Nantes Transportation

It is a major hub in the departément and région Centre,this is Nantes. I go from here often by air and sometimes past by in trains. Just for info on the region, i have a separate entry Under Nantes here.

The bus is TAN, with 3 lines of tramway, a line of busway, 4 lines of chronobus, and 51 lines of buses. Main office is at 3, rue Bellier with contact tel AlloTan : 02 40 444 444, webpage
https://www.tan.fr/

All official at the train is here in English
http://www.gares-en-mouvement.com/en/frnte/votre-gare/

the airport is here
http://www.nantes.aeroport.fr/

I come here often,and it has become my second home, first to the airport and then the city I drive all over. Very easy to do so if you are by with a rental as well.
Nantes has a beltway or périphériques, coming from my side the N165 you arrive at the N444 or the extension of the A11
The N444 connects you with the N844 to the airport Nantes Atlantique.Or directly into Nantes on the road D201 at the traffic circle take Blvd jean Ingrés. It to the airport stay on the N844 direction Nantes Atlantique ,all is well posted.

You can,also, come into Nantes off the N165 continue to the exit/sortie 2 and connect with the D965, pass underneath the N844 and continue direction centre ville on the Route de Vannes that can take you all the way to the castle of the dukes of Brittany.

Other ways is by the autoroute A11 from Paris via Le Mans-Angers
autoroute A83 from Bordeaux, and the national road RN 137 from Rennes.

You have a total of 14 covered parkings , 14 enclose parkings and 2 open air parking areas with meters. This in addition to the on street parking of short terms , metered. There is a new covered parking at Feydeau with 520 parking spaces in city center facing the Bouffay. There are 6 park and relay link to public transportation where you can leave your car and come in to the city. There is a line of tramway Nantes-Chateaubriand.

you have in the city of Nantes in French but easy to tell ,first the covered parkings (parking en ouvrage), then the enclosed parkings (parcs en enclos), and the relay parkings link to public transportation (parcs-relais).
http://www.nantes.fr/home/a-votre-service/fiches-pratiques/stationnement/stationner-dans-les-parcs-enclos.html

then you have the parking by time or metered in the city, zone rouge (red) jaune (yellow)
http://www.nantes.fr/home/a-votre-service/fiches-pratiques/stationnement/la-zone-de-stationnement-payant.html

needless to say I park by the Commerce, Feydeau, tour Bretagne or Cathédrale parkings. The map for them is in the above link on street parking, and you can zoom it or download and print in pdf file.
You have a interactive page that allows you to see the traffic conditions in the metro area of Nantes here
http://infotrafic.nantesmetropole.fr/carto.html
and another pdf file that tells you the traffic, park relays and parkings of Nantes ready to print and carry with you
http://www.nantesmetropole.fr/medias/fichier/zcard-2012_1353883942896.pdf?INLINE=FALSE

to minimize the use of cars in city center, the city as elsewhere in France has developed covoiturage, the site tells you about it in French
http://www.covoiturage-nantesmetropole.fr/

This is a nice regional hub train station with frequent services to Paris from Montparnasse. It sits on the line Tours, Saint Nazaire, and was operational from 1849.

It is divided into the gare nord and sud, the gare on the north side or Nord, has a long underground passage that leads to a great hall of departures, with an stairs leading to the hall of arrivals. It is service by the line 1 of the tramway of Nantes and the bus line 12 leading you to city center. It has an above ground parking and an underground one close to the station.

The gare Sud or south , is newer done in 1989 to welcome the arrival of the TGV . it has a huge hall in glass mount on a dome blue and white. Inside, you have several counters, tabac news stand; salon de thé ,and a cafétéria. The hall gives direct access to the hotel Mercure next door. It has an underground with a downward road and a smaller one link by a stairs or elevator. The two gares or stations are link by passage ways. It is service by two lines of buses on the local system TAN (lines C3 and 24 )as well as the airport navette linking city center with the airport Nantes Atlantique. Outside this gare, you find the inter department buses linking Nantes with several cities. It has parking has easy access to the station and has both open air and underground parkings. As well as many parking spaces nearby.

