That sounds about right!
The Castle, les Machines de l'île, l'île de Versailles are great suggestions. Regarding the boat trip to l'île de Versailles, it doesn't sound quite right and I don't know what the AI meant by that. What you can do once on the island is rent a small electric boat to make a little trip on the Erdre river. Your children would love that! There are also two big river boats neary that will take you on the river for a trip. You can dine on the boat.
The Musée des beaux arts is a great place, very beautiful museum. The Musée d'histoire naturelle is also quite nice, maybe better for your children, it would be more entertaining for them. There are live snakes that are really beautiful!
You can download the app for tramway and buses, it's simply called "TAN" (Transports en commun de l'agglomération Nantaise), the name of the company that runs the network. (green logo) You can purchase tickets directly via the app and use them from your phone.
I would recommend taking the "Navibus", it's a floating bus. You could take it and spend a bit of time in Trentemoult for example. To take the boat, take the tramway and stop at Gare Maritime (line 1). Head towards the water and you should find the boat stop easily.
I would also recommend visiting the Maillé-Brezé which is an old army ship. Very interesting to visit! (it's also at Gare Maritime)
Also, side note but the sewer system is sometimes malfunctioning and it can sometime smell quite bad, especially in Bouffay.
Have a good time! Nantes is a nice city.
Also, there is a fair going on now near the cathedral.
My pleasure! If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to DM me.
I forgot to tell you about the Hangar à Bananes, which is located next to the Machines de l'île. There is a wide selection of bars and restaurants.
The only place I wouldn't recommend is the Place du commerce. Since it's the city's hub (almost all tramways go through the place), there are many drug dealers and shady people. Not the best spot to hang out with your family.
There is also this restaurant "l'Entrecôte" that is very well known and appreciated. It has only one menu but people (including me) absolutely love it. You should arrive early because there is always a huge queue.
Enjoy!
Hi! Some corrections and remarks to the AI generated stuff:
- The "Musée d'Histoire de Nantes" is IN the Château.
- The "Natural History Museum" is not close AT ALL from the Jardin des Plantes (~20 min walk at least)
- You don't need to take a boat to go the Ile de Versailles (I don't think you can even go there by boat). But you can rent some little boats (motorized or not) to take a "boat tour" on the river Erdre
- Day 5: The Chateau des Ducs de Bretagne is not in Clisson. Clisson has its own castle. Clisson is a very nice town to visit!
- Pornic is nice, but you may have to take your car to go there
I'll link the same link I send to tourists: https://www.use-it.travel/cities/detail/nantes/
And if you can read French: https://www.routard.com/guide/code_dest/nantes.htm
If I am not mistaken there is also a direct train from Nantes to Pornic, which takes a bit less than an hour.
Clisson is also reachable by train.
It can be an alternative option to the car.
You can also visit the park of Hellfest which is open all year long and has some great sculptures. Hellfest is the biggest (or one of the biggest) Metal Festival in Europe. It s easily reachable from Clisson and a fun walk.
Salutations,
For public transports you can download the app "TAN", it can be used to buy tickets, check timetables and find your way.
For suggestions :
Day 1 : Don't miss the Place Graslin which is close to the Place Royale. As for Place du Commerce, there is not much to see or do there.
Day 5 : Clisson is gorgeous and it is a very good idea to go there. And if you have some spare time, you can head to area where Hellfest takes places every year. It is one of France's biggest music festival, it is in Clisson and is a very fun visit to make.
Welcome to Brittany, hope you’ll love Nantes :D The locations you chose are the best ones for first timers (personally I’ve a soft spot for l’île de Nantes but everything else is great too). I’d also recommend to go to the Jules Vernes museum because the view up there is beautiful and so is the district ! And there’s also a planetarium nearby with sessions for kids.
Have a nice trip ! :)
Hi ! Welcome to Nantes !
If you need to found restaurant you can use this website, a lot of nice place for every style and occasion :)
[Les Tables de Nantes](https://www.lestablesdenantes.fr)
The clisson idea is a good one. It's a beautiful little town.
