The one thing to understand before you go

Dinan is built on a hill above a river, and everything worth seeing runs between the two.

The old town sits at the top: the squares, the clock tower, the timber-framed houses. The port sits at the bottom, on the Rance. Between them runs Rue du Jerzual, the street from my magazine photograph, and it is steep.

Walk it downhill. Start at the top, work through the squares, then descend to the port. You get the views opening up in front of you the whole way, which is the reason the street is famous.

Then accept that you have to come back up. There’s no way around it and it’s a proper climb — I’d put it on par with a long staircase rather than a stroll. Do it slowly, stop for a coffee halfway, and don’t schedule anything strenuous afterwards.

Doing this route in reverse means arriving at the best part of Dinan out of breath and looking at the backs of things.

If there’s one thing to book ahead, it’s this : Take an apéro boat trip on the Rance

If you have a full day in Dinan, this is the one activity I’d plan your day around.

Rance Evasion runs a two-hour Apéro Bistro cruise on the Rance, with local charcuterie, cheese and wine served on board while your captain tells you about the canal, its history and the surrounding nature.

The boat only takes ten passengers, and there is one departure a day at 15:15, so this is something I’d definitely book in advance.

The departure point is not at Dinan’s port. It’s about a 10-minute drive from Dinan, near the Écluse du Châtelier, and too far to realistically walk as part of your sightseeing day.

This is how I’d organise it: explore the upper part of Dinan in the morning, have lunch in the old town, then move your car around 14:45 to the free parking at the Écluse du Châtelier. Do the boat trip at 15:15, then drive back to Dinan afterwards.

From there, finish the day by walking down Rue du Jerzual to the port when the town is starting to quieten down. You can spend the rest of the afternoon window shopping along the way, or fit in the castle if you still want to visit it.

One practical detail before boarding: there are no toilets on the boat, so use the public toilets near the parking area first.

The walking route

Start on Rue de Lehon

This is where I’d begin, and it’s probably the nicest corner of the town.

Stone houses, artisanal shops, a genuinely good atmosphere without feeling staged. The lanes running off it are just as typical, and there’s less foot traffic here than around the main squares — which means you get about twenty minutes of Dinan to yourself before you meet anybody.

There’s also an architectural oddity here worth knowing about. One of the old houses on this street wasn’t originally built in Dinan at all. The story I was told is that it was moved here from another village because it was too beautiful to lose. The house is authentic — it’s just standing somewhere it was never meant to stand.

I like that far more than I expected to. It’s an act of preservation that we’d probably call vandalism today.

Find the Passage de la Tour

This is my favourite discovery in the town and it’s easy to miss.

It looks like a private passageway between buildings. It isn’t — walk through it, and it opens into a small square full of greenery, with a couple of cafés and craft shops around the edges.

It’s quiet in a way the main squares aren’t. If Dinan starts to feel busy, this is where to go and sit for twenty minutes.

Climb the Tour de l’Horloge

The clock tower stands over the medieval town at forty-three metres, and it dates from the late fifteenth century. It’s still working.

Entry is €4 for an adult, and it’s the best value in Dinan. The panorama from the top covers the whole old town, the rooftops and the countryside beyond, and it’s the one paid thing here I’d tell you to do without hesitating.

Two honest warnings.

The climb is steep and genuinely difficult. If you struggle with stairs, or you don’t like heights, I’d skip this one — it’s not a gentle spiral, and there’s no comfortable way down if you change your mind halfway.

And only nineteen people are allowed up at a time, for safety. That means queues in high season. Build in waiting time rather than arriving at five to closing and hoping.

Walk Rue de l’Apport into Place des Merciers

Rue de l’Apport is where the architecture starts showing off, and it delivers you into Place des Merciers, which has the most impressive buildings in the town.

The houses here are gabled and timber-framed, dating from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries — upper floors jutting out over the street on corbels, porches resting on wooden pillars, shopfronts with tall projecting windows.

Together with Rue de l’Apport and Place des Cordeliers, it forms one continuous ensemble rather than a few isolated survivors, which is what makes it feel like a complete medieval town rather than a preserved fragment.

