Taxi Aéroport de Nantes, with the price settled first.

There is no official flat fare at Nantes, so a rank taxi runs on the metre and a pre-booked car carries a figure agreed in advance. Paris sets legal flat fares between its airports and the city; Nantes does not, and neither does any other airport in the Pays de la Loire. A rank taxi therefore charges what the metre reads under the Loire-Atlantique tariff, which is reported at a pick-up charge of €2.70 plus €1.12 a kilometre on the daytime rate. A pre-booked transfer works the other way round: the figure is settled before you travel and the traffic is our problem rather than yours.

About 8 kilometres, or five miles, and roughly 20 minutes by road. The airport sits in the commune of Bouguenais, south-west of the city, with the périphérique ring road between the two. Nothing about this journey is long; what varies is the ring road at the morning and evening peaks, which can turn twenty minutes into thirty-five.

No. A night curfew has stopped scheduled flights between midnight and 6am since 2022. This matters more than it sounds for a transfer: the very late arrival that catches people out at other airports does not exist here, and neither does the pre-dawn departure before six. It also means the first wave of departures is concentrated into the hour after the curfew lifts, which is when the terminal is at its most crowded.

Outside the arrivals level of the terminal, a short walk from the hall. Licensed taxis queue there and take passengers in turn; you cannot pick which one. The rank is the right answer when you have landed with nothing booked. It is the wrong answer when you are four people with four cases, when you are going well beyond the city, or when you would rather know the figure before the doors shut.

A taxi can be hailed or taken from a rank and charges by metre; a VTC, which is what a private transfer is sold as in France, must be booked in advance and charges an agreed price. VTC stands for voiture de transport avec chauffeur. French law keeps the two apart: a VTC may not wait on a taxi rank, may not be flagged in the street, and may not charge by the metre. That is why a pre-booked transfer at Nantes quotes a figure rather than an estimate, and why nobody can offer you one at the kerb.

In a metered taxi, yes. The night, Sunday and public holiday rate is higher, and so is the rate for a journey the driver returns from empty. French taxi tariffs run in four bands, A to D. A is the daytime rate with a loaded return, D the night or Sunday rate with an empty return, reported in Loire-Atlantique at €1.12 and €3.02 a kilometre respectively. A pre-booked transfer has none of these bands, because the figure is agreed before the day.

Yes. A metered taxi journey is reported to cost at least €8 however short it is. The minimum is set nationally as a ceiling and almost every French department applies it, Loire-Atlantique included. On a very short run, to a hotel beside the terminal for instance, the minimum rather than the distance is what you end up paying.

In a metered taxi there can be, within limits set nationally. Only a small number of supplements are permitted: reported at €4 for each passenger from the 5th onwards and €2 for a bulky item that will not go in the boot, plus a motorway toll if you asked for the motorway. Assistance dogs can never be refused or charged for. On a pre-booked transfer the luggage the vehicle can carry is inside the agreed figure.

The shuttle is reported at €10 and about 20 minutes to the station; a car costs more and goes to the door. It runs every 20 minutes between April and October and every 30 minutes the rest of the year, and the same ticket covers the tram and bus network in the Nantes area. For one person with hand luggage it is hard to argue with. For three people with cases, for an address away from the centre, or for the last flight of the evening, the arithmetic turns.

Reported at midnight from the airport, with the first departure from Hôtel Dieu at 04:30. There is no service on 1 May. Because the flight curfew also begins at midnight, the shuttle and the flight schedule stop at very nearly the same hour, which is a tidier arrangement than most airports manage. A delayed evening arrival is still the case where it fails you, and that is the case a booked car is for.

No rail line reaches the terminal. Tram line 3 ends at Neustrie, from where bus 98 covers the last part of the journey, and bus 38 links the airport with Pirmil. The shuttle is the direct connection to the station and the centre. For anyone arriving with luggage, a connection involving a tram, a bus and a walk is the part of the trip that goes wrong.

There is only one, with four halls inside it. The building is L-shaped: halls 1 to 3 run along the long side over two floors, with check-in and baggage reclaim below and the departure lounges above, and hall 4 sits at right angles to them. Everybody arrives into the same place, so there is no terminal to confuse on a booking, which is a relief after Paris.

