Flight Duration
About Atlantique Airport
The airport was built in Nantes in 1928 for the French Air Force to train and fly and the airfield was also briefly used by the British Air Force for military purposes. The airport was captured by German forces during the Second World War but after the war the airport was again under the control of the France Air Force. The airport was damaged due to the war and was repaired by the French Air Force. In 1954 a new terminal buiding and runway extensions started to be built for the use of civilian flights and in 1960, commercial flights started to operate from Nantes Atlantique Airport. Today Nantes Atlantique Airport has a passenger average of 5 million passengers and continues to serve passengers with its magnificent single L shaped terminal building.
Getting to the City Center from Atlantique Airport
Located at the junction of the Loire River and the Erde River, Nantes is a modern city with Pays de la Loire and Atlantique centers in the west of France. Nantes, also known as "Western France Metropolis", is also of great importance for tourism and has a population of approximately 300,000 people. France's sixth largest city is the capital of the Pays de La Loire region. Because of the small size of the city of Nantes, urban transportation is very easy. You can benefit from the trams, buses, bicycles, taxis and rental cars that provide transportation within the city. You can take the train or bus from Nantes to get to the settlements outside the city. Public transportation is quite practical to directly get to almost every point of Nantes, which has a high-level transportation network that is extremely modern. The name of the company that runs the public transport in Nantes is TAN. You need to use the "Loire-Atlantique" public transport system if you want to go to the famous beaches (Pornic, La Baule and La Crosic) which are important tourist attractions of Nantes or get out of the city. The ticket price you need to pay is only 2 Euros in this system, which is abbreviated as LILA. You can also get detailed online information at Sedeplacer.loire-atlantique.fr. Nantes Train Station, one of the most important buildings of Nantes, is quite large and has many facilities such as restaurant, cafeteria and information bureau. There are trains from Paris to Nantes and it only takes 2 hours. If you buy your Paris-Nantes train ticket 3 months in advance, it is possible to pay a fee of 22 Euros instead of 60 Euros. There are underground and overground parking spaces at the train station with Nord (north) and sud (south) sides. The bus number 12 provides transportation between this train station and the city center. You can take a pleasant city tour with the buses and miniature trains called as Petit ("small" in French) or hop on hop off. If you have come to Nantes by train, you can walk to the city center. You can reach the city center in a very short time by bus, tram, taxi or your own car because Nantes Atlantique Airport is only 8 kilometers from the city center. If you don’t have a heavy luggage or suitcase, you can walk or bike to the city center. There are about 60 different bus routes serving within the city of Nantes. The buses run at frequent intervals from early to late hours. There are also night bus lines in the touristic and central areas. There is a single and common ticket system for public transport in Nantes, where tram and bus lines are linked. There are 51 regular bus lines, 3 tramway lines and 4 chronobus lines belonging to TAN which operates the buses in Nantes. At the same time, you can contact AlloTan at 02 40 444 444 7 days and 24 hours. Besides, there are the buses called as Navette to reach from Nantes Airport to the city center and train station. It is possible to reach the city center in just 20-25 minutes by these buses called the Navette bus which departs every 20 minutes. The most up-to-date ticket price is 8 Euros. The Navette bus departs from the Hall 1 in front of Nantes Airport every 30 minutes between 05:30 and 23:15 from Monday to Friday and between 13:15 and 19:15 on Sundays. The TAN buses C3 and 24 connect Nantes Airport with the city center. The Nantes tramway line, which has one of the most established tram lines of France and even all of Europe, first entered service in 1879. There are a total of three long tram lines as Line 1, Line 2 and Line 3 surrounding the city. It is possible to easily reach every point of the city since the tram lines are connected with most of the bus lines. Tram line 1 passes through Nantes train station and goes straight to the city center. The Nantes-Chateaubriand tramway line departs from Nantes Airport. You can buy your tram tickets from stations or from automatic ticket machines. Tickets are valid for all tram and bus lines. Tickets are charged over the hours rather than the number of boarding passes. The most recent ticket price is 1.60 Euros for one-hour journey. You just need to pay 5 Euros for 24-hour tickets. Apart from that, you can also buy the tickets for public transport use for 10 boarding passes by paying 14.50 Euros. If you want your ticket to be valid for 4 different people, you have to pay 8 Euros for 24 hours use. If you are under 26, your monthly ticket price will be 32.90 Euros. Bicycles are the cheapest and easiest option to get from one place to another because the city is generally flat and the roads are wide. Nantes is a small city and bike transport is the first choice preferred by both locals and tourists. Renting a bike to provide transportation within the city of Nantes is economical, healthy and enjoyable. Bicycles, which are preferred by locals and many tourists visiting Nantes, are quite common and popular throughout the city. Because the distance between the airport and the city center is very short, if you do not have large suitcases, it is possible to provide your transportation by bicycle. It costs about 35-50 Euros to reach the city center from Nantes Airport, which is 8 kilometers away from the city center. The taxi ride takes about 10-15 minutes. When you walk across the road at exit of the airport terminal, you will find taxi ranks and car rental companies. If you are not going to travel other cities of France except Nantes, renting a car is not very economical for you. Because the city is already small and has a developed public transportation system, you can go to wherever you want more practically without losing time in the traffic. If you want to rent a car, you can contact with a few car rental companies near the taxi stops at the airport terminal exit.Bus
Tramway
Bicycle
Taxi
Rent a car
Getting to Atlantique Airport from the City Center
In Nantes, you can take advantage of a single ticket to benefit from the entire transportation network. You can get information about the transportation network in the city and the departure times of public transportation vehicles at www.tan.fr. The orange and gray stops are all over the city. The main tramway and bus transfer center of Nantes is located at the Gare Centrale in Commerce Square.
