Dance clubs, live music, rooftop bars, speakeasies, LGBTQ+ venues, listening bars and late-night dives in Nantes.
Dance clubs, live music, rooftop bars, speakeasies, LGBTQ+ nightlife, listening bars and late-night dives across Nantes, with where to go and what is worth the late night.
Warehouse is the big electronic room of Nantes at the Hangar à Bananes, three nights a week of techno, house and Latin programming until dawn.
Tip: Tram C5 stops at Hangar à Bananes and there are 1,000 free parking spaces, which matters at a 06:30 finish.
Macadam has run its club in the Chantenay port zone of Nantes since 2017, house and techno on Saturday against trance and hardcore on Friday.
Tip: Phones stay in pockets: filming is banned inside. Saturday nights can run through to 09:30.
ONŌ Club opens its doors at midnight on Place de la Bourse in central Nantes and runs to 06:00 five nights a week on DJ sets and themed evenings.
Tip: Nothing happens before midnight here; it is the room to move to once the Bouffay bars start closing.
New Factory works pop and reggaeton nights on Rue de Rieux in Nantes, with a cheap door and a run from just before midnight through until 06:00.
Tip: Entry sits around €6 without a drink, which makes it the budget end of the Nantes club night.
Stereolux runs two halls beside the Machines de l'Île in Nantes, a music and digital arts venue with programming across indie, electronic and experimental.
Tip: Two rooms of different sizes share the building, so check which hall your ticket names before you arrive.
Pannonica has been the jazz and improvised music stage of Nantes since autumn 1994, a small room that leans hard on discovery and emerging players.
Tip: Sets usually start at 20:30; tickets go through the venue's own box office rather than the door.
La Bouche d'Air programmes contemporary French chanson at the Salle Paul Fort in the Talensac quarter of Nantes, seated shows most weeks of the season.
Tip: The box office shuts for summer from 10 July and reopens on 1 September, so book around the break.
Le Ferrailleur puts concerts on the Loire quays at the Hangar à Bananes in Nantes, then turns into a dance floor for its Nuits Blanches until 04:00.
Tip: The summer concerts sauvages on the terrace are free and start around 19:00, before the ticketed room opens.
Le Zygobar is the small live room of the Olivettes quarter in Nantes, with blues and soul gigs and open jam sessions against a beer-led bar list.
Tip: Gigs are usually free and the room is tiny, so arrive early on jam nights if you want to sit.
La Guinguette du Belvédère sits on the roof of the Terrasses du Port in Nantes, an open-air bar looking straight down the Loire from the Île de Nantes.
Tip: The season runs April to September only, and the kitchen changes its three plates and two desserts every week.
Prohibition hides a New York bootleg-era cellar under the Bouffay streets of Nantes, cocktails and beer with DJ sets running through until 03:30.
Tip: Doors are late even by Nantes standards, 22:00 midweek and 21:00 at the weekend, and the music starts at 23:00.
Bootlegger works a prohibition theme on Rue Kervégan on the Île Feydeau in Nantes, the bar happy to build cocktails that are not on the card.
Tip: Ask for something off-menu rather than reading the list; happy hour runs 18:00 to 21:00 Monday to Saturday.
L'Univers keeps a speakeasy-styled room off Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau in Nantes, food and concerts early then drinking through to 04:00 at weekends.
Tip: It runs two hours later than most Graslin bars on Friday and Saturday, which makes it a useful second stop.
Le Montecito is the gay cocktail bar of Nantes on Allée Duquesne, with drag shows and DJ nights on a programme that changes through the month.
Tip: Monday is the one dark night; it sits close enough to Bouffay to fold into a wider bar crawl.
Le Plein Sud is described by local press as the oldest gay bar in Nantes, a relaxed terrace room near the cathedral rather than a dance floor.
Tip: It opens from late afternoon, so it works as the early stop before the Kervégan clubs get going.
Le Petit Marais is a long-standing fixture of queer nightlife on the Île Feydeau in Nantes, DJ nights and drag under a lit ceiling.
Tip: It runs seven nights to 04:00, which is rare in Nantes, and the door stays busy long after the Bouffay bars have shut.
Voyage Voyage is the audiophile bistro of Maxence Jerusel in central Nantes, with worked acoustics and turntables built into the bar counter itself.
Tip: Bring your own vinyl or pull from the 1,000 records kept on site; weekend concerts and DJ sets start around 22:00.
Barberousse pours shooters and planteurs on Rue Maréchal Joffre in Nantes until 04:00, one of the latest doors on the eastern side of the centre.
Tip: Boards of charcuterie hold a table between rounds; Sunday is the one night the shutters stay down.
Havana Café runs Latin nights on Rue de la Juiverie in the Bouffay quarter of Nantes, open every single evening from 18:00 through to 04:00.
Tip: Seven nights a week to 04:00 makes it the reliable fallback when the rest of Bouffay has shut.
La Maison Café fills six rooms of a mock 1970s flat on Rue Lebrun in Nantes, with darts and table football between the concerts and the DJ sets.
Tip: Happy hour runs 17:00 to 20:00 Monday to Friday; the attic is the room worth climbing for.
Le Marlowe runs through to 07:00 on Rue Saint-Vincent in Nantes, the last door standing in the city centre once every other bar has emptied out.
Tip: It only opens Thursday to Saturday and nothing happens before 22:00, so treat it as the closing stop.
Le Callaway is a concert café on Rue de l'Émery in Nantes running live sets and DJ nights to 04:00, with a happy hour stretching past midnight.
Tip: Happy hour runs 21:00 to 01:00 Thursday to Saturday, which is unusually generous for the hour.
La Calle is the Latin bar of the Hangar à Bananes quays in Nantes, with live concerts and DJ sets over punch and sangria at happy hour prices.
Tip: Happy hour runs 17:00 to 22:00 every day, with beer at €3 and cocktails at €5.
Australian Café is the beer-led terrace bar of the Hangar à Bananes in Nantes, with live concerts and sport on the screens beside the Loire.
Tip: Thursday to Saturday it holds on to 03:30, while the rest of the week it shuts at 23:00.