A reported 7,189,480 in 2025, about 7.19 million, up 2.5 per cent on the year before. The busiest reported day of that year was 14 July 2025, with 26,682 passengers. For a single-terminal airport those are substantial numbers, and they are the reason the building feels full at the hours either side of the curfew.

A redevelopment is reported at €450 million excluding VAT, aiming at 8 million passengers a year by 2030. A separate €40 million of work from the current operator was reported for 2024 to 2026, covering the runway, aircraft stands, ventilation and pedestrian routes. The replacement airport at Notre-Dame-des-Landes was abandoned in 2018, which is why the existing site is being enlarged instead. Works move, so allow a little extra time and read the airport’s own notices in the week you fly.

Yes, and it is one of the journeys we are asked for most. La Baule is about 85 kilometres from the terminal and roughly 70 minutes by road, out past Saint-Nazaire along the estuary. In July and August the coast road slows noticeably, so the figure to plan around is the longer one. The price is agreed before you travel, which on a run of this length is worth more than on a trip into the city.

About 65 kilometres, roughly 55 minutes. The road follows the south bank of the Loire and crosses the estuary by the Saint-Nazaire bridge. The shipyards, the cruise terminal and the Airbus plant are all within a few minutes of each other at that end, so tell us which one you actually want on the booking.

Yes. Clisson is about 35 kilometres from the terminal, roughly 35 minutes. The festival runs over four days each June and draws a reported crowd of more than 100,000 to a town of a few thousand people, so the roads into Clisson behave nothing like they do the rest of the year. Book both legs at once: the journey back on the Monday is the one that is impossible to arrange on the day.

Yes. Les Sables-d’Olonne is about 105 kilometres from the terminal, roughly 85 minutes. The Vendée coast, Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie and Noirmoutier are all on the list, and so is Fromentine for the Île d’Yeu crossing. On a ferry or a race day, take the earlier collection: a boat does not wait and the coast roads in August do not behave.

Yes. The park at Les Epesses is about 85 kilometres from the terminal, roughly 70 minutes. It is one of the most-visited attractions in France and the evening show finishes late, so the return leg needs to be booked rather than hoped for. Tell us which hotel on the estate you are staying at, because they are spread out.

Yes. Rennes is about 110 kilometres up the N137, roughly 80 minutes. It is a straightforward road and a common booking when a flight lands at the wrong one of the two airports. The booking covers that journey in both directions, like every other on this page.

Nothing, from your side. We follow the flight number and the collection moves to the real landing time. Up to 60 minutes of waiting after touchdown is included on an airport arrival, which usually covers the walk, the passport desk if there is one and the baggage belt. The one case worth a message is a diversion to another airport, because that we cannot see from the flight number alone.

Up to 60 minutes from the moment the aircraft lands, on an airport arrival. It is counted from touchdown rather than from the time written on the booking, which is the point: a late landing spends none of it. If something holds you longer than an hour, a message to the driver on the number in your confirmation settles it, and the booking terms say what happens after that.

Inside the arrivals hall, holding a board with your surname on it. Your landing time is already known at that end, so there is nothing to tell us as you come through. The meeting point and a mobile number are both in the confirmation email, and because there is a single terminal here there is no building to get wrong.

Only on a flight from outside the Schengen area. Arrivals from within it walk straight through to the baggage hall. A flight from the United Kingdom, for example, means a passport desk; a flight from Spain or Germany does not. Either way the included hour runs from touchdown, so the queue is not your problem to manage.

A passport valid for the stay, and for some nationalities a visa. Short stays in the Schengen area are limited to 90 days in any 180 for most non-EU visitors, and the EU’s new entry and exit checks are being introduced across member states. Rules are revised, so read the official guidance and ask your airline before the day rather than relying on a previous trip.

Work backwards: the airline’s bag-drop deadline, then two hours inside the terminal, then the drive, then a margin. From the city centre that usually puts the collection a little under three hours before departure. Add to it for the first departure wave after the curfew lifts at 6am, when the queues are at their longest, and for a Monday morning on the périphérique.

Yes, and on the longer runs it is the sensible way to do it. Both legs go on the same booking with their own times, and the return is priced the same way as the outward. On a coast or festival journey the return is the leg that is hard to arrange at short notice, so it is the one worth settling first.

Free of charge up to 24 hours before the collection. After that point, and for a no-show, the booking terms decide what happens. A change of flight, a change of address or an extra passenger can usually be handled by a message as long as there is time to reallocate a vehicle.