If you only photograph one square in Dinan, this is it.

Then go down Rue du Jerzual

This is the one.

If you haven’t yet felt like you’ve walked into another century, you will here. Timber frames leaning over the street, workshops and galleries in the ground floors, the whole thing dropping away downhill towards the river.

Take your time. The temptation is to walk it as a route to the port, but the street is the destination and the port is a pleasant afterthought.

Stop at Dos Hermanas, a literary café about halfway down. Old beige stone, exposed beams, baby-blue shutters. The coffee is excellent, and they make exactly one flavour of ice cream — vanilla — which was extraordinary.

The woman running it has filled the shelves with books, a lot of them on feminist subjects, and you’re welcome to read them. We ended up in a long conversation there that I remember better than most of the sights on this list. It’s my favourite stop in Dinan.

Reach the port, then turn around

The port at the bottom is pretty and low-key. A river, a bridge, a few places to sit.

It’s a fine reward for the walk down. It is not, by itself, a reason to come to Dinan — so don’t feel you have to linger if your legs are already thinking about the return climb.

What I’d skip, and why

Two things, and I paid for one of them.

The castle interiors. We bought the combined ticket with the clock tower, which is the sensible move if you’re doing both. Then we went in and found the rooms essentially empty. It was a good place to escape the heat and that’s about the extent of my enthusiasm. Take a guided tour if you want the castle to mean anything, or skip it entirely and put the time into the streets — which is where Dinan’s value actually is.

The ramparts. You can walk them here, and they’re fine. But if you’ve come from Saint-Malo, you’ve already walked far better ones, and comparing them does Dinan no favours.

If Dinan is your only walled town in Brittany, do them. Otherwise, don’t feel you’re missing anything.

One thing I’d add instead: the Chapelle des Cordeliers, in the old college. It hosts temporary exhibitions and the building itself, with its cloister, is a nice quiet stop between the squares. Low commitment, no ticket queue.

Where I’d spend, and where I’d save

Worth paying for: the clock tower at €4. That’s the whole list.

Save: the castle, unless you’re taking a guide. And lunch on Place des Cordeliers is priced for the view — if you’re watching costs, the cafés on Rue de Lehon and down Rue du Jerzual are better value and, honestly, better atmosphere.

The best things here are free, which is unusual for a town this photogenic. The streets, the squares, the descent to the port and the view from the top of the hill cost nothing.

How long do you need in Dinan?

Half a day covers the squares, the clock tower and Rue du Jerzual down to the port. That’s the minimum and it’s a real visit, not a rushed one.

A full day is what I’d recommend, and what we did. It lets you eat properly, sit in the Passage de la Tour, get down to the port without rushing the climb back, and add the chapel or the castle.

Would I stay the night? Probably not, unless you want the town before the day-trippers arrive — which is a legitimate reason, and photographers should consider it.

Dinan is thirty minutes from Saint-Malo, and staying in Saint-Malo lets you use one base for Dinan, Dinard and Mont-Saint-Michel without repacking. That’s how I built the 14-day Brittany itinerary, and Dinan is the easiest of the three days.

Getting there: thirty minutes by car from Saint-Malo. Park at the top of the town rather than near the port, so the hard climb happens before you’ve spent the day on your feet rather than after.

Dinan is also accesible by bus, but ofcourse that route depends on where you’re coming from.

There is also an option, by boat, from Saint-Malo. It sounds great at first, but the one way trip takes 2h45 minutes, which gives you little to no time on site. I wouldn’t recommend this one.

Wear proper shoes. Cobbles, a steep street and a stair-heavy tower. This is not a sandals town.

Shops close at lunch. Brittany generally shuts from around midday until two or three, and closes early in the evening. If there’s a specific shop you want, check its hours rather than assuming you’ll catch it on the way back down.

It gets hot in summer and there’s not much shade in the squares. The chapel and the castle are the two places to cool off.

Dinan or Dinard? They’re different towns, thirty minutes apart, and the similar names cause genuine confusion. Dinan is medieval and inland. Dinard is a seaside resort. I’ve currently writing a blog to compare them properly!