Parks and gardens

The Botanic garden
About

The Nantes Botanic Garden covers 7 hectares of green space in the centre of town.

It’s home to more than 10,000 species and more than 5000 flowers are planted each season. Its greenhouses have a surface area of 800 square metres. It’s been presented with the “Remarkable Garden” award and is among the four leading botanical gardens in France.

The collections have developed and specialised over the last 150 years. It’s both a scientific garden and a garden for leisure and houses internationally recognised reference collections. It’s especially celebrated for its camellia collection (which is unique in France), its cultivation of epiphytic plants in semi-natural settings and for its concern for the re-introduction of rare species. An example of this is the wild Sylvestre tulip, which disappeared in the 1970s and was reintroduced in 2010 into the region’s vineyards.

Its great beauty in all seasons and its remarkable specimens (Hectot’s Magnolia, American tulip tree and more recently a Wollemi pine, etc.) make the Botanical Garden a major tourist attraction in Nantes, visited every year by more than 2 million visitors.
The Botanical garden was recognized as an International Camellia Garden of Excellence in 2016 by The International Camellia Society.
Venue details & map
Facilites & accessibility
playground equipments14playground equipments14 14 CarouselCarousel ShelterShelter Picnic tablesPicnic tables Drinking waterDrinking water barbecuebarbecue RestaurantRestaurant Disabled toiletsDisabled toilets ToiletsToilets Enclosed gardenEnclosed garden Paddling poolsPaddling pools Spray mistersSpray misters No dogs allowedNo dogs allowed AnimalsAnimals

Garden games by age group

2 - 6 ans → 5 Module + Spring

3 - 12 ans → 5 Module + Other

3 - 14 ans → 2 Module + Swing

5 - 14 ans → 1 Climbing net + Climb

6 - 12 ans → 1 Swing

Depodepo, at the plant playground

a perennial work by Claude Ponti
The exhibition greenhouse (accessible with a code), the Canary Island greenhouse and the Palm Tree Island greenhouse (free access) are all accessible to wheelchair users.
The park itself is accessible, but a slight slope means that the people with reduced mobility should begin the visit at the Sophie Trebuchet entrance rather than entrance by the railway station.
More info
Opening times
Today Friday

during Summer season opening 8:30 and closing 20:00. They are the first opening / last closing
Opening times type 1
 Schedule for Greenhouses tours
15:00
Opening times: Free access greenhouse
12:30 - 18:00
Opening times: Reception
12:30 -18:00
Visiting the garden
- The park itself is accessible, but a slight slope means that the people with reduced mobility should begin the visit at the Sophie Trebuchet entrance rather than entrance by the railway station.
- Early visits: to the north of the garden
- The greenhouses are accessible for wheelchair users.

Free access

Without a guide

Three greenhouses are open for the public to visit without a guide:
  • • The Exhibition greenhouse, housing tropical plants from the Botanic Garden’s and Great Blottereau’s collections.
  • • The Canary Island greenhouse
  • • The Palm Tree Island greenhouse
    • - Access codes are available for the Exhibition and Canary Island greenhouses. Please ask at the reception.

Audio-guided

Guidigo on GoogleplayApple store
1- download the app for free
2- Search for Nantes to find tours of Nantes parks and gardens.
2- Click on the arrow in the top right-hand corner of the screen to find out where you are in the garden.
3- Enjoy the tour and accompanying games, even offline.
- Free WIFI access is available in the lower part of the garden.

Guided tours

Free

Themed visits : Program of events and tours available in Garden plants(pdf)
→ Monday 3pm
Tour of greenhouses
→ Wednesday 3pm
→ Friday 3pm
→ Saturday 11am 3pm 4pm 5pm
→ Sunday 10am, 11am, 3pm 4pm 5pm
- Visit 5pm only takes place during the period 20 March to 18 November.

For groups

- Reservation is required

Booking Nantes.tourisme: tel +33 2 40 20 60 11 or Email groupes@nantes-tourisme.com


Library access

The Library dedicated to botany is publicly available by appointment

Sculptures(8)
  • La Baigneuse au Miroir
  • Cerf, biche et faon
  • Docteur Ecorchard
  • Elisa Mercoeur, plaque et médaillon
  • Jules Verne
  • La Moissonneuse ou Dame à la gerbe
  • Fontaine Wallace
  • Fontaine Wallace
Also
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