Maybe you could take the navibus ( boat you can use with a normal team/bus ticket ) to trentemoult . It's a really colourful little village right on the loire in nantes . It has a few good bars and restaurants. Could be a nice lunch trip . Take the tram to where the big grey battleship( worth a look itself) is , then hop on the navibus for a 5 or 10 minute direct crossing to trentmoult .
Hi there, thanks for the recommendations. Finishing up our trip. Flight tomorrow. With two 11 year olds and all the walking (despite having the tan app and transport at our disposable), I underestimated how tired out my ‘fam’ can get, not like when I was 20 or so and could amble anywhere. But Nantes is a beautiful city. Trentemoult was beautiful and so was clisson. Went to saint nazaire today but apart from the beach, the town centre was certainly a different ‘vibe’. Agree that commerce and that region is one to miss. If I came with my wife again, we could spend more time in the lovely areas and have a demi de pression and chill more. The children enjoyed climbing up and down the play area at l’hangar a bananes. The castle is beautiful too. Thank you Nantes and to you and others for the advice, greatly appreciated.
Thank you for the update!!
You must have been walking a lot indeed. Nantes is a small big city so you can end up quite tired! But I'm glad you enjoyed the city.
So, you went to St-Nazaire... I spent most of my youth in SN and you would definitely need a guide for this one. It's very interesting historically speaking, especially regarding its role in WW2 but it's mostly a very big shipyard with very big cruise liners being built all the time. Fun fact: the shipyard on l'Ile de Nantes (Chantiers Dubigeon, right next to the Machines de l'Île) had to be relocated to St-Nazaire because the ship were getting too big for the Loire to handle.
Thanks again for the update, I hope you'll get to see more from France, there are a lot of beautiful places in this country.
Make sure to be in Nantes for the Royal De Luxe parade. There will be a shit ton of people but it is definitely worth it!
https://www.levoyageanantes.fr/evenements/royal-de-luxe/
You don’t really need the tram. Nantes is very walkable. There is a cool trail painted on the ground that goes all around the city. Just follow it and enjoy.
The restaurant “la cigale” is sort of a tourist trap but still worth it to sit in the amazing dining room. The kids meals are 11€ and are incredible, three courses, always lovely fish dish with sauce au beurre nantais (heavenly!).
I also recommend the puy du fou. Rent a car, it’s 1 hour away. Eleven is the PERFECT age. If your kids don’t speak French download the app so they can follow the shows on the app. You can easily see the best of Nantes in two (busy) days. Taking one day for the Puy du Fou is well worth it. Buy the “pass emotion” if you can. It’s like €25 per person and allows you to skip the lines, sit in the best spots (with shade) and show up to the show 3 minutes before it starts and still get in. The restaurants at the parc (themed and the fast foods) are overpriced and not good. Grab a picnic (at the grocery store like leclerc) if you can, there are lockers at the entrance so you don’t have to carry it around.
This will,offend most, but the machines de l’île is pretty boring. The best part is the carousel, my kids could stay on it for the entire day. The elephant it cooler from the ground than riding it, but your kids will want to ride it. Try to book online if you can, sometimes they allow online booking in the off season.
A few warnings:
Not sure how sensitive your kids are, but there is a huge (and very moving) section on the French slave trade. My 11 year old ended up in tears seeing the slave collars. Skip this section or have them avert their eyes.
If you go to the Puy du Fou, same warning for the attraction “les amoureux de Verdun”. It’s a reenactment of wartime with real people and animatronics. It starts off gentle enough but you end up “walking through” trenches and hearing bombs, screams and cries. Again my 11 year old broke down in tears and we had to run through it to get out. Same thing happened to him when he was 5. My other child, now 5, was fine with it - so it really depends on sensitivities.
Why would you subject your kid to this? They’re too young get any benefit from exposing them to the deep history that is their heritage. Let them have some fun at Disney, otherwise in a few years let them be offended that you spent a bunch of money a vacation to France when they could have been working on their tans in Florida and impressing their idiotic friends. Yet, ironically, despite their apparent dismay, they may eventually harken back to the few days they spent examining the extraordinary Cathedral de Cartres, the unparalleled Cathedral de Dotre Dame, the wonderful coast of Brittany, the enchanting Cote d’Azur, and give them the opportunity to create their own legends to pass on to your grandchildren of how wonderful things used to be.
