Nantes

Under the old shipyard sheds, a 12m wooden elephant strolls with passengers on its back. It sprays water from its trunk, soaking whoever stands in front. Rides are sold per departure, and in high season a whole day's seats can sell out during the morning.

Anne of Brittany was born here, in a white limestone palace ringed by moat and ramparts. Courtyard and rampart walk are free, so a full circuit needs no ticket. Inside, the Nantes history museum shows the slave-trade era openly.

The marble tomb of Duke Francis II of Brittany and his wife stands in the south transept. An arson attack in 2020 burnt the great west organ, and its loft now stands empty. The pale stone and lofty vault make the interior unusually bright.

A shopping arcade opened in 1843 on sloping ground, with a central wooden staircase tying together three levels. Statues line the stair rails and light falls from the glass roof. Nearly all shops are shut on Sunday, which leaves it quiet for photographs.

A green line painted on the pavement links installations and lookouts across the city. The July and August festival adds new pieces, yet the line and permanent works stay all year. A map of the line from the tourist office sorts out a walking order.

A 19th-century botanical garden right across from the railway station, with no entry fee. Giant chairs and odd sculptures by picture-book author Claude Ponti hide around the lawns for children to track down. It fills a wait for a train nicely.

On the bank before the old banana warehouse, at the downstream point of the island, Daniel Buren set a row of large rings. Each one frames a slice of the far bank. After dark the rings light up in colour, and the riverside bar terraces drink facing them.

More French slaving voyages left from this port than from any other, and that fact is set into an underground passage beneath the quay. Glass panels carry texts on abolition in many languages. Entry is free, straight down from the riverside promenade.

A former sailors' village across the Loire, each house painted its own colour. The lanes are shoulder-width, too narrow for cars. The Navibus boat from the Gare Maritime pier takes you over on an ordinary city transit ticket.

On the beach at Saint-Brevin by the Loire estuary lies a giant aluminium serpent skeleton by Huang Yong Ping. At low tide the sand lets you reach the tip of its tail; at high tide only the head stays dry. Check a tide table before going.

The 19th-century museum reopened in 2017 after a renovation that added a white extension, the Cube, for contemporary work. One circuit runs from medieval altarpieces to living artists. With the cathedral just next door, the pair fills half a day.

A small museum of manuscripts, first editions and toys for Jules Verne, born in Nantes in 1828. He never lived here: the museum borrows a villa built in the 1800s atop the Butte Sainte-Anne. Its garden gazes over the Loire toward the old shipyard cranes.

Shipowners rich from 18th-century shipping and slaving built mansions on what was then a Loire island; its river arms were filled in during the 20th century. Carved stone faces sit above the windows. Soft ground has left some facades leaning forward.

The largest covered market in Nantes, put up in the 1930s. Stalls of fish from the Loire estuary and growers from nearby farms spill out of the hall. It is a morning market and starts packing up around noon, so arrive early.

Clisson, on the Sevre southeast of Nantes, was burned in the French Revolution and rebuilt in an Italian country style of red roof tiles and arched bridges. A ruined medieval castle crowns the bank. In June the Hellfest metal festival packs the place.

Medieval ramparts ring the town almost without a break, and all four gates still stand. Inside are lanes of stone houses and creperies. The salt marshes begin on the low ground just outside, so a walk along the pans makes it a full trip.

This islet midstream in the Erdre was laid out as a Japanese garden with an artificial waterfall, stone bridges and ponds. Admission is free. Boats leave from the bank beside it for cruises up the Erdre past riverside manor houses.