The museums of Nantes are particularly rich and exciting and the main difficulty will be to make your choice.
From art, to history, to the trades of yesterday and today, there is something for all tastes and all ages in Nantes. The city having taken the turn of culture and tourism since the 1990s, the museums are generally of very high quality, a true happiness!
In this article, we present the 8 must-see museums in our opinion, with photos and practical tips to help you prepare for your visit.
These reviews are completely independent, we visited anonymously and paid our entrance fees in full.
Preamble - The Citypass
The city of Nantes offers city passes, called Pass Nantes, for 1 day, 2 days, 3 days and even 7 days, which are particularly interesting.
They will give you unlimited access to all the museums we talk about in this article and will save you time to enjoy the exhibitions even more.
They also include access to the public transport network (including the airport shuttle) and even dedicated tours (Voyage à Nantes, Petit Train, CityTour bus) and mini-cruises on the Erdre or the Loire.
We strongly recommend that you buy it in advance to avoid wasting time on site and waiting in line. See the conditions and book your City pass.
The map of the museums of Nantes
1. The elephant and the Machines de l'île
Why visit it? Our review
- True emblem of the city of Nantes, the Elephant and the Machines de l'île embody the cultural revival of the city, after the decline of the port activity.
- Absolutely unique in France, and surely even beyond, this unclassifiable museum will take you to discover the fantastic bestiary of the Nantes author Jules Verne.
- Beyond this creative and artistic dimension, these funny animals made of wood and metal are technical feats. In the Galerie des Machines, machinists will explain how they work, before you can see the craftsmen at work, from the Terrrasse des Galeries, which overlooks the workshop in operation.
The 3 things to see during your visit
- The Elephant's walk: accompany the Elephant in one of his daily outings on the square of the old shipyards. Impressive to see this 12-meter high, 48.4 ton monster in action!
- The flight of the Heron: in the gallery of the Machines, take your time, to attend the flight of the Heron. Poetic and surprising!
- The Carousel of the Marine Worlds: rediscover your child's soul on a ride that will take you 20,000 places under the sea.
Practical advice
- Open from February to December
- Opening hours: all day from April to October, afternoons the rest of the year
- Suitable for children
- Duration of the visit: 2h30
- Full adult price : 8,50
- The Machines de l'île website
Read more
WHERE TO STAY IN Nantes
Downtown
Would you like to sleep in the heart of Nantes and enjoy its invigorating vitality? We liked it:
- Blu Radisson Hotel - see our article - see photos prices and availability
- L'Oceania - hotel de France - see our article - see photos prices and availability
Near the station
A train to catch at dawn, there's a truly magical address just 2 steps from Nantes train station:
- Le Sozo Hotel - see our article - see photos, prices and availability
On the banks of the Erdre
Looking for a bit of peace and quiet, without straying too far from the city of Nantes? 2 addresses on the banks of the Erdre river:
- La Rivière House - see photos, prices and availability
- Le Best Western Plus Hôtel de la Régate - view photos, prices and availability
2. The Museum of Arts
Why visit it? Our review
- Certainly one of the most beautiful museums of fine arts, both for the richness of its collections and for the building with its grandiose decorations.
- Installed in the current premises since 1893, the museum has just been enlarged and refurbished from top to bottom (6 years of work!), offering the best exhibition conditions.
- In one place, you will be able to visit eight centuries of art history, with a diversity and depth of collections that are truly exceptional.
The 3 things to see during your visit
- The grand staircase and the fresco "Bretagne Laborieuse": a magnificent monumental staircase with double flight, decorated with a giant fresco that we owe to the artist Hyppolyte Berteaux.
- The Dream of Saint Joseph - Georges de La Tour: we loved the atmosphere of this room, where the darkness only makes the paintings more luminous. In this 1642 work, an old man (Joseph) sees an angel symbolized by a child figure.
- The Kandinsky collection: in the section devoted to modern art, you can see a rare collection of works by the Russian painter Vasily Kandinsky. A real dive in this pioneer of abstract art.
Practical advice
- Open all year round
- Opening hours: from 11am to 7pm
- Suitable for children (although it will be necessary to select the works to be seen)
- Duration of the visit: 1h30, minimum
- Full adult price: 8€.
- The website of the Nantes Museum of Art
3. The Museum of Natural History (Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle)
Why visit it? Our review
- Inaugurated in 1810, the natural history museum is one of the most important in France.
- A major port city for more than two centuries, Nantes was a place of departure and arrival for many scientific expeditions. The museum's collections have been enriched considerably over the years.
- Marked by illustrious curators, the museum offers a greatdiversity of themes. What to admire the genius of the living under all facets (animals, geology, plants ...).
The 3 things to see during your visit
- The skeleton of a whale 18 meters long in the zoology gallery of the museum which presents 1000 specimens of animals (stuffed or skeleton).
- Pieces of meteorite in the middle of the 3000 rocks preserved in the museum in the gallery of sciences of the Earth and the Universe.
- More surprising, a collection of more than 5000 gastropod shells (snails, slugs and other slugs)!