Good to know it has at least 22 roundtrips Nantes Paris and so easy to take. A new station is in the work to make it bigger by 2017-2018.
For now, the TER pay de la loire(even thus for many it is in Brittany) gives you access to all local and regional trains
http://www.ter-sncf.com/Regions/Pays_De_La_Loire/fr/Default.aspx

the information on this train station is ,also, from the SNCF site

http://www.gares-en-mouvement.com/en/frnte/accueil/

you could walk out into cith center with the castle of the Dukes of Brittany visible from the gare Sud.Its one of most frequent station nowdays ::)

the city is putting great emphasis on bicycle riding for use by residents and why not visitors to try it. I like to walk but it should be a good alternative to sightseeing in the city of Nantes.

You have over 103 stations well marked in orange and gray all over the city. By hitting savoir plus on the link you will have a map of all of them http://www.bicloo.nantesmetropole.fr/Les-stations

There is 40 welcome stations for paying for them on the spot or subscription. you can rent for one day or 7 days. You can use your bank card ( to verify if foreign cards are accepted).

as in every town and Nantes is no exception you have the possibility of taken a tourist bus of the hop on hop off kind.

It does the service for a quick trip around the city seeing the landmarks and then come back to see the one special to you if time is of the essence.

You get a ticket good for 24 hrs allowing you to stop at 12 places of interest in Nantes. The whole info in English at the tourist office site in contact.

a cute way to see the city when time is of the essence, and by hitting the landmarks you can come back to see in details the ones you like most so maximizing your time in the city.

starting from the place Saint Pierre at the Cathedral you pass by the Hôtel de ville, the street of cours des 50 Otages, squares such as place Royale and place Graslin passing in front of the beautiful Passage Pommeraye, the museums,and along the quais of the river Loire and île Feydeau. Visit the les machines de l'îles ,chantiers or naval dockyards come back to see the chateau des ducs de bretagne, the main symbol of Nantes.

6€ adults and schedules well posted on cardboards.

wonderful small airport with great connections, friendly service and easy in and out. Use it several times in the last year and always a great experience.
you have bus service to city center Nantes, and plenty of taxis plus rental cars just crossing the street from the terminal.
car parking is easy walking distance. A good way to come in and out of France. Just 3h+ to Paris on the TGV train.
the airport is n the nearby city of Bouguenais

navette bus to city and airport
for 7,50€ you can use the navette from airport Nantes to city center in about 26 minutes,from Mondays to Saturdays from 5h30 to 23h15 ,and Sundays from 13h15 to 19h15, every 30 minutes from the airport in front of Hall 1 and from city center on stop Commerce. The Sundays and holidays you have a navette bus from 6h15 -13h15 ,and 19h15- 23h15, every 45 to 90 minutes. see more here
https://www.tan.fr/jsp/fiche_pagelibre.jsp?CODE=06813770&LANGUE=0&RH=1228147667279&RF=1227806755351

the city is very modernise system of buses and tramways.
single tickets are 1,30€ and you can buy a carnet of 10 for 13,30€
this linked gives you the extend of the system
https://www.tan.fr/jsp/fiche_pagelibre.jsp?CODE=07531974&LANGUE=0&RH=1228147667279&RF=1227807509787

park relais so that you can come with a car and then use the public system to move about in the city is here
https://www.tan.fr/jsp/fiche_pagelibre.jsp?CODE=07774142&LANGUE=0&RH=1227807509787&RF=1253522195071

