Dog-Friendly Attractions in Rennes

The monumental 17th-century square at the heart of Rennes, dominated by the Parlement de Bretagne, the historic seat of the Brittany regional parliament built between 1618 and 1655. The Salomon de Brosse facade in golden sandstone is one of the finest examples of French Renaissance civic architecture surviving in the country. Leashed dogs are welcome on the whole pedestrian square and at every café terrace facing the Parlement.

Rennes' Roman Catholic cathedral, built between 1787 and 1844 in a sober neoclassical style with a richly painted interior, sits at the heart of the surviving medieval quarter. The cathedral's western parvis is a popular meeting point and the surrounding cobbled streets (Rue du Chapitre, Rue de la Psallette) are some of the most photogenic dog-walking lanes in the city, with 15th-17th century half-timbered houses on every side.

The Marché des Lices on Place des Lices every Saturday morning is the second-largest open-air market in France (after Lyon), with around 300 stalls of Breton produce, oysters, andouille de Guéméné, galettes-saucisses, cider and farmhouse cheeses spread across two covered halls and the wider square. Leashed dogs are welcome throughout, and the side terraces fill with stallholders and shoppers chatting over a galette-saucisse and cider.