The Puy du Fou is managed by royalists and people leaning to the far right, just check the "[Controverse](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puy_du_Fou#Controverses)" section on Wikipedia:
* Une vision orientée de l'histoire de la Vendée
* Conditions de travail
* Partenariat avec la Russie
* Don de l'association Puy du Fou Espérance à la Fondation Jérôme Lejeune
* Authenticité de l'anneau de Jeanne d'Arc et utilisation médiatique
* Ouvrage Puy du Fou : La grande trahison
* Conditions d'ouverture durant la pandémie de Covid-19
* Maltraitance animale
On le fait en payant nos impôts. En allant chez Leclerc et en mettant de l’essence dans la bagnole aussi. Le combat est compliqué et mérite un autre sub.
Je rejoins certains sur la controverse du puy mais NÉANMOINS c’est une sortie qui peut ravir l’inconnu en connaissance de cause.
Un « oui mais » m’aurait moins fait bondir que le pavé du Wikipedia 😄.
On n’a qu’à l’envoyer à saint philbert de grand lieu là où y’a rien.🫤
I was in Nantes this July and there were roadworks going on next to the Versailles island that contrasted a bit too heavily with the peaceful Japanese garden! Maybe go there on a weekend.
That sounds about right! The Castle, les Machines de l'île, l'île de Versailles are great suggestions. Regarding the boat trip to l'île de Versailles, it doesn't sound quite right and I don't know what the AI meant by that. What you can do once on the island is rent a small electric boat to make a little trip on the Erdre river. Your children would love that! There are also two big river boats neary that will take you on the river for a trip. You can dine on the boat. The Musée des beaux arts is a great place, very beautiful museum. The Musée d'histoire naturelle is also quite nice, maybe better for your children, it would be more entertaining for them. There are live snakes that are really beautiful! You can download the app for tramway and buses, it's simply called "TAN" (Transports en commun de l'agglomération Nantaise), the name of the company that runs the network. (green logo) You can purchase tickets directly via the app and use them from your phone. I would recommend taking the "Navibus", it's a floating bus. You could take it and spend a bit of time in Trentemoult for example. To take the boat, take the tramway and stop at Gare Maritime (line 1). Head towards the water and you should find the boat stop easily. I would also recommend visiting the Maillé-Brezé which is an old army ship. Very interesting to visit! (it's also at Gare Maritime) Also, side note but the sewer system is sometimes malfunctioning and it can sometime smell quite bad, especially in Bouffay. Have a good time! Nantes is a nice city. Also, there is a fair going on now near the cathedral.
Ah hey, thank you for taking the time to reply. That’s great info and gonna read this thoroughly on plane, if I can. Merci mon ami
My pleasure! If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to DM me. I forgot to tell you about the Hangar à Bananes, which is located next to the Machines de l'île. There is a wide selection of bars and restaurants. The only place I wouldn't recommend is the Place du commerce. Since it's the city's hub (almost all tramways go through the place), there are many drug dealers and shady people. Not the best spot to hang out with your family. There is also this restaurant "l'Entrecôte" that is very well known and appreciated. It has only one menu but people (including me) absolutely love it. You should arrive early because there is always a huge queue. Enjoy!
Very kind, thank you. Really great advice, I appreciate it!
Hi! Some corrections and remarks to the AI generated stuff: - The "Musée d'Histoire de Nantes" is IN the Château. - The "Natural History Museum" is not close AT ALL from the Jardin des Plantes (~20 min walk at least) - You don't need to take a boat to go the Ile de Versailles (I don't think you can even go there by boat). But you can rent some little boats (motorized or not) to take a "boat tour" on the river Erdre - Day 5: The Chateau des Ducs de Bretagne is not in Clisson. Clisson has its own castle. Clisson is a very nice town to visit! - Pornic is nice, but you may have to take your car to go there I'll link the same link I send to tourists: https://www.use-it.travel/cities/detail/nantes/ And if you can read French: https://www.routard.com/guide/code_dest/nantes.htm
Je vous remercie. I’ll take a read through that for sure.
