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Nantes
Prefecture and commune in Pays de la Loire, France

Nantes

Nantes is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, 50 km (31 mi) from the Atlantic coast.

Plan a trip to Nantes→From Brest

The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 327,734 in Nantes proper (2023) and a metropolitan area of 1,050,815 inhabitants (2023). With Saint-Nazaire, a seaport on the Loire estuary, Nantes forms one of the main north-western French metropolitan agglomerations.

Get in

Getting to Nantes

  1. 01
    Nantes Atlantique Airport

    This has regular flights from Europe and UK (mostly by budget carriers) and North Africa, and seasonally from Montreal with Air Transat.

  2. 02
    Route de Paris is
See

Worth seeing

Jardin des Plantes is a bosky park just north of the railway station, bounded to the west by Rue Stanislas Baudry and east by Rue Frédéric Cailliaud. It's free to enter in daylight hours. By its northeast corner is the back entrance to Bouteillerie cemetery, with elaborate 19th-century ornaments, and First World War graves in regimented rows.

Do

Things to do

Le Lieu Unique is a cultural centre at

Eat

Where to eat

Some cafés and crêperies offer affordable prix-fixe menus for lunch. Try the local galettes de sarrasin, buckwheat crêpes. La Ripaille Burger, 10 Rue du Château (50 m west of castle entrance),. Mon-Fri 12:00-14:00, 19:00-22:00, Sat Sun 12:00-22:00. Above-average quality at this sit-in fast-food cafe. L'Épicerie de Ginette, 6 Place du Bouffay (north of Feydeau by Bouffay tram stop),.

  1. 01
    Le Loo Librairie Gourmande

    22 Rue Baron,.

  2. 02
    Au Bureau Nantes

    Chain pub near the law courts similar to TGI Friday.

  3. 03
    Au Petit Raphaël

    Small restaurant, so are the menu choices and portions, but fresh and creative dishes.

  4. 04
    L'Instinct Gourmand

    Very good bistro food in a relaxed atmosphere.

  5. 05
    Le Lion et L'Agneau

    Excellent, imaginative cuisine and friendly service.

How locals move

Getting around Nantes the local way

  • Get inBlablacar services from other French cities are often car-share rides, and may start or drop off some distance from city centres.
  • Get aroundNaolib is the integrated public transport network, with three tram lines, two BusWays (buses with re-assignment surgery into trams), 50-some daytime bus lines, three night buses, and Navibus river ferries.

From Wikivoyage: Nantes, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see file page), Wikimedia Commons.