Bleisure in Nantes

Museums, walks, shopping: the range of leisure activities on offer in Nantes is well worth the diversions. Here are a few good places to visit to make the most of an hour in Nantes
By Florian Guillemin -
Machines de l'Île
The elephant, star of the Machines de l'Île, is one of the many bleisure attractions in Nantes.

If you have an hour...

Closed for six long years for renovation, the Musée des Beaux-Arts - renamed art museum - was sorely missed by the people of Nantes. When it reopened in June 2017In the space of just two months, no fewer than 100,000 visitors flocked to the show, discovering, among other things the Cubea new space dedicated to contemporary art. A few metres further on, the garden of plants is the perfect place for a stroll or a run, depending on your mood.

  • The art museum
  • The plant garden

... or half a day

With the Trip to NantesThe tourism industry has thought of business travellers who want to discover the city in the best possible way. Just follow the green line The route is marked out on the ground and guides visitors to the must-see sites. The route is embellished with works of art and will inevitably take them past the Machines de l'Île where the famous elephant puts on a great show. But the best is yet to come: the Heron TreeThe "Nantes Wine Trail", a new and grandiose event, is due to be inaugurated in 2022, and you can already take a look at the production workshops. For wine-lovers who want to get away from it all while sampling some local grape varieties, the "Voyage dans le vignoble de Nantes" takes visitors on a 115km wine trail as far as Clisson and its architectural treasures.

  • The Île de Nantes
  • Les Machines de l'Île
  • Castle of the Dukes of Brittany

Shopping

Passage Pommeraye

In Nantes, window-shopping is inevitably gourmet. It's hard to resist the local produce on offer in the small shops in the historic city centre, such as ABC Terroir, Atout Nantes and Rigolettes nantaises, to name but a few.
The Coiffard bookshop, a key player in the local cultural scene which celebrates its centenary in 2019, is also well worth a mention, as is the Passage Pommeraye, where you can wander from shop window to shop window.

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