The boy’s and girl’s guide to getting the hell out of here: Live like a local

I want to give you some tips for living like a local in Nantes, France. For this, I interviewed Neyla Tabore, a French exchange student from the University of Nantes in the Institute of Administration and Enterprise. The following is a list of her recommendations for the Nantes tourist.

Nantes is in the western part of France on the Loire River. It is the sixth largest city in France and the capital of the Pays de la Loire region.

Visitors can use trams to navigate the city. A one-hour ticket costs 2 euros, and a 24-hour ticket costs 8 euros.

Unlike the typical American Friday night out, Nantes locals start their weekend jaunts on Thursdays.

The place to be on a Thursday night is A L’adb Cafe, a pub with outdoor seating and live music. It opens at 5 p.m. and runs until 1:30 a.m. The pub’s building was built in 1905 and is located on Rue de Strasbo, near the L’Erdre and Le Bras de la Madeleine riverways.

For a more family-friendly environment, Nantes is filled with parks, like the Jardin des Plantes, Jardin Japonais or Parc de Proce. Tabore recommended Parc de Paroles.

Locals enjoy going out for strolls and picnics. Pickup games of football are also extremely popular.

A location filled with activities and sites perfect for a date night is Ile de Nantes. The island is located in the center of the city and is surrounded by two branches of the Loire River.

It contains such attractions as the Machines, the court of justice, titan cranes, the Palais des Sports de Beaulieu, Buren’s rings and the hangar a bananas. The island features many local artists and provides an enormous wall in the middle of the island for locals to display their work.

Cote Plage is another popular local haunt. It’s an informal cafe with a warm wood color scheme and red-checkered tablecloths with tables topped by a single bottle of wine.

Patrons can choose to sit at a table or the bar, though outdoor seating under large umbrellas is also available. Some of the featured drinks include caipiroskas, tequila sunrises and daiquiris. Their Facebook page allows viewers a virtual tour inside the building.

Nantes is only an hour away from the beach and is full of fun things to do. This article captures only a glimpse of the array Nantes has to offer, and it’s something readers must experience on their own.