Online, securely, when you book. Card, PayPal and Google Pay all go through certified gateways, and the confirmation email arrives once the payment clears. Whatever that email says is what you have paid; there is nothing to settle with the driver at the end, and no metre to watch on the way.

Yes, at no extra charge, if you ask when you book. French law requires a child restraint suited to the child’s size up to the age of 10 or a height of 135 cm, with narrow exemptions for taxis. Put each child’s age on the booking form, because that is what decides which seat is fitted and which vehicle is sent.

Yes, with notice. Ask for an accessible vehicle on the booking and give the chair’s dimensions and whether it folds. Assistance inside the terminal itself is arranged through your airline or the airport rather than through us, and we set the meeting point around whatever you have booked with them.

Ask for an English-speaking driver on the booking and it is confirmed before you travel. This is a French airport and the drivers are local, so it is treated like any other request on a booking rather than assumed: say so on the form and we confirm it rather than leaving you to find out at the kerb. Your confirmation carries the driver’s name and a mobile number either way, and a message works when a conversation does not.

An assistance dog always, and any other animal by arrangement. A licensed driver cannot refuse an assistance dog and cannot charge for one. Every other animal depends on the driver agreeing, so put it on the booking, travel with a carrier or a lead, and it is confirmed before the day.

All carried, provided we know first. The Atlantic coast means boards and the Loire means bicycles, and both need load space rather than seats. Give the item and its length on the booking and a vehicle that can take it is allocated; turning up with one unannounced is how a party ends up split between two cars.

From one up to fifty, across nine vehicle classes. The number that actually decides it is the luggage rather than the seats: four adults fit a saloon, four adults with four large cases do not. Give us the party size and the bag count and the right vehicle is sent.

Sometimes, and sometimes not, and you cannot know which until the end. A metered fare depends on the traffic, the hour and the day, so the same journey costs different amounts on different afternoons. A pre-booked figure does not move. On a short run in light traffic the metre may well win; on a long run, at a bad hour, or when the roads are busy, it tends not to.

Yes, from the flight number on the booking. That single field does more work than anything else on the form: it tells us which aircraft to watch, so an early landing and a late one both change nothing at your end. Without it the collection is pinned to a clock time, which is the one arrangement that cannot absorb a delay.

The forecourt arrangements and any charge are the airport’s own and have changed before, so check its website in the week you travel. Whoever drives you pays whatever applies, which is the practical argument against asking a friend to wait at the kerb. On a pre-booked transfer any airport charge that genuinely applies to your journey is itemised in the booking summary rather than added afterwards.

Yes, but use the car park rather than the kerb. The Neustrie park-and-ride is reported at €4.50 for the first 24 hours for non-subscribers, with a travel package from the 25th hour. Forecourt rules at any airport are written to keep the kerb moving, so a short stay in a car park is almost always the cheaper way to meet somebody.

July and August, and the week of Hellfest in June. The coast fills from the start of the French school holidays, the festival moves a six-figure crowd through the region in four days, and the airport’s own summer peak sits on top of both. Book the transfer when you book the flight for any date in those windows.

Every four years, yes, and considerably. The race starts from Les Sables-d’Olonne and the village before the start draws very large crowds to a small seaside town. Roads into the Vendée slow for weeks rather than days, so a transfer in that period wants booking early and a wider margin than usual.

Yes. Angers is about 95 kilometres and Saumur about 140, with Tours at the far end at about 210. It is a long drive to the eastern end of the valley, so those journeys are usually booked as a single transfer with an agreed figure rather than left to a metre. Tell us which château or which hotel, since the valley is spread along a very long river.

Yes. The cruise terminal is about 65 kilometres from the airport, roughly 55 minutes. A ship keeps to its own clock and will not wait, so on a sailing day take the earlier collection. Give us the ship’s name and the sailing time on the booking and the collection is set around them rather than around a guess.

A licensed local driver, named in your confirmation along with the vehicle. We arrange the booking; the journey itself is driven by somebody licensed to do it in France. The confirmation carries the driver’s name and a mobile number before the day, which is the part an informal arrangement cannot offer.

Per vehicle. Four people in one car pay one figure between them, not four. That is why the bag count matters as much as the head count when you book: the vehicle is what you are paying for, so it has to be the right one.

