toddler and she had, apart from the child, her handbag, a stroller, a large nappy bag, two cabin sized bags, two stray carrier bags of toys plus two large suitcases - I looked later and she brought everything on board except the two large suitcases. One of the cabin bags was so heavy she needed help to lift it into the locker. I am rather fed-up with being held up by people who have so much cabin baggage that they cannot cope with it themselves. Anyhow, that's my rant for today!!

Hello Cathy, We always take our car and cross by ferry to Brittany so I can't really help with flights except to say we once met one of our daughters and a grandson at Dinard when they came to join us. That service is no longer available now and many routes to smaller airports seem to have been discontinued. Just wondering if it might be difficult to book 6 seats approaching the High season? You should not thave any difficulty driving in Brittany - think - UK West country! In fact we both love it there and find it difficult to recommend a location for one week. I do recmmend the Michelin Green Guide/Bretagne. Some of our favourite locations are the Crozon peninsular around Crozon/Morgat/Camaret sur Mer in Finistere - wild craggy coast and lovely sandy beaches and coves; the walled mini-city of Concarneau, and the cathedral city of Quimper (famous for pottery) and the smaller Quiperle. Morbihan for the beaches and great standing stones of Carnac. Pont Aven for boat trips and art. Along the northern Cote d'Amor plenty of lovely beaches, small towns including picturesque Dinan, impressives walled St Malo - and just over the border into Normandie - Mont St Michel. Oh and the north west corner Roscoff , Morlaix and Bresy - where there is an airport. For accommodation my first choice would be Gites de France followed by holidaylettings .com homelidays.com. Some of the best houses we have had were obtained by googling - holiday house/month/ nos./rooms/location You can't really go wrong - nowhere is very far away, from north to south and west to east so even in one week you could combine relaxation with lots of sight seeing - abbey/castle ruins, ancient churches known for their "Enclos Parroissial". Every village has a Tourist Information Office and there are always many activities and events of interest to children at hand - particularly in the summer months.

Oh dear - not the only typo but the worst "Bresy - where there is an airport". Brest - of course :)

Hiya Cathy, I hadn't seen your post until now. Ryanair fly from Stansted into Dinard quite near here. Check out the prices carefully, difference between flying Mon or Tues is (I already did it) 2 adults + 4 kids under 16 for Mon £221 for Tues £95. Of course that doesn't include mark-ups for luggage etc. If you can work round the dates I mention in my PM you can stay here. As mentioned by Barbara, close by there is St Malo itself, Dinan, Mont St. Michel, Rennes is 35 mins away. Then there is the rest of Brittany, all around the golfe de Morbihan, Finistere if you get the right weather, Batz island from Roscoff, all the coast from St Brieuc to Trebeurden including Brehat island. It's a bit like Paris actually, you want to spend a week and you stay 20 years.

Paul - good to read the Dinard flight is still operating and have noted for future reference. Sadly perhaps not so useful for us now that the house near Matignon that we used to "look after" for a friend has been sold! Hope tou are enjoying this burst of overdue summer weather!

Yes Barbara, I have 29° C in the front garden today.

so funny a post on brittany as a whole, and just arrive from South Africa today... Its a large area Bretagne or as locals call it Breizh. There is a slight change of pace from nord to sud or north to south. 1) best airports for Brittany and I use it always is Nantes, then maybe Rennes as second and Brest third.hoping you have a car.No experience with flybe I use the regional BritAir and Regional by Air France. 2) the best way to travel and in this area even better.hire a car. There are a huge amount of cottage,houses here, it is very spread but dont rent them I live here in normal apt. The best sources are the very reliable gites-de-france-bretagne.com... http://www.a-gites.com/ rural houses in quaint wonderful villages, just hit the name of the town, in FRench but not hard to figure it out , I think, http://www.cprb.org/?act=home&hd=com the cities of character designation that takes you into wonderful historical villages all with lodgings like josselin, la roche bernard, locronan, etc http://www.cites-art.com/ in addition to tourist offices the coast is king here, I live in the Morbihan ,Breton language for small sea, the coast is all around us, you can look in VT or my pages or profile blog the weather well it rains often but now its all sun; just when I go back to Versailles. take a look at the sites, and see if something strikes your fancy then come back and I can give more details as there so many wonderful places, like La Trinité sur Mer, Carnac,and Quiberon peninsula, or the Rhuys.http://www.rhuys.com/ All this is the south, as my neighbor pfsmalo can tell you about the north ::) Cheers

Hi Barbara Thanks for the excellent suggestion of flying into Dinard - served by Ryanair out of Stansted! Easyjet only flies into Bretagne over the peak season and flybe was inconvenient in terms of airports and flight times. Thankfully Ryanair is way more convenient and affordable than the other options, even if the interminably vile Mr O'Reilly has screwed us royally for paying by credit card. Why is it that booking online with Ryanair feels like you're tiptoeing through a minefield??? Anyway, will arrive 26th June and leave on 2 July, on dates specifically selected to coincide with Paul's absence! ;) Now onto car and hotel bookings ... Regards Cathy