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Dinan, town of Art and History, Important place in Breton History

"Une belle vieille ville, agglutinée et maçonnée en surplomb sur un précipice, comme un nid d'hirondelle..."
"An ancient and beautiful city, stone-crafted, cleaving to the rocks as a house-martin's nest above the precipice..."
Victor Hugo

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Dinan is one of the finest of all Brittany's "Towns of Artistic and Architectural Interest" and it has lost none of its mediaeval charm. Its many superb half-timbered houses, Romanesque and Gothic churches, convents and chapels, picturesque streets and squares all take visitors back in time to days long gone. Dinan is an echanting location as a stopover or as a place to live. The outlying villages are filled with reminders of the Stone Age, Gallo-Roman, times or the Middle Ages, and all of them combine water, greenery and open spaces to make this a truly outstanding location.

Dinan, stones and a soul of incomparable charms !...
Originally (XIth), Dinan is a small commercial harbour on the Rance. The strategical and economical importance of this port didn't escape the attention of the Breton Dukes. One of them, Jean Le Roux 1st, buys the kingdom of Dinan from it's feudal lords and poses the first stones of an imposing fortress. It still shelters medieval churches, convents, wooden lathed houses and private mansions... The exceptional riches of this architectural, military, civil, religious and contemporary heritage are marvellously maintained in Dinan, a city of human dimension with a real quality of life. A journey into a faraway past, rich in history and glory, an invitation to discovery and dream !

In Dinan, the decor is reality.
If there are magical towns where history is omnipresent, then Dinan surely merits to be counted among the number of exceptional european towns.
- 2 700 metres of ramparts (XIIIth - XVth),
- a roman-gothic basilica,
- a beautiful gothic church,
- an imposing XIVthcentury keep.
An architectural heritage marvellously preserved.
- About fifty wooden lathed houses,
- renaissance hotels,
- a medieval belfry "La Tour de l'Horloge",
- convents,
- about one hundred or so private mansions from the "Lumières" era,
- a very ancient port on the Rance,
- a deep valley,
- a natural preserved setting.

DINAN, is twinned with the town of Dinant in Belgium.

Festival of the ramparts
Experience three days in a medieval atmosphere !
Dinan, guided tours.
Throughout the year
By appointment with the conference guide of Dinan town and the tourist guides.

July - August
Everyday except Sundays and bank-holidays :
10 h - One theme per day.
15h - General visit of the town.

Dinan and it's surroundings, a long tradition of accommodation :
- about fifty hotels,
- plenty of furnished apartments, gîtes and B1Bs,
- a hundred or so restaurants,
- parks and public gardens,
- plenty of spots for walks,
- more than 300 shops,
- public market on Thursday,
- camping sites, swimming pools, sports grounds, tennis, golf and mini-golf..., a theatre, artistic craftsmen, a youth hostel which organizes environmental and national heritage discovery classes :
Tel : 33(0)2 96 39 10 83

The tourist board of Dinan town and it's surroundings
Hotel Keratry
6, rue de l'Horloge
22100 Dinan
Tel. 33(0)2 96 39 75 40
Fax. 33(0)2 96 39 01 64

Practical guide to Dinan : 10967 inhabitants, "Dinannais"
Paris (400km) ; Rennes (53km) ; Saint-Brieuc (58km)

Townhall : 21 rue du Marchix
Postal code 22100
Tél. 33(0)2.96.39.22.43
Fax. 33(0)2.96.85.06.97

Tourist bureau : 9, rue du Château
Tél. 33(0)2.96.87.69.76
Fax. 33(0)2.96.87.69.77

Site : http://www.dinan-tourisme.com
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