Practical advice
- Open all year round
- Opening hours: from 10 am to 6 pm
- Suitable for children
- Duration of the visit: 2 hours if you do all the rooms
- Full adult price: 4€.
- The website of the Museum of Natural History
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4. The Museum of the History of Nantes (Musée de l'Histoire de Nantes)
Why visit it? Our review
- This museum is an architectural feat. Installed in the dwelling of the castle of the Dukes of Brittany, he had to play with the constraints of a building that was nearly 6 centuries old and absolutely not adapted. The result is impressive, even if you will have to find your way through the 32 rooms that make it up.
- Historically Breton, the city of Nantes is an important place in the history of France, but also one of the most important ports of the triangular trade that took place in the 18th century. This fascinating story deserved a museum!
- The result of a long work of collection, it is 1150 objects which are in particular highlighted in beautiful reconstitutions.
The 3 things to see during your visit
- The models of the city of Nantes which allow to better understand the geography of the city, and the place of water in the development of the city.
- The chilling objects that trace the dark hours of the triangular trade, with the trade of black slaves, and particularly the neck restraints.
- The reconstruction of life in Nantes under the occupation, a strategic city with its industrial and port capacities.
Practical advice
- Open all year round except Monday
- Opening hours: from 10 am to 6 pm
- Suitable for children
- Duration of visit: 2h minimum (thematic visit from 30' and family in 1h30)
- Full adult price: 8€.
- The website of the Museum of the History of Nantes
Read more
5. The Jules Verne Museum
Why visit it? Our review
- Jules Verne is the most emblematic writer of Nantes. There is no doubt that he drew his inspiration for these fantastic journeys around the world from his childhood spent just a stone's throw away from the ships in port.
- Housed in a house on the heights of the rebellious district of Chantenay where the Verne family owned a weekend house, the museum offers a real immersion in the work of the writer in search of his sources of inspiration.
- It is surprising to see how Jules Verne's thought remains current and how the writer continues to irrigate the city and its imagination. The proof is in the Elephant and the machines on the island!
The 3 things to see during your visit
- Facsimiles of the manuscripts of Jules Verne's novels, reminding us that writing is often a painful process for the writer.
- Golden age of the illustrated albums discover the secrets of the setting in image and the publication of its works.
- Some objects that belonged to the writer are presented, taking you back to a time when you would have loved to talk to him...
Practical advice
- Open all year round except Tuesday
- Opening hours: from 2pm to 6pm from September to June from 10am to 12pm and from 2pm to 6pm, in July and August.
- Suitable for children even if it will not be obvious to interest them, the museography being a little dated.
- Duration of the visit: 1 hour
- Full adult price: 3€.
- The Jules Verne Museum website
A LITTLE MORE patience
All the photos, maps, information, good addresses to make your stay in the Loire Valley a success, will soon be gathered in a single ebook!
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6. Museum of Printing and the Book Trade (Musée de l'imprimerie)
Why visit it? Our review
- A true living museum, the Museum of Printing and Book Trades invites you on an original and enchanting journey to the land of typographers and other hand presses.
- Beyond the discovery of the machines, you will see them in action, with their characteristic noises and smells. The museum still publishes art prints, preserving the memory of the printing trades.
- The visit ends with a short exhibition by an artist who still uses these old-fashioned prints. We love it!
The 3 things to see during your visit
- The Ave Maria and the Our Father in microscopic engraving on the width of a cadratin. Who said that ancestral methods were not accurate?
- The 85-key keyboard of the first"Rogers typograph", invented in Canada in 1889 by John Rogers.
- Even if we write horribly, what a joy it is to be able to consult the marvelous Caslon 1716 matrix type library, originally designed for the New Testament edition.
Practical advice
- Open all year round except Sunday (also closed on Sunday in July and August)
- Schedule: from 10am to 12pm and from 2pm to 5:30pm
- Duration of the visit: 1 hour
- Full adult price: 8€.
- The website of the Museum of Printing
7. The Memorial of the Abolition of Slavery
Why visit it? Our review
- The duty to remember is an imperative, if we do not want to see our civilization repeat the same mistakes over and over again. As such, you must visit the Memorial of the Abolition of Slavery.
- The choice of implanting this long gallery of rough concrete under a quay of the Loire illuminated by the lights of the river is a strong artistic gesture which deserves the detour. We owe it to the artist Krzysztof Wodiczko and the architect Julian Bonder who put this place on the list of memorials with strong emotional value.
The 3 things to see during your visit
- On the quay, browse through the 2000 glass plates, listing the names of the Nantes slave shipments and the major slave trading posts.
- Under the pier, walk through the 90 meters of the fresco, reading the selection of texts related to slavery and its abolition on the 5 continents.
- You will end with a reminder of the great dates of the abolition of slavery, reminding us that at the end of the tunnel, there is often light!
Practical advice
- Open all year round
- Opening hours: from 9am to 6pm (8pm in summer)
- Duration of the visit: 1 hour
- Full adult price: free
- Suitable for children who can read.
