You might be saying to yourself, “I’ve never hear of Nantes, where is she talking about?” or maybe asking why you should visit. The answer is, there are so many great things to do in Nantes that are worth a multi-day trip! It is located in western France and has a population of over 300,000 people. There is a vibrant culture with many activities including castles, history, museums, and shopping.
We have a great friend who lives in Nantes and he took us for an adventure throughout the city to see multiple museums, kayaking, wineries, and a scenic boat ride. If you are interested in planning a trip, here are the awesome ways we ventured throughout the city!
City Pass for Nantes
Before we arrived, our friend ordered the Nantes city pass for us. The pass provides entrance into different museums and forms of transportation. Overall, this saved us a lot of money because we took multiple tours and rode the buses and subways quite a bit. Some of the places on the list below were included! Link for this pass is below. It is recommended to download the app as well to your phone for easy access.
Price: 1 day is 23€
Options: 1 day, 2 day, 3 day or 7 day passes
Transportation: public transport is included
Attractions: Entrance to over 40 attractions
Château des ducs de Bretagne
The Castle of the Dukes of Brittany was such a fun experience! Not only is the castle gorgeous, the museum portion provided tons of information! There is 32 rooms with over 1,000 artifacts. Many of the rooms had interactive screens to provide information about the artifacts and the history. Each of the interactive screens provided the option to choose a language so we were able to read everything in English. One of my favorite rooms was actually for younger kids and had fun wall activities about dragons and books with information about dragons.
Address: 4, place Marc Elder 44 000 — Nantes
Price: Adults 26 and over are 9€ – if you get the city pass it includes entrance into this activity
Time: 1.5-2 hours
Website: https://www.chateaunantes.fr/
Machines of the Isle
Another super interactive experience is the Machines of the Isle. There are multiple activity options to choose from when visiting this spot. It is known for being artistic and cultural. The building is interesting because it was previously utilized for building ships. Now, it houses animatronics and the shop used to build these creatures. Taking the tour through the gallery allows you to watch all of the different animals come to life. If you volunteer, you will also get the chance to help one move! We got to ride the large ant and help move the legs as we walked around the gallery. Other options include riding the massive elephant through the streets or taking a ride on the carousel! Don’t forget to check out the shop where they are building everything to watch the magic unfold.
Address: Parc des Chantiers Boulevard Léon Bureau 44 200 Nantes
Prices: Elephant ride 9.50€ , Gallery 9.50€ (included in City Pass)
Deals: Gallery assists with a discount on the carasoul, check the dates to see which options are available, you can get a pass ambassador for more visit options.
Time: 1 hour for just the gallery
Website: https://www.lesmachines-nantes.fr/en/
Scenic River Tour of Historic
Castles in Nantes
The cruise on the Erdre was such a fun, relaxing experience! The ride was just long enough that I didn’t get bored or tired of sitting while being a great break from walking around town. The cruise took us along the river to look at tons of different amazing castles. They provided a map with a list of each location. The locations had small bits of info about the castles that resided there. I would recommend bringing a jacket as I found the wind to be chilly.
Price: 15.50€ or included in City Pass
Location: Quai de la Motte Rouge, Nantes
Time: 2 hours – including boarding time
Kayaking on the Sèvre to
Château du Coing
This is the only activity not included in the city pass. Our friend actually surprised us with this one and it was so fun! The water was absolutely beautiful and it was the perfect day. In the water were tiny leaves that had fallen from a plant which made for some very picturesque videos as they parted behind our kayaks.
The Château du Coing is a winery that is currently owned by a mother-daughter duo. It has been a vineyard since the 1500s. The lady who did our tour was extremely knowledgable about the vineyard and the process they use. The utilize muscadet grapes and sometimes age the wine for over 15 years. The wine was delicious and we bought a few bottles to take with us (which was an experience when our friend attempted to get his box of wine on his kayak).
If you go to the website, there are tons of different options for types of tours to take. They provide e-bike options as well as riding the boats to arrive. For this reason, the length of time and price can vary greatly. We had about an hour for the tour and tasting. I’d recommend having a bit longer if you are interested in asking a lot of questions and want to see further into the vineyard.
We highly recommend visiting Nantes! It was great to catch up with an old friend while exploring new places. The city pass was a steal in terms of how many places we got into. Are you planning a trip to France soon? We would love to hear about! Want info about other parts of France? Click here Paris Tourist Tricks for the Best Experiences.
**That Adventure Couple utilizes affiliate links throughout our posts to assist you in getting access to the exact experiences and products we talk about. If items are bought through these links, we will earn a small commission which helps keep our site running at no cost to our viewers.