The Best Places to Stay and Do in Rennes

A five-room boutique hotel named after a Hitchcock film, which tells you exactly the kind of atmosphere the team is going for. The sixties aesthetic runs through mid-century furniture, patterned wallpaper, and tiled bathrooms small enough to feel like a film set. A 16th-century building in Rennes' historic center houses all of this, and the lounge fireplace at night, Chesterfield sofa included, does nothing to dispel the mood.

Sculptural light fixtures hang over sleek sofas in the lobby, with candlelight flickering from exposed brick bookcases, which is a lot of atmosphere for a business hotel. The 56 rooms across two restored townhouses go urban-playful, with vintage glass lamps and bold metallic wallpaper against white and slate gray. Downstairs there's a Nuxe spa and a restaurant run by a Michelin-starred Parisian chef. Most of Rennes is a short walk away.

Three karaoke rooms in a medieval building at the center of Rennes tells you everything about what Mama Shelter is going for. This urban boutique hotel leans hard into communal energy, with a restaurant, bar, terrace, and rooftop keeping things sociable, plus a spa and indoor pool for the morning after. Rooms are compact and deliberately playful, aimed squarely at travelers who find "luxury" a little exhausting. The Michelin Guide has it among its selected hotels.

The green-glass façade announces that this is not your grandmother's Rennes hotel. Le Saint-Antoine is a sleek city-center property with Zen-inflected rooms, a Carita spa, and a generous breakfast, but no restaurant, which is easy to forgive when you're steps from the heart of one of France's more underrated food cities. It's part of Best Western's Premier Collection, which in Europe carries rather more cachet than the name might suggest stateside.

Forty-two pod-shaped rooms hang from a central tower like something dreamed up by a sci-fi production designer who got lost on a 12th-century French estate. This hotel sits inside a vast sculpture park alongside a restored château, so the grounds alone take some explaining. Rooms are compact, contemporary, and warm, leaning into the forest palette rather than fighting it. A spa and several dining options round things out, including a Michelin-starred restaurant on the property.