Nantes



Ancient capital of Brittany, now capital of the "Pays de la Loire", Nantes is located at the center of an agglomeration of almost 580.000 people (280.000 downtown, 6th bigger city in France) which constitutes ,with Saint-Nazaire, the largest metropolis in the West of France.

There are loads of reasons to love living here, or to enjoy visiting : historical background, monument, museums, theatre, parks, quality of life (environment, entertainment, sports, ..). Moreover Nantes is nearby the atlantic ocean (50km, 30 min by car, 50 min by train...), so it's easy to enjoy all pleasures the ocean can provide us. Each time the sun shines you just call some CS friends, pick up your car, drive for a bit listening to music, and then you can swim, rent a boat, windsurf, kitesurf, surf (BEWARE : we don't guarantee the wind or the waves !) or do whatever you want with the ocean (unless it doesn't agree with you..).

Inside of Nantes
Nantes is a pedestrian and cycle-friendly city. :

Check out this biker association's website and the official website of the city. (I know you're going to tell me "it's a french website", first of all.. yes you're right, you know this is France so pretty much everything is written in this strange language, you'd better get used to it. Or you find CS friends talking english or whatever languages you prefer to use !)

The History of Nantes
Here you'll find a short description of Nantes' history

More to learn on the wikipedia : Nantes ! and here

Events in Nantes
Events' calendar for cité des congrès" and for zénith".

Couchsurfers
CS population is not very developped here (yet !): almost 220 couchsurfers, but a minority is active. About 50 couchsurfers really completed their profile and were connected since last month. We're working on developing CS down here and spread the message all over the city like an epidemic !

Among the 5 biggest CS populations, Nantes comes right after Lille with its 1452 members (number on October, 5th, 2009). The network is not very developped here (yet !) : But a minority keeps working on developing CS down here and spread the message all over the city like an epidemic ! An exemple of this, is the beginning of regular meetings since October, 2009.

Meetings


Since recently a regular meeting was born in Nantes CS group. its name is "The Dromedary" and takes place every day of the month finishing in "0", so that the meeting may happen on different days of the week, corresponding to different members' availabilities... But this regular meeting does not mean that random initiaves will disappear! Not at all! Any couchsurfer of the group CS Nantes can decide it's time to wake everyone up and he can create a meeting (sending a post to the rest of the group, or calling them (not that second case is kind of unusual)) and a brand new kind of party is up. Nantes' CS party is ready to host you CS travelers.. but are you ready to overcome it ?

About "The Dromedary" Why the Dromedary ? Words of our embassador : << 'The Dromedary is called like that thanks to its ability to run (drome), which makes him a good traveler ! (and also a good drinker...) >>

When ? "The Dromedary" takes place every day of the month finishing in "0" (the 10th, the 20th and the 30th)

Where ? - it would take place in a different bar every time, at a bar with aname associated to a day of the week !

Example :

Lundi -> Le Graslin, Le Labo ? Mardi -> Le Buck Mulligans ? Mercredi -> Le Marlowe ? Le Masque ? Jeudi -> John Mc Byrne ? Vendredi -> Le Vestiaire ? Samedi -> Sacré Baroudeur ! Dimanche -> Le Dix? Le Vilon Dingue?

Next meeting Inauguration of the Dromedary ! date : Saturday, 10 th October place : Le Baroudeur, 43 rue Marechal Joffre time : 8:30 pm

To look for meetings the Dromedary Dromedary post

To look for meetings, check the group Nantes

We frequently meet at the pub Buck Mulligans(We're French, we're nearly britains but hell yeah we know how to enjoy an irish beer !). Always in a good mood, lot of evenings, funny quizz, free entrance... Nantes is the home of the CS gaming experiment. Almost every month there's a boardgame evening at Cyril's, moreover you can find boardgames' evenings or card games (trying new ones etc..) at Abayak's shop.

Nantes' first meetings' history:


First big meeting in Nantes, 40 people for a tea's afternoon at Baptou's (that's so British !). Most of the people were from hospitality club actually ! (but don't tell anybody !)
 * November 2006

Shy meeting in Nantes, 1rst for most of the actual active CSers here thank you Mickael & Pierrick
 * 12/06/2007

Wonderful meeting in Guérande, thank you Pierrick.
 * 18/08/2007

Chocolate meeting at Rico's place.
 * 22/08/2007

BBQ & welcome back to Florine in La Baule thank you Florine and Alain
 * 01/09/2007

There have been many more meetings since, just check the group to see what's going on, and feel free to join us !

Students usefull tips
web : http://www.crous-nantes.fr mail : crous.logementnantes@ac-nantes.fr
 * "CROUS" :

Tips about the places to see, to hang out, to eat, to work, etc...
 * "CRIJ" : tramway station "Place du cirque". Ask for the guide "copilote" (free):


 * Usefull contacts :

- Hostel (6 nights in a row max.) : http://www.fuaj.org

- Camping : http://www.nge-nantes.fr

- Foyer Jeunes travailleurs : http://www.anfjt.asso.fr

- HLM : http://www.nantes-habitat.fr

- ADIL : http://www.anil.org

- CAF : http://www.nantes.caf.fr

- Appartment renting and/or co-renting :

http://www.colocavenue.com

http://www.appartager.com

http://www.colocation.fr

http://www.kel-koloc.com

http://www.easycoloc.com

http://www.kijiji.fr

Who to contact - Where to ask a question ?
If you need any information about Nantes don't hesitate to post a message on the group

If you have to find an accomodation, post a message in the sub group "Emergency couch request" the sub-group

You can also contact the couchsurfing ambassador for Nantes: Emmanuel

Tips



 * Tourism office


 * Nantes' website


 * Hotel & hostel (there's 1 hostel in Nantes, nearby the tram station, called "Manufacture")


 * Buck Mulligans Almost a headquarter! (nice pub with wifi and good beer!)


 * Hotspot locations


 * Sharing cars in Brittany


 * General sharing cars


 * Public transports
 * How to go to the airport from Nantes' center ?
 * shuttle from "Commerce" station, 20 min directly to the airport : 6€ for 1 ticket, 4€ if you buy 4
 * OR tramway line 3 to "Neustrie" station, (alsmost 20 min too) and then take a bus to airport from there (10 min more) : it will cost you only 1 normal ticket (1,20€).

In Case of Emergency



 * Police Station : 17


 * European Emergency Number : 112


 * Fireman Station : 18


 * Health Urgency : 15


 * Emergency Doctor : 02-40-50-30-30 ("SOS Médecins")


 * Hospital : 02-40-08-33-33 (Downtown's hospital)


 * Consulates : 

 - Brasil :       3 Place Graslin, 44000 Nantes 02-40-69-30-07

 - Belgium :      2 avenue J.C Bonduelle, 44000 Nantes 02-40-12-96-77

 - Danemark :      12 rue Chene Lassé - 44800 Saint-Herblain 02-40-92-16-05

 - Greece :        8 rue de la Caillette - 44100 Nantes 02-40-73-02-36

 - Portugal :      4 rue Gresset - 44000 Nantes 02-40-73-05-04

 - Great Britain : "L'Aumariére" - 44220 Coueron 02-40-63-16-02

 - Sweden :        70 quai de la Fosse B.P 779 - 44029 Nantes 02-40-73-68-98

 - Netherlands :   Le Croisy - 44700 Orvault 02-51-78-84-45 '''

What to visit in Nantes ?
Check the wikivoyage : Nantes

Here's some examples of interesting spots in Nantes (that you'd better visit !)



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