I visited Rennes in France for one day and one night, staying at the Mercure Place Bretagne in the city center on 6 Rue Lanjuinais.
The Mercure Place Bretagne is a mid-size hotel, about 5 minutes from the historic Place St Anne in the middle of Rennes.
Complete Renovation
This Hotel Mercure in Rennes is currently undergoing a complete renovation and so far they’ve finished the third floor rooms where I was staying.
The Hotel Mercure in Rennes has one main entrance and a small reception area with a couple of tables and four chairs. As you walk in these will be on your left and right with the reception desk in front of you.
Finding the Hotel Mercure
Finding the Hotel Mercure Place Bretagne is dead easy as it is on the main street with various large signs, but if you are coming from the airport by taxi they will drop you off here anyway. If you take a bus, the last stop on bus 57 will be about a 10 minute walk away.
It was late when I arrived so I took a taxi which cost 22 euros from the airport and took about 25 minutes with light traffic.
Checking into the hotel Mercure was very quick, the receptionist asked for my name and after the formalities I was on my way after about five minutes.
Free Drinks at the Mercure
I even received a free drink voucher and a corner room with views over two streets. The lift up to the room was a bit slow but it did not matter as the other times I needed to go up I just used the stairs which were much prettier.
Read more of my hotel reviews here
The receptionist was very friendly and smiling, we made friends instantly! At least this is what I thought! He recommended a couple of restaurants nearby and after I dropped my bag off I was off to discover Rennes.
Historic Building in Rennes
The corridor to my room was a bit narrow but this is a historic building dating from the 19th century so this I expected.
What I did not expect was to find an amazingly clean and warm room which was so silent I could hear a pin drop!
This being a brand new room, just renovated as part of the reconstruction project I could even smell the paint, fresh new carpet and clean sheets.
Double Glazing In All Windows
The windows were also upgraded to receive double glazing throughout and probably sound insulation as I could not hear any street noise when the windows were closed.
I visited at the end of November and it was already pretty cold in Rennes so after taking a couple of photos I quickly closed th windows to enjoy the central heating from the large cast iron radiators.
The only thing I did not like in the room was that it was a bit dim, especially the cafe making areea where there was no light (or at least I could not find one).
I then proceeded to check out the bathroom which was covered in light brown or beige coloured tiles with white grouting. The light switch was on the left and when I turned it on the mirror lit the bathroom up completely.
Lighting In The Room
In many hotels I noticed that the bathroom swims in light but the bedroom is mostly dim, which I honestly don’t understand. I’ve read somewhere that it is more expensive to fit lights in the ceiling so hotels prefer to have flexible light fittings that they can plug into the wall and move around.
So maybe my suggestion would be to have a standalone floor lamp next to the fridge to provide some lighting in this corner of the bedroom.
As a sidenote, the fridge was inside a cupboard which I don’t think is a good idea because when I opened the cupboard I could feel the heat escaping the small enclosure.
Overheating Fridge
The fridge was clearly overheating and the light inside did not always turn on, so either the fridge was faulty or I was doing something wrong.
Anyhow, back to the bathroom. The mirror was very large and the sink was also pretty massive. There were two sets of towels, they probably expected I would turn up with someone else or I forgot to change the number of people arriving. What I forgot to do was take a soap with me as I am running out of the Mercure smelling soaps and they are my favourite soaps!
The hairdrier was on the right hand side and underneath the sink was the box of tissue and the large towels.
Bathroom Amenities
The shower and bathtub was on the left, separated from the sink by a large glass panel. Being nitpicking I checked the glass with a bit of steam and I spotted it was wiped with a cloth and not finished with a rubber but it honestly was not that big a deal although easy to notice.
The tap and showerhead were brand new Grohe sets and worked perfectly, the warm water pouring out within seconds.
There were actually two shower heads, one hanging from the ceiling and the other from the wall. I switched to the ceiling unit and had a waterfall shower experience!
Once I checked the room out I left the hotel and went for a walk around the historic district of Rennes. This part of France is called Bretagne and is famous for its agriculture.
Medieval Rennes Town Center
There are many medieval streets and buildings in Rennes so I would definitely recommend a long weekend here, checking out the museums, the theater, walking around the ancient streets and perhaps driving to the coast which is a little over an hour away.
After my walk around town and dinner at a pizza place (I know, pizza in France???) I headed back to the hotel as it was pretty chilly outside and I wanted to enjoy the warmth of the room. The walk back to the Mercure took about 10 minutes, which is nothing in all fairness.
Netflix On TV
The TV in the room was in front of the large double bed and it extended away from the wall on a flexible metal arm. The TV was mega big, probably 49” and flat screen with youtube and netflix built in plus a button to change to the original language of a film or documentary if available.
I found this pretty handy because I always struggle to watch anything in France because most channels are in French with the odd news channel in Spanish or English.
Not that I was going to watch TV too long: I fell asleep about 30 minutes after I arrived back in the room!
Because I closed the curtains I did not wake up until 8 in the morning which is not what I planned but anyhow! I wanted to get up nice and early to check out the sunrise and take some nice shots of Rennes but instead I had breakfast and then went off to my first business meeting with a client from Brazil.
Breakfast at the Mercure in Rennes
Breakfast was very nice with all local options like the yogurt from neighbouring Malo, the cakes from Rennes and the honey from villages nearby. Everything tasted pretty good – I had freshly squeezed orange, a lemon yogurt, a croissant, chocolate filled pastry and a pancake plus a tea.
Overall I really enjoyed the stay here, especially my time in the room which was probably the best room in a Mercure hotel I’ve ever stayed in, taking the place from the Mercure in Bangkok.
Although the two hotels are completely different in style and I loved the view from the Bangkok room, this one in Rennes had a historic touch and it was also much more sumptous in style, so it takes the place of Bangkok for now!