- The website of the Memorial of the Abolition of Slavery
OUR TIPS FOR RENTING A CAR IN Loire
- Compare prices on our preferred platform: DiscoverCars - one of the best rated sites.
- Choose a fairly compact car (many villages have narrowed the road).
- Think aboutfull insurance (parking in big cities is really tight).
- There is a lot of demand, book it early.
8. House of Men and Technology (Maison des Hommes et des Techniques)
Why visit it? Our review
- For over 200 years, Nantes has been a city of shipbuilders. At the peak of the Dubigeon shipyards, in 1954, the company had 7600 workers, technicians and engineers. This house is the memory of this history and know-how.
- In addition to the interest of the 120 objects on display, the exhibition offers us a real immersion in the daily life and culture of the workers.
- Installed in the historical premises of the site, the visit of the House of Men and Techniques can be completed with a walk on the old site. It has kept its launching holds and the famous yellow Titan crane, which could lift 80 tons by itself. Listed as a historical monument, it reminds the people of Nantes of their glorious naval past.
The 3 things to see during your visit
- The visit begins with a series of representations of Nantes over the centuries, which will make you fully aware of the place of water in the city and its importance in its development.
- The model of the Emile Paraf will allow you to understand how apprentices were trained in shipbuilding, which was impossible in real size.
- The reconstruction of a naval design office drafting table reminded us that before they were giants of the seas, they were paper tigers!
Practical advice
- Open all year round
- Opening hours: from 9am to 6pm (8pm in summer)
- Duration of the visit: 1 hour
- Full adult price: free
- Suitable for children who can read.
- The website of the Maison des Hommes et des Techniques
Other museums in Nantes
9. Dobré Museum
Named after a rich shipowner and merchant from Nantes, this museum presents the donations made by collectors to a public authority, that is to say a collection of 135,000 works (archaeology, stamps, sculptures, autographs...)!
It is very likely that this museum will join our top 8, after its planned reopening in 2024. To be continued...
See the official website of the Dobrée Museum
10. The planetarium
The planetarium of Nantes takes you to the farthest reaches of the universe with sessions adapted to all ages. The planetarium is 2 steps away from the Jules Verne museum, in the Chantenay district. Logical when one knows that a lunar crater was named after the writer from Nantes. Travel time from 30 minutes to 1 hour!
See the official website of the planetarium of Nantes
11. Ship-Museum Le Maille Brézé
This escort ship is known to all the people of Nantes as its presence along the festive Quai de la Fosse is unexpected. It is a reminder of the role played by shipyards in the construction of warships and an opportunity for visitors to discover a ship afloat.
See the official website of Maille Brezé
12. Companion museum (Musée compagnonnique)
Also in the Chantenay district, discover some of the most beautiful pieces made by the Compagnons du Tour de France des Devoirs Unis.
The companionship gathers since the antiquity men and women eager to learn and to help each other to seek together to reach the perfection in the exercise of a trade (building, art, mouth...).
Other museums around Nantes
13. The chronograph in Rezé
Located near the archaeological ruins of the Roman port of Ratiatum, the Chronograph Museum offers an immersive journey to discover daily life in Roman Gaul. In 9 sequences, mixing virtual reconstitution, interactive experiences and presentation of objects discovered during the excavations, you will know all about the discoveries of the archaeologists.
See the official website of the Chronographe in Rezé
14. The Nantes Vineyard Museum in Le Pallet
In the heart of the Pallet appellation, in the Muscadet Sèvres et Maine region, the vine and wine museum offers a very educational presentation of the wine cycle. From the planting of the vines to the tasting of the wines, including a presentation of the grape varieties, you will be able to learn more about the wines of the Nantes vineyard (muscadet, close-up...)!
See the official website of the Nantes Vineyard Museum
The exhibition rooms
15. Le Lieu Unique
This former cookie factory has become the temple of Nantes' culture. Once a cultural squat, it has become a place of production and reception of the contemporary cultural scene of the first rank. In a naturally indus atmosphere, the spaces are flexible to accommodate any type of event. Take the time for a coffee or a drink at the bar of Le Lieu Unique, where the atmosphere is resolutely creative!
See the official website of Lieu Unique
16. The Hab Gallery
A showroom that we particularly appreciate on the famous quai des Antilles on the island of Nantes. Dedicated to contemporary art, the gallery does not restrict itself to any medium and we love to lose ourselves in its friendly bookshop dedicated to all forms of art.
And if you are wondering why HAB, it is because it is located in the old Hangar A Bananes, place of storage of the first fruits, bananas and pineapples which arrived from Africa.
See the official website of the HAB Gallerie
17. The FRAC in Nantes and Carquefou
The Regional Fund for Contemporary Art is particularly dynamic in Pays de la Loire, and has its own exhibition space in Carquefou and recently, a second one at the Hangar à Bananes, not far from the HAB Galerie. Its mission is to accompany and support artists and it has been pursuing an ambitious acquisition policy for over 40 years.
See the official website of the FRAC in Carquefou
See the official website of the FRAC in Nantes
PLAN YOUR STAY IN Nantes
Itineraries
Visits
