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Travel guide
Nantes
4 days · 8 things to do
Best time to go: May to September
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Welcome
Nantes, in a few days
Nantes chose to hand its image to artists rather than to its monuments: a twelve-metre mechanical elephant walks the old shipyards, and a green line painted on the ground links artworks across the city. Behind that is a dense, bookish Loire city with a ducal castle, an 1843 arcade and a fine art museum, which faces its slave-trading past instead of hiding it.
- Day by day
- D1 Day 1 2 things
- D2 Day 2 2 things
- D3 Day 3 2 things
- D4 Day 4 2 things
- Worth sorting before you go
- Words that help
- The practical page
- Packing checklist
The trip
Day by day
Map of the sights (numbers follow the suggested order). It prints with the base map.
D1
Day 1
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Les Machines de l'île · half a dayThree separately ticketed experiences: the elephant ride, the Carousel where children steer giant sea creatures, and the Gallery where machinists run the prototypes live.
- Afternoon · Buren's Rings, Quai des Antilles free · about 30 minEighteen steel rings along 400 metres of the Loire, by Daniel Buren and Patrick Bouchain in 2007, lit red, green and blue after dark.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Best Western Hôtel Graslin€110 a night
D2
Day 2
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Trentemoult free · about 1 hA riverside village across the Loire, best explored without a map through lanes sometimes a metre wide, past façades painted by the residents themselves.
- Afternoon · Passage Pommeraye free · a few minutesAn 1843 covered arcade whose real show is the central staircase, with statues of children representing trades that you only notice when you look up.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Hôtel La Pérouse€125 a night
D3
Day 3
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Château des ducs de Bretagne · about 1 h 30The white tufa fortress where Anne of Brittany was born; its courtyard, moat and 500 metres of rampart walk are free to enter all year.
- Afternoon · Le Lieu Unique and the LU tower free · about 1 hThe old LU biscuit factory, now a bookshop, hammam and bar under bare girders, with a gilded tower that opens only occasionally for its view.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Hôtel Oldegar€110 a night
D4
Day 4
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Musée d'arts de Nantes · about 2 hSeven centuries of painting, from Georges de La Tour to Kandinsky, in a 1900 palace reopened in 2017 with a translucent extension by Stanton Williams.
- Afternoon · Jardin des Plantes free · about 1 hA botanical garden opposite the station, where children head for the giant wooden chick and the sad-faced bench, leaving the glasshouses and shaded valley quiet.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Hôtel Billie€115 a night
Before you go
Worth sorting before you go
📶 eSIM data
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
🛡️ Travel insurance
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
💳 Fee-free card
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
🚐 Airport transfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
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Good to know
Flavours & local habits
🍽️ Worth tasting
- Baguette: the daily bread, bought fresh from the boulangerie. Ask for a "tradition", made with nothing but flour, water, salt and yeast.
- Croissant and pain au chocolat: breakfast pastries, best in the morning while still warm.
- The cheese course: served after the main dish and before dessert, from Comté to Camembert.
- Steak frites: the bistro standard. Order it "saignant" for rare or "à point" for medium.
- Galettes and crêpes: savoury buckwheat pancakes from Brittany filled with ham, egg and cheese, then sweet ones for pudding.
- House wine: ordered by the carafe or the "pichet" at lunch, and often better value than a bottle.
⚠️ Best avoided
- Say "bonjour" when you walk into a shop, a bakery or a café, and "au revoir" as you leave. Skipping it comes across as rude.
- Lunch runs from about noon to 2pm and dinner starts around 7.30pm. In between, most restaurant kitchens are closed.
- Most shops close on Sunday, and many small towns shut on Monday too. Bakeries and markets open on Sunday morning.
- Do not pay for bottled water at the table: ask for "une carafe d'eau", tap water that is served free with a meal.
- Around the big Paris sights, walk past anyone with a petition or a friendship bracelet. They are there to distract you while someone else takes your wallet.
Getting by
Words that help
English ↔ French
| English | French |
|---|---|
| Hello | Bonjour |
| Thank you | Merci |
| Please | S'il vous plaît |
| Yes | Oui |
| No | Non |
| Excuse me | Excusez-moi |
| Goodbye | Au revoir |
| Do you speak English? | Parlez-vous anglais ? |
| I don't understand | Je ne comprends pas |
| How much is it? | Combien ça coûte ? |
| Where are the toilets? | Où sont les toilettes ? |
| The bill, please | L'addition, s'il vous plaît |
| Help! | Au secours ! |
| Cheers! | Santé ! |
The essentials
The practical page
CurrencyEuro (EUR, €)
BudgetAbout €103 a day, mid-range
Best seasonMay to September
PlugC/E · 230V
Tap waterSafe to drink
TippingService is included by law, round up
Emergency112
EntrySchengen area: an ID card or passport for EU citizens, 90 days visa-free for UK, US, Canadian and Australian passports.
HealthNo specific vaccination needed. Check that tetanus, diphtheria, polio and MMR are up to date.
Scan to open this guide online, always up to date.
https://offwegooo.com/en/guides/nantes
Don't forget
Packing checklist
Have a good trip.
Guide made on offwegooo.com · Photos via Pexels · Details are indicative, check before you leave.