Abstract. The isotope shift and hyperfine structure in a rhenium hollow cathode discharge was studied for transitions of the type 5d56s7s-~5d56s6p and 5d56s6d 5 d 5 6 s 6p through Doppler-free saturation absorption laserspectroscopy and high resolution interferometry. Taking configuration mixing in the lower levels of 5d 5 6s 6p under consideration, we obtain average configuration isotope shift values for 5d56s7s of -1760(100) MHz and for 5d 5 6s 6d of -1930(200) MHz. These experimental values compare extremely well with the theoretically predicted configuration isotope shifts in rhenium, based on pseudo-relativistic Hartree-Fock calculations, of -1710 MHz and -I940 MHz, resp. In addition hyperfine structure constants for rhenium levels of 5 d 5 6 s 6 d are reported here for the first time.