Brest to quimper… any ideas?

[nursemom2]

We are arriving to Brest on our Enchanted Princess TA…. Not sure how to get to Quimper  easily… or what to do that’s interesting in Brest.

[Harters]

We're also visiting Brest, on an Oceania cruise, this year.

 

The town is home to the Oceanopolis aquarium  and the National Botanical Gardens. Neither of which particularly gripped us, so we've decided on a ship's excursion (basically a bus tour round the area). I reckon it's the least interesting of all the ports on that cruise - so much so that we might forget about the tour and instead just go and have lunch at one of the restaurants round the port area.

Edited February 16, 2022 by Harters

[Hlitner]

We would probably just rent a car in Brest and drive to Quimper.  But I think the cheapest way would be to use the regional buses (only about 6 Euros) operated by BlaBlaBus.

 

Hank

[Lovetotravel7559]

On 2/16/2022 at 6:01 AM, nursemom2 said:

We are arriving to Brest on our Enchanted Princess TA…. Not sure how to get to Quimper  easily… or what to do that’s interesting in Brest.

I’m wondering the same thing.  I’ve been in touch with the Brest tourism office and they gave me a couple of options.  One was for a limousine service that quoted 458 euros .  A taxi service quoted 280 euros.  I’m trying to get some more quotes. 

[nursemom2]

20 hours ago, Lovetotravel7559 said:

I’m wondering the same thing.  I’ve been in touch with the Brest tourism office and they gave me a couple of options.  One was for a limousine service that quoted 458 euros .  A taxi service quoted 280 euros.  I’m trying to get some more quotes. 

Thanks so much for keeping me in the loop!

[Lovetotravel7559]

17 hours ago, nursemom2 said:

Thanks so much for keeping me in the loop!

I’ve contacted the Quimper tourism bureau.  Kind of interesting as they were trying to chat with me which didn’t work well with the time difference and me using Google translate! I did go ahead and book the ship excursion and will cancel if I find something else. Just don’t want to be gone 8 hours. 

[Gbstoker]

On Enchanted as well. Ship bus to Quimper sold out.  Bla Bla bus leaves too early. Car is over 100 euro.  No good options 

[cruise603]

Hello,

we are a group of 31 people and would like to charter a bus from Brest to Quimper for April 18, 2024.

really appreciate any help or input.

Michelle.

 

[Hlitner]

On 4/1/2022 at 7:21 PM, Gbstoker said:

On Enchanted as well. Ship bus to Quimper sold out.  Bla Bla bus leaves too early. Car is over 100 euro.  No good options 

Have you considered splitting the cost of a rental car with another couple?  We have done this, a few times, over the years.  Posting on the CC Roll Call for your cruise is often a way to find another interested couple.   By the way, 100 Euros for a single day rental is no longer considered too much  But in Europe, one can often save a substantial amount of money if they book a manual shift (but one must know how to use it).

 

Hank

[edinburgher]

On 4/2/2022 at 2:21 AM, Gbstoker said:

On Enchanted as well. Ship bus to Quimper sold out.  Bla Bla bus leaves too early. Car is over 100 euro.  No good options 

For what its worth, just throwing into the mix of options, that both towns have direct connections by train although I know nothing about these andsome online homework would be needed to check if this could be a viable option.

[D&N]

17 hours ago, edinburgher said:

For what its worth, just throwing into the mix of options, that both towns have direct connections by train although I know nothing about these andsome online homework would be needed to check if this could be a viable option.

I had a look a day or two ago and decided not to suggest it.

It looks like there might be major long term engineering work going on.

I think I saw one actual train scheduled per day and the few other services were buses, shown as "Car". It didn't seem a particularly good option.

[edinburgher]

4 hours ago, D&N said:

It looks like there might be major long term engineering work going on.

Not knowing about the engineering works, , only knowing there were train connections, I threw the idea into the pot for further internet research.

 

Apologies for wasting everyone's time.

Edited March 2 by edinburgher

[D&N]

@edinburgher and those interested.

I thought I'd check my engineering theory a bit further. Now I don't think that is the case. Although the timetable does show short term works.

The main line from Brest runs towards Rennes. From Quimper it runs towards Rennes and Nantes, splitting at Redon. There is a single track branch off the Brest-Rennes line around Landernau that runs south and becomes the main line from Quimper on.

I think it's just a case of it being a minor line with little demand.

Here's the current timetable: 

https://ter-fiches-horaires.sncf.fr/publish/SNCFBret_FHWeb03_Hv2024.pdf

 

Anyone planning round this should note that headings TER & TGV are trains, CAR is a bus. Be wary of the circled numbers shown above a trip, the note could indicate that trip doesn't operate on particular dates.

 

When this timetable expires in July it should be replaced on the TER Bretagne webpage: https://www.ter.sncf.com/bretagne/se-deplacer/fiches-horaires

 

Expanding a bit; there are TER (Transport Express Régional) websites for every rail region in France and each will have a similar timetable download facility.

 

edit again, My I am being careless today!

Just spotted these other links that are relevant:

https://ter-fiches-horaires.sncf.fr/publish/Affiche Travaux QR BST fév mars 2024.pdf

https://ter-fiches-horaires.sncf.fr/publish/SNCFBret_FHWeb31_Hv2024.pdf

I suppose I should be thankful we live beside a simpler frequent service than that area gets.

 

Edited March 2 by D&N

[onyx007]

I've been to Brest and Quimper and I wasn't that impressed by Quimper. 

 

Brest has not only the Aquarium and the Botanical Garden, but also a very nice and impressive fortress with the national maritime museum in it. It was built or at least made bigger and therefore more impressive by (in-)famous Cardinal Richelieu (yes, the one from Alexandre Dumas' the three musketeers) - but in fact he was not the evil man Dumas made him but a very important political figure of his time....

 

Château de Brest - Wikipedia

Venue and itinerary | Musée national de la Marine at Brest (musee-marine.fr)

 

And also this Sight is to mention:

 

Home | Ateliers des Capucins

 

Edited March 2 by onyx007