Our travel diary
Getting to Nantes
The Pays de la Loire prefecture is located a few kilometres from the Atlantic coast, on the banks of the indomitable Loire. Nantes is located 380 km from Paris, 330 km from Bordeaux, and just 110 km from Rennes. On the other hand, count 970 km from Marseille, 860 km from Strasbourg or 680 km from Lyon. There are some 680 km from Brussels and Belgium, and 750 km from Geneva and Switzerland. While all solutions to get to Nantes are possible, from airplane to road to train, some are more attractive than others depending on where you live.
Nantes has an international airport located 12 km from the city centre, in the town of Bouguenais, called Nantes Atlantique. It is possible to reach the city centre by shuttle buses serving the station in a little over 20 minutes, all for 8€. A departure takes place every 20 minutes. A taxi ride will cost between 30 and 35 euros. You will find flights to Nantes from many French cities, Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Lille or Toulouse in the lead. Depending on your departure point, you will have the choice of travelling with Air France, Hop, EasyJet, Vueling, Ryanair or Transavia. There are also international lines to Nantes, with for example a line from Belgium to Brussels operated by HOP. From Switzerland, Easyjet offers one from Geneva.
Nantes is well connected to the French rail network with around twenty TGV Atlantique trains running every day between Montparnasse station in Paris and Nantes for journeys of just 2 hours. Direct TGV links also exist from Lille and Lyon, for journeys lasting 4 hours and 4h30 respectively. From Bordeaux, count 4 hours and 10 minutes by Intercités train. Both TGV and TER trains arrive in the city centre of Nantes, in two adjacent and connected stations.
It is possible to reach Nantes by road, which may be the most interesting for regions bordering or poorly served by rail services, for example. It is interesting, for example, from Rennes or Brest, from where you can reach Nantes in 1h30 and 3h30 respectively. This mode of transport also has a clear budgetary advantage. And if you can't charter a coach for your group trip, there are regular bus lines, especially those of Flixbus and Ouibus, offering affordable rates.
Hotels for all needs and budgets
In the centre of one of the ten largest urban areas in France with nearly 900,000 inhabitants, Nantes is a centre of economic activity, historically supported by port trade and industry in a second phase. It is therefore not surprising that it has a large hotel park and facilities adapted to accommodate groups. A brief overview of the city's main districts. The historic city centre of Nantes is a collection of micro-neighbourhoods from very different periods, from old working-class neighbourhoods to historic long-island neighbourhoods (before the filling of the canals that gave the city its nickname of Venice of the West) and post-war reconstruction. It is home to many shops, bars and cultural areas. Dervallière Zola is one of the largest residential areas in the city, west of the historic centre. The Haut Pavés-Saint-Félix district, just north of the old town, is a very popular district, among other things for its university infrastructures, its proximity to the city centre and the presence of the Erdre, a tributary of the Loire. Malakoff Saint-Donatien is a district in the process of being converted to the east of the old town, attracting many young people with its recently installed shops and public facilities. To the south of the old town is located, in the middle of the Loire, the Ile de Nantes, one of the most dynamic districts in terms of urban development. Historically a port, this district has seen the development of cultural and university facilities. An important business district is developing between the station (located in the Saint Donatien district) and the Ile de Nantes. The city has several congress centres, including the Parc Expo la Beaujoire located on the outskirts, near the stadium, on the banks of the Erdre, but also the congress city located in the city's new business district. Groupcorner lists the accommodation suitable for group accommodation. Depending on your needs, Groupcorner will help you select the appropriate establishments, in terms of location and equipment.