The meeting in Arrivals, the flight tracking, the included hour of waiting, luggage the vehicle can take, child seats if asked for, and free cancellation up to 24 hours before. VAT, airport charges and any toll that applies are itemised in the booking summary. Extra stops and waiting past the included hour are quoted on request rather than added quietly.

Yes, every day of the year, within the hours the airport itself operates. The curfew between midnight and 6am means there are no scheduled flights to meet in the middle of the night, but a collection for the first departure wave after 6am is an ordinary booking and a common one.

Yes. Put their name and mobile number on the booking as the passenger. The confirmation then goes to both of you, and the driver holds a board with the passenger’s surname rather than yours. For an elderly relative or an unaccompanied arrival this is the arrangement worth making rather than relying on a phone call at the kerb.

Call the mobile number in your confirmation before you leave the building. The driver is inside the hall rather than at the kerb, and at a single-terminal airport there are very few places to be. Walking outside to look is the one thing that makes it harder, because the two of you then end up on opposite sides of the glass.

The figure depends on the hour, among other things, and it is shown before you pay. What it does not do is move afterwards. A metered taxi is the opposite arrangement: the night and Sunday band is higher and you discover the total at the end of the journey rather than the start.

No. The Aéroport du Grand Ouest at Notre-Dame-des-Landes was abandoned in 2018 and never built. Nantes Atlantique at Bouguenais is the only commercial airport serving the city, and the redevelopment now under way is what replaced that plan. Older guides and older maps still refer to the project, which is worth knowing if you are reading anything written before 2018.

Yes, and it is one of the busiest things we do from this airport in summer. Saint-Jean-de-Monts is about 78 kilometres from the terminal, Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez about 82 and La Tranche-sur-Mer about 115. Put the park’s own name on the booking rather than the town, because several parks share a road and the signposted entrance is often not the one nearest your pitch. If reception closes in the evening, say so, because it changes where the driver can set you down.

More than a saloon holds, almost always. A fortnight in a mobile home is not a city break: four people with four large cases, a travel cot and a buggy will not fit a standard car. Count a cot, a buggy and a bodyboard bag as luggage and give us the real number, because the vehicle is chosen from the bag count rather than the head count. Finding this out on the forecourt is the worst moment to find it out.

Yes. Carnac is about 145 kilometres from the terminal, Quiberon about 155 and Lorient about 165, all along the N165. Nantes is administratively in the Pays de la Loire, but the N165 runs west from it along the whole southern Breton coast, which frequently makes this the nearest airport with a useful flight. The road onto the Quiberon peninsula is single and it is the only one, so in August take the earlier collection.

It depends which way you go, and on the coast runs there are none. No toll is reported west or north-west of Nantes: the N165 to Saint-Nazaire, La Baule, Vannes and Lorient, and the N137 to Rennes. East and south is different, with the A11 towards Angers, Le Mans and Tours tolled and the A83 towards La Rochelle tolled. On a booked transfer any toll that genuinely applies is itemised in the summary before you pay.

It is reported to be a legacy of the Plan Routier Breton, the programme launched in 1969 to build Brittany a modern trunk-road network at the State’s expense. The practical effect today is that the dual carriageways running west and north from Nantes carry no toll, while the motorways heading up the Loire valley and south towards Niort do. It is the reason a long coast transfer and a long eastern one do not cost the same per kilometre.

Ask for the waiting time as a number and what it is counted from, the cancellation window in hours, whether the figure is per vehicle, the luggage allowance, and whether a toll or airport charge is extra. Those five terms differ between providers and are rarely published, which is why a comparison made on the headline price alone tells you very little. “Complimentary waiting” with no duration beside it is not a commitment, and waiting counted from the booked time rather than the landing is worth little on a delayed flight.

From the landing. The included hour starts when the aircraft touches down, not at the time written on the booking. This is the distinction worth checking with anybody you book with, because the two are not the same thing and only one of them survives a delay. At an airport with a midnight curfew, where the awkward case is an evening flight running late, it is the clause that decides whether the arrangement works at all.

NTE, and the ICAO code is LFRS. You will see NTE on a boarding pass and a baggage tag, and it is the code to use when you book a transfer so there is no confusion with Nantes the city or with Nancy, whose code is ENC.