This one gives the route for each line of bus or tramway in the area,just click on the number for the pdf file to open
https://www.tan.fr/jsp/fiche_pagelibre.jsp?CODE=15780606&LANGUE=0&RH=1228147587193

in fiche horaires and plan du service de nuit you can see the service at night in pdf files
https://www.tan.fr/jsp/fiche_pagelibre.jsp?CODE=06869957&LANGUE=0&RH=1228147587193&RF=1227806842597

for 7,50€ you can use the navette from airport Nantes to city center in about 26 minutes,from Mondays to Saturdays from 5h30 to 23h15 ,and Sundays from 13h15 to 19h15, every 30 minutes from the airport in front of Hall 1 and from city center on stop Commerce. The Sundays and holidays you have a navette bus from 6h15 -13h15 ,and 19h15- 23h15, every 45 to 90 minutes. see more here
https://www.tan.fr/jsp/fiche_pagelibre.jsp?CODE=06813770&LANGUE=0&RH=1228147667279&RF=1227806755351

Take the Trams around Nantes, they are quick, cheap and easy to use.
You can use some of them for Park and Ride
You can buy tickets for multi rides from the ticket machines at the Tram stops, but don't forget to validate it when you board the tram.

walk
We only walked and managed to see everything as all the main sites are in walking distance if your hotel is at the city center.

Bicycles
We saw many spots for renting a bicycle (pic 2), we didn’t rend any but it seems a good way to tour around easily and eco friendly :)

Tram and buses
There’s no subway/metro in Nantes but there are 3 nice and useful tram lines that can take you a bit further. You can buy your tickets from the machines next to the stops but dont forget to validate them before boarding! On the tram stops you can also see maps of the routes to navigate yourself. There are a lot of local buses too but it’s hard to know the routes, you better ask a local while there.
By the way if you come in the city by train you can easily walk from there to the city centre as the main sites (and many hotels) are in walking distance from the train station (cathedral is 10’ away)

Touristic buses
As in other cities there is a hop on hop off bus(pic 4) and a small touristic train (pic 3).
There are also rental companies, we saw some of them near the train station.

taxi
We noticed some taxis (pic 5) but we didnt have to use any of them.

By plane
Nantes has an international airport in case you find direct flight from Europe but for us it was very expensive to fly through Paris. The airport is located near the city centre, we saw many planes flying above us while we were walking in the city. The bus from the train station to the airport costs 7euros for the 30’ ride(20’ from Commerce). Alternative you can take tram 3 to Neustrie and then bus 37 to the airport.

By car
Some friends came by car that they rent at Paris, normaly you need 3,5-4 hours for the ride but due to traffic they di dit in 6 hours! You can also rent a car in Nantes, there are rental companies near the airport and near the train station too.

By train
We used the train. TGV has some great, clean and fast trains from Paris and other cities. Paris>Nantes will take only 2 hours (!), 3 if you start from CDG airport. You can book your ticket online for better prices. We payed 22euros one way 3 months in advance but later the price went up and a few days before our departure i twas up to 60 euros!

To travel around Nantes the two public means of transport are buses and tramways.

There is no subway.

With one ticket, 1.3 euro, you can travel during one hour in buses or tramways.

But Nantes is a quite small city and you can basically visit the whole city center walking.

Thanks to Mc Leary, we know have Ryanair flying from/to Nantes. 4 locations available: Shannon, Nottingham, London and Frankfurt. These are the three only low cost places that fly to/from Nantes.

Otherwise, you have many other companies flying from the Nantes Atlantique airport, among which Air France and British Airways.

Nantes Airport is located quite near from the city center, only 30 minutes by bus. You can take a shuttle bus from the railway station or la Place du Commerce. It is run by Tan, our local bus company.

High speed train TGV is surely the fastest way to get to Nantes (that is except if you drive 250 miles an hour).

From Paris, the travel takes 2h10 and prices change very widely according to your age, the time and day you are travelling and how long ago you make the reservation.

Prices for a non-French resident are usually between 50 and 100 euros for a one way travel.

You can purchase a ticket at any tram stop. It's a great way to get around town. I highly recommend purchasing a ticket even though they don't check the tickets every time. Occasionally some people in blue jackets will hop on & check everyone's tickets. It's sort of a random search type thing. It's worth buying them since they're not very expensive.