France
Rennes
Away-day guide
unverified draftRennes is Brittany's capital: a half-timbered old town, a hundred thousand students, and — thanks to the LGV line — an hour and a half from Paris by TGV. It is a cheap, lively city with a famous bar street, galettes and cider on every corner, and a well-supported club at the Roazhon Park.
🚺 To Roazhon Park
The ground is on the Route de Lorient, about 2 km west of the centre — a 25-minute walk along the river and up, or a short bus ride from the middle of town. A taxi is €8–10.
- Nearest stop
- Bus stops on the Route de Lorient by the stadium
- Lines
- STAR buses along the Route de Lorient; metro to the nearest interchange then a bus
- Walk from centre
- 25 min
- Parking
- Streets around the ground are residents-only and enforced on matchday; walk or take a bus.
Public transport
STAR runs two automated metro lines and a big bus network. Rennes is the smallest city in the world with a metro, and line b, opened in 2022, made it genuinely useful. A single is around €1.70 and a day ticket about €4.60, bought from station machines or in the app. The old town is compact and walkable, and the stadium is a 25-minute walk west of the centre or a short bus ride. Bikes (STAR vélo) are available and the city is flat enough for them.
Typical prices
- Beer (0.5L)
- EUR 5.5
- Coffee
- EUR 2.2
- Meal, mid-range
- EUR 20
- Taxi from airport
- EUR 20
- Single transit ticket
- EUR 1.7
✈ Airports & cheaper alternatives
- Rennes-Saint-Jacques Airport RNS primary 7 km Bus C6 runs into the centre in about 20 minutes for a standard ticket; a taxi is €18–25. Small and close, with mostly domestic and a few European routes — check what actually flies.
- Dinard-Pleurtuit-Saint-Malo Airport DNR alternative 70 km Bus or taxi to Saint-Malo or Dinard, then a train to Rennes in about an hour. Ryanair's Brittany airport with flights from the UK — often the cheapest way in from England, with a manageable transfer.
- Paris Charles de Gaulle CDG alternative 380 km RER and TGV via Paris, or a direct TGV connection from the airport's TGV station with a change — around four hours in total. Every route in the world, but the transfer is long. Nantes airport is a closer alternative if the fares work.
🍺 Supporters' pubs
Stade Rennais
Home fans: Rennes's support drinks around Place Sainte-Anne and the old town before games, with the Route de Lorient bars nearer the ground filling up in the last couple of hours. The ultras march from the centre for the bigger fixtures.
Away fans: The old town and the rue de la Soif are neutral, cheap and used to crowds; a visiting group will be unremarkable. Walk or take a bus west to the ground rather than drinking on the Route de Lorient itself.
Brittany's biggest club, with a loud Kop and a strong regional identity — expect Breton flags rather than French ones.
Sourced from supporters' forums — always follow your club's and police advice for the fixture.
Nightlife
Rue Saint-Michel is known to everyone as the rue de la Soif — the street of thirst — a short run of bars packed shoulder to shoulder with students from Thursday onwards, and one of the best-value nights out in France. Around it, Place Sainte-Anne and the streets of the old town carry more of the same. Rennes has a strong live-music tradition (the Trans Musicales festival in December is a fixture of the French calendar) and the bars reflect it. Term time is a completely different city from August, when the students go home.
Food & drink
Brittany means galettes — savoury buckwheat crêpes with ham, egg and cheese as the standard — washed down with cider from a bolée, a small ceramic bowl. Sweet crêpes follow. Add kouign-amann, the butter-and-sugar pastry that is the region's other gift to the world, and seafood from the north coast. The Marché des Lices on a Saturday morning is one of the biggest markets in France and the best place to eat cheaply while wandering.
Cheap eats & beer
A galette-complète with a bolée of cider is €10–14 and the standard local meal. Lunch formules run €13–16. The kebab and sandwich shops around Sainte-Anne and the student quarter do a meal for €7–9. A demi of beer on the rue de la Soif is €3–4.50, which is cheap for France, and supermarket beer is around €1. Cider by the bottle is cheaper than beer and much more local.
Staying safe
Rennes is a safe, easy-going city. The rue de la Soif on a Friday night is loud and very drunk but rarely worse than that; keep an eye on your things in the crush. Ordinary care around the station late at night. French policing of away support is firm, and travel restrictions or club-transport requirements are sometimes attached to European fixtures — check what your club has published. Bag searches at the ground are thorough.
On matchday
Rennes play at the Roazhon Park on the Route de Lorient, about 2 km west of the centre — a 25-minute walk, or a bus from the middle of town. It holds around 29,000 and the Roazhon Celtic Kop behind the goal makes a proper noise on European nights, with plenty of Breton flags. Away fans have a designated sector, their own entrance and usually an escort from a meeting point. Alcohol is generally not sold inside French grounds, so do the drinking in town first — the old town is a much better place for it anyway.
This city guide is still being fact-checked — some details may be inaccurate.