Cathedrale Saint-Pierre de Rennes
The Cathedrale Saint-Pierre is the seat of the Archdiocese of Rennes and the main religious monument in Brittany's capital.
City in France
Rennes
5 things to see3 of them free
Rennes is the capital of Brittany and one of the better value cities in France for a budget traveler. It is a compact university town, and that student population matters: it keeps crepes cheap, fills the cider bars, and means budget beds are not hard to find. The half-timbered medieval old town is free to wander, and most of the headline sights cost nothing either. Parc du Thabor is a free landscaped park, Cathedrale Saint-Pierre de Rennes is free to enter, and the Saturday Marche des Lices is free to browse and one of the largest markets in the country. The one classic paid sight is Parlement de Bretagne, whose low-priced guided tour walks you through gilded chambers restored after a 1994 fire.
Rennes also earns its place as a base. It is the cheapest practical rail jumping-off point for Mont Saint-Michel: take the train to Pontorson, then a short local bus to the bay, and most of the island, including the streets and ramparts, is free to walk once you arrive. Rennes itself is reached from Paris by high-speed TGV, so it slots neatly into a wider France route without a long detour.
What to see
Things to do in Rennes
3 of these cost nothing at all.
Marche des Lices
The Marche des Lices is one of the largest open-air markets in France and the centrepiece of any Saturday morning in Rennes. It fills two covered halls and the surrounding streets of the Place des Lices with Breton produce: oysters and shellfish hauled up from the coast, farm cheeses, cider, and stalls of vegetables that change with the season.
Mont Saint-Michel
Mont Saint-Michel is a tidal island in Normandy topped by a medieval Benedictine abbey, and one of the most recognizable landmarks in Europe. The island streets, the ramparts, and the lower parish church are all free to walk, which makes it one of the best free half-day stops on the France map.
Parc du Thabor
The Parc du Thabor is one of the finest urban parks in western France, and for budget travelers in Rennes it is the best free afternoon in the city.
Parlement de Bretagne
The Parlement de Bretagne is the grandest building in Rennes and the historic seat of Brittany's parliament, completed in the 1650s to a design by Salomon de Brosse, the same architect behind the Luxembourg Palace in Paris. Inside sit gilded chambers and painted ceilings whose craftsmanship rivals Versailles.
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