Nantes, worth a visit?

[blampied]

Anyone had any recent experience of Nantes? And St Nazaire
We are currently on the Atlantic coast of France at Pornic, in our 10 meter Aquastar 33 motor boat.
(not far from Saint Nazaire and the start of the Loire river)
Nantes is about 30 miles up Loire.
Is it worth an overnight stop at St Nazaire then catching the tide up to Nantes? worth a few days visit?
What is berthing like s there any sort of secure marina ?
We're a little nervous of ending up on a pontoon on the edge of a fast moving river. (Did that at Bordeaux) would much prefer a marina that's secure and off the fast flowing river.
Is the Marina area generally secure?

 

[Pavalijo]

We visited Nantes from Pornichet by train and were slightly disappointed - although it was a lovely city by UK standards we expected better from our experience of Loire towns and cities (holidayed there many times). Cannot speak for the mooring facilities.
However we did spend 10 days in Vannes, where the port de plaisance sits within a lock and is very calm - and the port (leisure craft only) runs right up to the walled medieval city with great market (wed and sat). The only downside of Vannes was noise from nearby bars late into the morning - take earplugs and if possible park farther from the city.
Sorry if this counts as thread drift!
Paul

 

[Bav34]

Some info here:

http://www.noonsite.com/Countries/France/Nantes?searchterm=Nantes

 

[LittleSister]

I visited by air a few years back, had a great time and really liked the place (in part for the rivers). Can't offer any practical or up to date advice, though, I'm afraid.

 

[[3889]]

There's no usable marina at Nantes. Trentemoult is badly silted. The serviced pontoon at Pont Belem is the best option. If you can make 8 knts you will do Nantes on a single tide from Point St Gildas, leaving Pornic on the last of the ebb. St Nazaire is a bit grim IMO and a faff to enter/exit.
Nantes is OK if you like cities but nothing special. For me, a day trip by train from La Baule would be enough.

 

[Poignard]

We also are in Pornic at the moment and, if tomorrow's forecast holds, instead of heading south as intended we may take a train trip to Nantes. We have been there by train before and enjoyed the town.

An alternative is to go to L'Herbaudiere or Noirmoutier and get the bus to Nantes.

 

[PlanB]

One or two days max in Nantes. Nice castle, and a "museum" of fairground attractions and giant mechanical animals which is well worth a visit http://www.lesmachines-nantes.fr/

 

[maby]

Never been there with a boat, but we have passed through a few times and stopped off for a day. It's a nice enough place, but probably not worth going out of your way to get there.

 

[Poignard]

Never been there with a boat, but we have passed through a few times and stopped off for a day. It's a nice enough place, but probably not worth going out of your way to get there.

As Thackeray said of The Giants' Causeway, "It's worth seeing but not worth going to see. "?

 

[blampied]

Ok thank you all for the advice, dosn't look particularly inviting, so we will give it a miss.