Best time to visit Nantes

Nantes is a city of two halves. September scores 86 and January scores 38 — a 48-point swing, which is the difference between a holiday and an endurance test. The month you pick matters more here than almost anywhere. The good window runs May to September — 5 months within ten points of the best.

July is the warmest month at 24.7 °C and January the coolest at 8.9 °C — a 15.8 °C spread across the year. 33 nights a year dip below freezing.

There is a real wet season here. January, November and December carry the rain — up to 15 wet days in a month — while July to September drop as low as 8. That 7-day gap is the biggest single difference between a good month and a bad one in Nantes, and it moves further than the temperature does.

The sea peaks at just 20.5 °C, which is wetsuit territory even at its warmest — a coast to look at rather than swim in. Daylight runs from 8.5 hours in winter to 15.9 in summer, enough to notice on a sightseeing itinerary.

The three strongest months are September, July, August. The one to think twice about is January. Each month below has its own page with rainfall reliability, extremes, daylight, sea temperature and crowd levels.

Nantes month by month