1. Les Machines de l'île: See Mechanical Wonders
A product of François Delarozière and Pierre Orefice's imagination, Les Machines de l'île merges Jules Verne's imagined worlds, da Vinci's mechanical masterworks and Nantes former industrial glory. The park features, among others, The Great Elephant; a 45-ton wood and steel mechanical structure, which can carry 49 passengers on a 45-minute walk; The Marine Worlds Carousel; a 25-meter-high carousel featuring 35 moving underwater creatures on three levels; and The Heron Tree, a 28-meter-high steel structure crowned with two herons that visitors can mount to fly over the hanging gardens.
2. Château des ducs de Bretagne: Revisit the History of Nantes
In the heart of Nantes, the Château des ducs de Bretagne is considered the city's most renowned building. A medieval fortress with 500 meters of curtain walls topped by seven towers, the palace (originally built in 1207) was constructed of sophisticated white tufa stone. The interior houses seven sequential exhibits which cover the history of the castle and the region, the city of the river and ocean, the black gold trade, the French Revolution, the industrial port, the world wars and the city today (and tomorrow...).
3. Jardin des plantes: A Green Paradise
Dating back to 1688 (the city's first botanical garden) Jardin des plantes is a former royal garden for exotic plants containing 11,000 species distributed along ponds, waterways, paths and an artificial mountain. The grounds feature a collection of statues, pavilions, fountains and cascades. Among the most remarkable specimens, you can find 219-year-old southern magnolias, 150-year-old tulip trees, giant sequoias, coast redwoods, 140-year-old horse-chestnuts and London planetrees as well as varieties of strawberry trees, hornbeams ginkgo trees and American sweetgums. The greenhouses host a remarkable collection of African and Asian orchids, citrus trees and cacti.
4. Musée des Beaux-Arts: See Its Timeless Treasures
Dating back to 1801, the Musée des Beaux-Arts was recently reopened after an extensive six-year renovation. The museum features more than 12,000 pieces, encompassing primitive to modern art and including masterworks by Claude Cahun, Fernand Léger, Gaston Chaissac, Georges de La Tour, Giuseppe Penone, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Max Ernst, Nan Goldin, Pablo Picasso, Raymond Hains, Sonia Delaunay and Vassily Kandinsky among others.
5. Le Lieu unique: An All-in-One Cultural Center
The national center for contemporary arts and music, Le Lieu unique, housed in a former cookie factory in the city center, hosts visual arts, theater, dance, music, literature, architecture and cuisine exhibitions. The center is also home to a bar, a restaurant, a bookshop, a Turkish bath, a nursery and a gift shop, and it features a spectacular view from its iconic tower
