Vannes

Vannes is a walled town in southern Brittany, with a charming historical center lined with colorful half-timber houses. We expected quaint, and found more than expected, including the largest outdoor market I’ve experienced in France, sprawling over the entire town (Wednesdays). It’s very affordable, friendly, and conveniently located to Carnac and the Gulf of Morbihan – a good choice for a base for the region if you don’t want to be directly on the beach. It has also retained a regional feel, with local shops, less of the chain-store focus you see in bigger towns. We spent most of our time exploring outdoors, with a brief stop at **La Cohue – Musée des Beaux Arts de Vannes, which is quite small but elegant, in a former Market Hall. Work is underway to retrofit Château de l’Hermine in the city walls as the future museum home.

Our hotel was definitely part of the charm – **La Villa Garenne, just next to the city walls, is an elegant find with very reasonable prices. The owners were extremely friendly and competent (Swiss-trained hospitality), and the breakfast spread was excellent. There’s a parking lot just down the street, and it’s a two minute stroll into town.

Le Roscanvec looked like a good backup option in the center of town – and a place to eat at as well. 

We had several fairly hipster meals: this is a town where younger chefs thrive, and we saw a lot of attention to detail, experimentation, and natural wine.

• **Partisan has excellent pizza and serves only natural wine, in a more casual location outside the city walls
• **L’antidote is a wine bar with small plates off a back alley, with a pretty interior courtyard. It was less of a restaurant than I expected – more about small plates/snacks – but the food was tasty and the wine fairly diverse. Again lots of natural wine and regional options.
• **Molux, in the port area, had excellent fresh seafood.
• **Derrière was my favorite bar stop – just next to the main market hall, with a busy business of locals that clearly all know each other. Consider for the food – it looked very good.
• **Le P’tit Belon was a close runner up, next to the fish market hall. Drinks, seafood, cute historic interior.

Carnac

History alert! Brittany is lined with prehistoric sites, and the ***Alignements de Carnac are perhaps the most well known: one of the most important megalithic sites in Europe, known for the very high number of stones found in the vicinity. There are at least 3000 standing stones (dolmens, menhirs) intact in a condensed area. We feared huge crowds and a perhaps overhyped experience, but it was better than expected – there really are a lot! And it’s a big space, with room for people to spread out. You can’t enter the grounds without a tour, which we skipped (they looked slow, and crowded).

Carnac the town is cute – very tourism oriented, but there’s a lot of pretty, white-washed stone buildings and dining options for a lunch break. I wouldn’t stay here, but it was a fine short stop. We had salad and sandwiches at **Ty Jeanne on the main square.