St Nazaire
 

I have to spend a week in St Nazaire at the end of this month. Does anyone know if there are any interesting things to do, places to visit nearby? From what I can gather St Nazaire is industrial and the coast has been developed with high rise hotels etc for tourists.

We spent a long weekend in Pornichet, a seaside resort near St N While the area right on the sea has been overdeveloped, esp. La Baule, the region has a lot of natural beauty. It is known for its salt marshes and the famous sel de Guerande. Guerande itself is a very pretty walled town worth a visit. The salt marshes are pretty to drive through. La Baule is a lovely town though the area right on the ocean is an eyesore. The beach itself is one of the largest in Europe and nice to walk along. Nantes is not too far away if you want to visit a larger town. Finally, the ile de Noirmoutier, famous for pototoes, is not too far off the coast and supposed to be quite nice too. Have fun!

ttt

I never went there, and never heard St-Nazaire was considered of being of any touristic value. But Nantes, up the Loire river is a quite pleasant town to visit, if you happen to be in this region.

Early in WWII, British Commandos raided the port at St Nazaire, severely damaging the large drydock, the only one in France large enough for the Bismark (The attack is documented in a book, Heros of St Nazaire; I don't know the publisher or author). I visited the waterfront, saw the drydock, the submarine pens (one is open to the public with a French submarine in it--I believe there is also a small museum nearby.

Well...I checked my guidebook about the area, and here's what they mention about St-Nazaire :<BR><BR>-The suspended bridge<BR><BR>-The view on the port from the "petit-traict" beach. Industrial tourism, sort of. With apparently a kind of light show, partially aleatory, activated by the wind force, the traffic, etc..<BR><BR>-A permanent exhibition about liners in the former german submarines base.<BR><BR>-A little museum about both the local ecology and the local industry, in particular ship building.<BR><BR>-It's possible to visit the main ship-builder(Alstom-Atlantic)'s docks<BR><BR>-Same with Aerospatiale-Matra (rocketry and avionics), with a small exhibition about the history of aircrafts<BR><BR>-The new town build in the 60's, apparently of some interest for people who're in modern urban architecture<BR><BR>-A couple of little standing stones situated "rue du dolmen"<BR><BR>-Some engravings about Tintin spread in the town and the port<BR><BR>-The Santander, Vera Cruz, Mexico and La Havane avenues where some old (like in one century old or so) houses are still standing.<BR><BR>-Some rare building whis have survived the WWII : Cafe de france, the former toll building, the former train station, the "halles", the former public showers.<BR><BR><BR>In other words, one would have to be very interest in industrial tourism, ship-building or modern urban architecture to find St-Nazaire attractive.<BR><BR>It's one of the towns which have been totally destroyed during WWII (it was a military port, plus the german garrison managed to hold the town, IIRC, until the very end of the war, at least long after the rest of french terrotory was liberated) which explains why there's nothing left of historical interest.

My mother in law lives there. Look, let me not mince words, it is pretty much a dump. Destroyed in WWII and rebuilt like Plymounth in the Uk with concrete. Very little of the lovely pre war stuff exists. The maritime base with Nazi sub chutes is pretty interesting, there is a small not very pretty beach. But very close to all the other things, (drive to Nantes not great, very congested). I recommend heading up the coast north to La B, pornichet, etc. Do not miss Guerande - fabulous!

I agree with dendi, although the best sandy coves in the region are on the outskirts of St Nazaire. We stayed overlooking the beach in Pornic and drove to Nantes to have a wonderful lunch at the beautiful La Cigale.