Cocktails, wine bars and dives: drinking in Nantes for grown-ups.
Cocktail bars, wine bars, dive bars and gastropubs: drinking in Nantes for grown-ups.
19:33 pours destination cocktails inside an Orient Express railway carriage a step off Place Graslin in Nantes, and rewrites the card twice a year.
Signature drink: Destination cocktails rewritten every six months
Food: Bar snacks only
Tip: Ask which destination the current card is built on; the mezcal and Calvados rounds have both had their turn.
Le Labo serves rum and creative cocktails out of beakers and test tubes on Rue Léon Blum, holding the deepest tasting-rum shelf in central Nantes.
Signature drink: Tasting rums from Martinique to Mauritius
Food: No kitchen
Tip: The terrace opens in warm weather; come Tuesday or Wednesday if you want the bartenders' time for a rum flight.
Le Maestro is the cheap mojito counter of Nantes on Allée des Tanneurs, pouring raspberry, strawberry, mango and virgin versions with pints alongside.
Signature drink: Mojitos from €3.90 in raspberry, strawberry, mango and virgin
Food: No kitchen
Tip: Service stops at 01:30 even though the doors stay open to 02:00, so order the last round early.
Prohibition works a New York underground theme in a Bouffay cellar in Nantes, with cocktails and beer running to 03:30 and DJs playing from 23:00.
Signature drink: Cocktails and a long beer board
Food: No kitchen
Tip: Doors open at 22:00 midweek and 21:00 at weekends; happy hour finishes before the DJ sets begin.
La Maison Café is laid out as a 1970s flat on Rue Lebrun in Nantes, six rooms from kitchen to attic with beer and cocktails at student prices.
Signature drink: Cocktails and beer at student prices
Food: No kitchen
Tip: Each room has its own character, so walk to the attic before you settle; half-pints run about €2.60.
Le Sur Mesure runs 32 taps over two floors in the Bouffay quarter of Nantes, half the board downstairs and half upstairs, changing all the time.
Signature drink: 32 taps split across two floors
Food: Charcuterie boards
Tip: The upstairs room came from taking over the next-door unit; it is quieter and holds its own set of taps.
Le Rabelais has poured Belgian and Irish beer on Rue du Bouffay in Nantes since 1991, with 29 taps and football on the screens most evenings of the week.
Signature drink: 29 taps weighted to Belgian and Irish beer
Food: No kitchen
Tip: Tripel Karmeliet and Kwak are both on draught; the room fills fast on match nights, so arrive before kick-off.
Délirium Café opened on Allée Baco in Nantes in 2010 and still holds 420 bottle references behind 20 taps, with staff happy to steer a choice.
Signature drink: 20 taps in front of 420 bottle references
Food: No kitchen
Tip: Tell the bar what you usually drink rather than reading the whole board; the bottle list changes faster than the taps.
Les Fleurs du Malt puts 30 taps on Allée Commandant Charcot in Nantes and runs table service, so nobody has to queue through the happy hour rush.
Signature drink: 30 taps with regular brewer takeovers
Food: Bistro lunches, charcuterie boards at night
Tip: Tap takeovers hand the whole board to one brewer; sofas and long shared tables make it a group room.
Bier Market is a shop and tasting bar out on Boulevard Général Pierre Koenig in Nantes, with eight taps standing in front of 1,200 bottle labels.
Signature drink: Eight taps in front of 1,200 bottles
Food: No kitchen
Tip: It closes far earlier than the centre-city bars, so treat it as an early stop or a bottle run home.
Le Chemin de Traverse is a small Nantes bar on Rue Bon Secours pouring craft draught from regional brewers in a deliberately low-key back room.
Signature drink: Rotating draught from local brewers
Food: No kitchen
Tip: It runs later than most of the west-side bars, to 02:00 six nights a week and midnight on Sunday.
Atomic's Café keeps a terrace on Cours Olivier de Clisson in Nantes, food through the day and live music or comedy most weeks into the night.
Signature drink: Cocktails and draught beer
Food: Food served through the day
Tip: It opens from noon, so it works as a daytime terrace as well as a late one; check what is programmed before you go.
Le Montecito is the gay bar of Nantes on Allée Duquesne, open six nights a week to 02:00 with regular themed evenings and bingo nights on the card.
Signature drink: House cocktails
Food: No kitchen
Tip: Monday is the one dark night; the room sits a short walk from Bouffay if you are moving between bars.
Barberousse trades in shooters and planteurs on Rue Maréchal Joffre in Nantes and stays open until 04:00 on six nights out of the seven each week.
Signature drink: Shooters and planteurs
Food: Charcuterie and cheese boards
Tip: Boards of charcuterie keep the table going; the bar hosts language-exchange evenings midweek if you want company.
Havana Café runs Latin nights on Rue de la Juiverie in the Bouffay quarter of Nantes, open every evening from 18:00 straight through until 04:00.
Signature drink: Rum-led Latin cocktails
Food: No kitchen
Tip: It is one of the few Nantes rooms open seven nights to 04:00; DJ nights are announced on the venue listings.
The bar of the Lieu Unique occupies the old LU biscuit factory in Nantes, drinking under the restored tower with concerts running through the week.
Signature drink: Drinks under the LU biscuit tower
Food: Restaurant alongside the bar
Tip: The bar and the restaurant are shut for works through the summer of 2026 with no reopening date posted, so check the programme before making the trip.
AERoFAB Taproom took over a Hangar à Bananes unit on Quai des Antilles in Nantes in April 2025, with 23 taps of house and guest beer facing the Loire.
Signature drink: 23 taps of AERoFAB and guest beer
Food: Kitchen evenings and Saturday lunch
Tip: The kitchen stops at 21:30 while the bar runs to 02:00 on Friday and Saturday, so eat before the DJ sets start.
Bubar brews on the Île de Nantes and pours the results at its bar on Rue Louis Blanc, unfiltered and unpasteurised, a few steps from the tanks.
Signature drink: Unfiltered house beers poured beside the tanks
Food: Tapas and sharing boards
Tip: Darts and quiz nights run through the week; Thursday to Saturday the bar holds on until 02:00.