Rennes: events

Good to know about going out in Rennes

Rennes is the largest city in Brittany and the only one of its size that is genuinely inland: it grew where two rivers meet, away from the sea, around a centre where timber-framed houses, eighteenth-century stone façades and the palace of the Parliament of Brittany stand side by side. Two universities and a host of colleges give it a considerable student population, which sets the pace of the evenings.

Its cultural season is one of the fullest in the region: concerts, theatre, dance, exhibitions and talks follow one another from October to May in venues of every size, from the big stages to neighbourhood bars, before summer moves part of the programme out to the parks, the squares and the riverbanks. On Saturday mornings the great market in the centre is an outing in itself, and one of the busiest in France.

In practice: two metro lines and a bus network serve the city, the centre can be crossed on foot in about twenty minutes, and it is better to leave the car at a park and ride than to hunt for a space in the middle. The site's search shows events around an address or your own position, on a map and as a list.