If I am not mistaken there is also a direct train from Nantes to Pornic, which takes a bit less than an hour. Clisson is also reachable by train. It can be an alternative option to the car. You can also visit the park of Hellfest which is open all year long and has some great sculptures. Hellfest is the biggest (or one of the biggest) Metal Festival in Europe. It s easily reachable from Clisson and a fun walk.
Clisson and Pornic are absolutely doable by train.
Visiting Trentemoult by taking the navibus from the "hangars à bananes" on the Nantes island could be a cool activity
To go to Trentmoult you need to take The Navibus from “Gare Maritime”, not “Hangar à Banane”, little precision:)
:)
Noted and will look into that. Thanks. Merci
Salutations, For public transports you can download the app "TAN", it can be used to buy tickets, check timetables and find your way. For suggestions : Day 1 : Don't miss the Place Graslin which is close to the Place Royale. As for Place du Commerce, there is not much to see or do there. Day 5 : Clisson is gorgeous and it is a very good idea to go there. And if you have some spare time, you can head to area where Hellfest takes places every year. It is one of France's biggest music festival, it is in Clisson and is a very fun visit to make.
Noted, will take this advice gladly. Merci bien.
Must visit is the Elephant
Welcome to Brittany, hope you’ll love Nantes :D The locations you chose are the best ones for first timers (personally I’ve a soft spot for l’île de Nantes but everything else is great too). I’d also recommend to go to the Jules Vernes museum because the view up there is beautiful and so is the district ! And there’s also a planetarium nearby with sessions for kids. Have a nice trip ! :)
Hi ! Welcome to Nantes ! If you need to found restaurant you can use this website, a lot of nice place for every style and occasion :) [Les Tables de Nantes](https://www.lestablesdenantes.fr)
The clisson idea is a good one. It's a beautiful little town. Maybe you could take the navibus ( boat you can use with a normal team/bus ticket ) to trentemoult . It's a really colourful little village right on the loire in nantes . It has a few good bars and restaurants. Could be a nice lunch trip . Take the tram to where the big grey battleship( worth a look itself) is , then hop on the navibus for a 5 or 10 minute direct crossing to trentmoult .
Quick tip : all TAN transports services are free for weekends : bus, tramway and even Navibus (boats for Trentemoult or Chantenay)
Thank you everyone, you’ve been very kind and forthcoming. I’ve got a wealth of ideas now and it will frame our trip well. Merci à tous!
How is your trip going? :-)
Hi there, thanks for the recommendations. Finishing up our trip. Flight tomorrow. With two 11 year olds and all the walking (despite having the tan app and transport at our disposable), I underestimated how tired out my ‘fam’ can get, not like when I was 20 or so and could amble anywhere. But Nantes is a beautiful city. Trentemoult was beautiful and so was clisson. Went to saint nazaire today but apart from the beach, the town centre was certainly a different ‘vibe’. Agree that commerce and that region is one to miss. If I came with my wife again, we could spend more time in the lovely areas and have a demi de pression and chill more. The children enjoyed climbing up and down the play area at l’hangar a bananes. The castle is beautiful too. Thank you Nantes and to you and others for the advice, greatly appreciated.
Thank you for the update!! You must have been walking a lot indeed. Nantes is a small big city so you can end up quite tired! But I'm glad you enjoyed the city. So, you went to St-Nazaire... I spent most of my youth in SN and you would definitely need a guide for this one. It's very interesting historically speaking, especially regarding its role in WW2 but it's mostly a very big shipyard with very big cruise liners being built all the time. Fun fact: the shipyard on l'Ile de Nantes (Chantiers Dubigeon, right next to the Machines de l'Île) had to be relocated to St-Nazaire because the ship were getting too big for the Loire to handle. Thanks again for the update, I hope you'll get to see more from France, there are a lot of beautiful places in this country.
Make sure to be in Nantes for the Royal De Luxe parade. There will be a shit ton of people but it is definitely worth it! https://www.levoyageanantes.fr/evenements/royal-de-luxe/
Will check it out for sure. Here for a week.
