Autumn can be an ideal season for a European city break but there’s one destination that often gets overlooked despite October being one of the best times to visit
Brits looking for city break inspiration this autumn may want to consider a trip to an often-overlooked city in France.
Despite being just an hour’s flight from the UK and boasting beautiful medieval buildings and a grand cathedral, Rennes is a city that tourists will often miss because they’re flocking to hotspots such as Paris or Marseille. However, because it’s as popular, Rennes actually offers up plenty of budget-friendly accommodations, not to mention you can get cheap flights if you do want to visit.
(If you have Paris on the bucket list, Rennes sits just a 90-minute journey away if you did want to extend the itinerary to check it out!).
The city is packed with a plethora of shops, cafés and bars, not to mention it’s got a buzzing art scene from the street art to the Fine Arts Museum. For music fans there are plenty of live music venues and festivals throughout the year where you can check out some lesser-known artists as well as bigger names.
Oh, and if you’re a foodie then you will want to time your break over a weekend, as Rennes hosts France’s second largest market every Saturday, serving up heaps of that world-famous French cuisine including local hits such as sausage wrapped in buckwheat pancakes.
One of the biggest draws for Rennes is the ease with which it can be visited from the UK. Flights take approximately an hour from London, and the journey from the airport to the city centre can be done in under 15 minutes.
These were big factors in a recent study from travel insiders at Holidu who ranked Europe’s best cities for an overnight break, with Rennes taking the crown. Researchers looked at a host of attributes including flight time from the UK, time between the airport and city centre, time spent walking between the top three biggest attractions, and the average cost of a hotel stay per night (in the case of the French city, this averaged out at about £69.39).
Autumn can be one of the best times to visit too, with temperatures remaining around 22C in September, and 17C in October. The latter may be more appealing to those on a budget; October is one of the best times to book flights as you can find fares from £49 with Skyscanner. Currently easyJet is the only airline offering direct flights from the UK, with routes departing from either London Gatwick or Manchester. As for your accommodation, Kayak has Rennes hotels from £42 a night outside of the peak holiday seasons.
Rennes wasn’t the only French city to impress in the Holidu rankings. It was closely followed by Nantes, which also boasted a flight time of around an hour, not to mention all of its major attractions sit within a 39-minute walk.
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