Visiting Nantes for the Rugby World Cup
Saturday, 16 September: Ireland will play Tonga at 9pm local time at the Stade de la Beaujoire.
There will be activities and entertainment in the stadium grounds from 6pm so we encourage you to get to the stadium nice and early. You’ll avoid the last minute rush and get comfortably seated in time for kick-off.
Getting there
If you’re flying in to Nantes, you will find the airport to be roughly 10km from the city centre. To travel into the city centre, you can take the airport shuttle. This costs €10 per journey, and passengers may buy their ticket from ticketing machines or the shuttle driver (bank card only). More details can be found here.
If you arrive by train, you will find yourself in the city centre already, with immediate access to the tramway network.
Getting to the match
With the exception of the airport shuttle, all public transport in Nantes is free of charge at the weekends! So there’s no need to buy a ticket, you can just hop on Tram 1 to Beaujoire.
Further information can be found on the TAN website here.
Rugby Village
A fan zone will be located at Parc des Chantiers which you can reach by hopping on the Tram 1 to Chantiers Navals and crossing the Anne of Britanny bridge.
The rugby village can welcome up to 7,000 fans and access is open to all members of the public. There will be a large screen showing the matches, a small rugby pitch so you can pretend you’re on the field, and plenty of places to eat and drink.
Top tips from a local
I love the city of Nantes on the beautiful river Loire with its rich mix of history, industry, culture, gastronomy and wines! To visit the city, you simply follow, painted on the ground, the Green Line! It guides you to every possible interesting cultural site – museums, cathederals, art installations – that there is to see in the city.
And along that line are plenty of bars and restaurants offering all sorts of delicious cuisines and drinks! Wander around the quarter, Le Bouffay with its old cobbled streets where you will come across John McByrne’s or Buck Mulligans, Irish pubs which opened well before I arrived to town almost thirty years ago!
Formerly a bustling port city on the river Loire whose wealth came principally from the slave trade, sugar and spices, much is done to preserve its memory yet with a contemporary twist. Visit the poignant Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery and to Nantes' past. Cross the bridge Anne de Bretagne to the former steel factories and ship building yards, now the Quartier de la Creation, transformed into universities, bars, art and design galleries, tech and cultural venues.
Take a ride on the Great Elephant made from wood and steel, the city's mascot. The Carousel inspired by the writings of Jules Verne who was born here or the Titan the crane domineering the port, a reminder of the city's ship building past. Or pop up to La Butte Sainte Anne where you will find the restaurant Chez Mr Jules, a typical brasserie which serves good food in a local setting.
Then come across the Loire by boat to the old fishing village of Trentemoult, a ten-minute boat ride to where I live! With its colourful fishermen’s houses and captains’ villas, winding little streets, artists’ studios and cats - enjoy the local cuisine, sardines, mussels, fish and the local Muscadet wine in any of the bars or restaurants on the quay by the river. I might be sitting beside you!
Siobhan Gately is an Irish artist living a ten minute boat ride across from the city of Nantes in the old fishing village of Trentemoult where she has a studio and works as a visual artist, illustrator and designer. She has had several solo and group exhibitions in France and Ireland and you can visit her workshop by appointment.