Bus
Nantes city buses run between 06.45 and 22.00. At the same time, you can get benefit from the night buses until 00.30 at midnight for the transportation in Nantes. Bus and tram ticket fares are single and shared; the ticket costs 1.60 Euros. You can get your bus ticket from the automatic ticket machines at the stops, as well as from the bus drivers.
The Navette bus network provides transportation between Gare Centrale and Nantes Airport. You can go to the airport in 20 minutes by the Navette bus which costs 8 Euros. These buses run between 05.30 and 23.00.
Tramway
Nantes tramway, which firstly began to serve in 1879, has the oldest transportation network of the city and France. The tram, which has 3 main lines in total, is the France's longest tram line with a length of 42 kilometers. Line 1 (east-west); Line 2 & 3 (north-south); All three lines intersect at Commerce Square, the central point of Nantes city.
Tram line 1 (François Mitterrand / Jamet-Ranzay / Beujoire) is the most widely used line of the Nantes tramway whose lines are modernized and developed every year. It is very practical and cheap to benefit from the trams in the city of Nantes. You can buy your tickets at the tram stops and ticket machines. The subway/metro transportation is provided by 3 major tramway lines. It is very easy to find directions by looking at the tram stops on the maps. In order to easily reach Nantes Airport by bus number 37, you should firstly get on the tram line 3 from the Commerce Square, which is considered to be the central point of the city, and then get off at Neustrie.
Bicycle
In addition to sound and wide transportation network, sustainable transportation projects are also carried out in Nantes with great care. Bicycles, which is are among the most important transport vehicles in Nantes, has the biggest role in sustainable transportation. The presence of large, protected and well-maintained bicycle lanes makes this type of transportation popular day by day. You can rent a bicycle in the city in two different ways.
The first one is the Nantes Métropole, which has 8 bicycle parks. You can rent a bicycle from these parking areas. The prices are as the follows: 2 Euros for 2 hours; 4 Euros per day; 10 Euros per week; and 25 Euros per month.
The second option is to rent a bike from the Bicloo. Bicloo is the self-service bicycle rental network in Nantes. You can make your journey practical, budget-friendly and enjoyable by renting one of the 700 bicycles from 79 different locations in total. The first 30 minutes of this service is free of charge; you need to pay 0.50 Euros for one hour and 1.50 Euros for one and a half hour.
Taxi
Transportation by taxi is not very common in Nantes. Because the city has a very developed, cheap and fast public transportation. The most recent average taxi fares are as the follows; taxi start is 3.85 Euros and you need to pay 1.25 Euros per kilometer. Allo Taxi Nantes Atlantique is the well-known taxi service company in Nantes. You can call a taxi wherever you are by contacting Allo Taxi at +33 2 40 69 22 22 and easily get to Nantes Airport.
Rent a car
There is not much choice on car rental services in Nantes city. Nantes Train Station is the place where you can find most of the car rental companies. If you want to reach Nantes from other major cities in France like Paris, you can arrive by driving on the All motorway through Le Mans-Angers route in 3 and a half or 4 hours. If you drive in busy traffic hours, this can take up to 6 hours. Or, you can get to Nantes from Bordeaux through the A83 motorway; from Brest through the RN 165 motorway; and from Rennes through the RN 137 motorway. Nantes Airport is located on route N844.
Airport Information
The airport is located on Bougenais, which is 8 kilometers from Nantes city center. Nantes Atlantique Airport, the largest international airport in western France, is open for domestic and international flights.
The airport, with a maximum annual capacity of 3 million passengers, served nearly 4 million passengers in 2013; that is an increase of 8.2% over the previous year.
Nantes Airport, which consists of 4 different categorized halls, has one passenger terminal. The airport provides its passengers with check-in kiosks, information desk, smoking area, free internet access, souvenirs and shopping stores, duty free shopping stores as well as the world famous stores such Mango, Calvin Klein and Flik Flak.
There are also restaurants and bars such as Café News, Bar 1.44, Le Grand Comptoin, La Brioche Dorée and La Terasse.
