Nantes car hire, tailor-made for you
We make Nantes car hire easy, because we know you can’t wait to feel the freedom of the road. Wherever your travels take you, the keys are waiting to unlock the world.
Your top rental locations in Nantes
Plan your trip to Nantes
Exploring Nantes, situated in France’s Upper Brittany region, offers up a selection of cultural and gastronomic delights. Collect your Avis hire car from a choice of our local car rental stations, listed above, to enjoy this delightful city and beyond.Cosmopolitan and lively Nantes, with its enviable Loire River location and thriving arts scene, is a good-looking city with plenty to offer. Nantes Cathedral, or Cathédrale Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul de Nantes, is high on the attraction hit-list. This impressive Gothic building has a spacious interior featuring 120-foot-high vaults and exquisite stained glass windows.
Perhaps Nantes most unusual attraction is Les Machines de l'Île de Nantes, a surreal workshop-come-theme-park displaying an eccentric array of mechanical sculptures including a huge steel and wood elephant. (The contraption is 12 metres high and eight metres wide, with the ability to travel up to 3km an hour.)
Those looking for a slightly less surreal day out will find a fine collection of fossils, stuffed animals and interactive exhibits on offer at Nantes’ Natural History Museum. The Musée Jules Verne, dedicated to the famous French novelist most famous for his science fiction work Journey to the Centre of the Earth, is also worth a look and with first editions on display and a number of interactive sections it represents a fun and informative day out for all the family.
When the sun is shining head for Jardin des Plantes, a pretty botanical gardens which was first opened in 1860. As well as a delightful 19th century hot-house filled with palm trees there are walk-ways, a kaleidoscope of flower beds and various natural highlights including Japanese maples and ancient magnolia trees.
Road trips from Nantes
France is a seductive giving visitors the opportunity to enjoy a feast of fine dining opportunities, a lively cultural scene and landscapes that have inspired artists for centuries. Pick up your Avis hire car and explore these nearby attractions.Prehistoric Park of Brittany
Around an hour and a half from Nantes, via the N165, Parc De Préhistoire De Bretagne offers a fun family day out. Step back in time, explore a number of marked trails and discover a world of dinosaurs through 30 life-size scenes, situated within 25-acres of rugged woodland dotted with lakes and picnic areas.
Château de Suscinio
Drive for just over an hour and a half, via the N165, to reach Château de Suscinio. This delightful structure, built in the late middle ages, is the stuff of fairy tales with turrets and a moat. The castle also houses a museum charting the history of Brittany and Morbihan. Those wishing to explore further may wish to visit nearby Sarzeau, a traditional Brittany town with a collection of restaurants, cafes and shops.
Carnac Stones
Carnac History buffs can drive for around an hour and 40 minutes, via the N165, to visit the Carnac Stones, an intriguing collection of megalithic sites clustered around the village of Carnac. Consisting of over 3,000 prehistoric standing stones they were erected by the pre-Celtic inhabitants of Brittany, however their true purpose remains a mystery. Carnac itself is also worth taking time to explore with five sandy beaches and a pretty 17th-century church.