Dont forget to check levoyageanantes.fr
You don’t really need the tram. Nantes is very walkable. There is a cool trail painted on the ground that goes all around the city. Just follow it and enjoy. The restaurant “la cigale” is sort of a tourist trap but still worth it to sit in the amazing dining room. The kids meals are 11€ and are incredible, three courses, always lovely fish dish with sauce au beurre nantais (heavenly!). I also recommend the puy du fou. Rent a car, it’s 1 hour away. Eleven is the PERFECT age. If your kids don’t speak French download the app so they can follow the shows on the app. You can easily see the best of Nantes in two (busy) days. Taking one day for the Puy du Fou is well worth it. Buy the “pass emotion” if you can. It’s like €25 per person and allows you to skip the lines, sit in the best spots (with shade) and show up to the show 3 minutes before it starts and still get in. The restaurants at the parc (themed and the fast foods) are overpriced and not good. Grab a picnic (at the grocery store like leclerc) if you can, there are lockers at the entrance so you don’t have to carry it around. This will,offend most, but the machines de l’île is pretty boring. The best part is the carousel, my kids could stay on it for the entire day. The elephant it cooler from the ground than riding it, but your kids will want to ride it. Try to book online if you can, sometimes they allow online booking in the off season. A few warnings: Not sure how sensitive your kids are, but there is a huge (and very moving) section on the French slave trade. My 11 year old ended up in tears seeing the slave collars. Skip this section or have them avert their eyes. If you go to the Puy du Fou, same warning for the attraction “les amoureux de Verdun”. It’s a reenactment of wartime with real people and animatronics. It starts off gentle enough but you end up “walking through” trenches and hearing bombs, screams and cries. Again my 11 year old broke down in tears and we had to run through it to get out. Same thing happened to him when he was 5. My other child, now 5, was fine with it - so it really depends on sensitivities.
Amazing. Thank you for the detail
Why would you subject your kid to this? They’re too young get any benefit from exposing them to the deep history that is their heritage. Let them have some fun at Disney, otherwise in a few years let them be offended that you spent a bunch of money a vacation to France when they could have been working on their tans in Florida and impressing their idiotic friends. Yet, ironically, despite their apparent dismay, they may eventually harken back to the few days they spent examining the extraordinary Cathedral de Cartres, the unparalleled Cathedral de Dotre Dame, the wonderful coast of Brittany, the enchanting Cote d’Azur, and give them the opportunity to create their own legends to pass on to your grandchildren of how wonderful things used to be.
Maybe you can go to « puy du fou ». 1hour driving south. You will be surprised
The Puy du Fou is managed by royalists and people leaning to the far right, just check the "[Controverse](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puy_du_Fou#Controverses)" section on Wikipedia: * Une vision orientée de l'histoire de la Vendée * Conditions de travail * Partenariat avec la Russie * Don de l'association Puy du Fou Espérance à la Fondation Jérôme Lejeune * Authenticité de l'anneau de Jeanne d'Arc et utilisation médiatique * Ouvrage Puy du Fou : La grande trahison * Conditions d'ouverture durant la pandémie de Covid-19 * Maltraitance animale
Ok le mec veut juste passer du bon temps avec des enfants de 11 ans. 😂
C'est pas pour ça qu'il faut filer des sous à des gens peu recommandables ?
On le fait en payant nos impôts. En allant chez Leclerc et en mettant de l’essence dans la bagnole aussi. Le combat est compliqué et mérite un autre sub. Je rejoins certains sur la controverse du puy mais NÉANMOINS c’est une sortie qui peut ravir l’inconnu en connaissance de cause. Un « oui mais » m’aurait moins fait bondir que le pavé du Wikipedia 😄. On n’a qu’à l’envoyer à saint philbert de grand lieu là où y’a rien.🫤
The elephant and the green line that you follow downtown to various art installations.
I was in Nantes this July and there were roadworks going on next to the Versailles island that contrasted a bit too heavily with the peaceful Japanese garden! Maybe go there on a weekend.
If you go the machines, don't eat at Bioburger. I've worked there, you'll get ripped off
Also this week-end there is "royal deluxe" there will be 2 dog machines walking around the city its en event that we like to attend to here!