What is the Nantes outdoor escape game?
The Nantes outdoor escape game is an escape room that leaves the building and walks the streets of the city: you follow your phone from one sight to the next, and at each of the 10 stops a puzzle waits that you solve through careful observation and clear reasoning. Allow about 2 hours, including 33 minutes on foot over 2.9 km, and start on a day that works for you.
Puzzles are placed at landmarks such as the cathedral, the moated Château des ducs de Bretagne, Place Royale, Passage Pommeraye and the Théâtre Graslin. Every puzzle stands alone, so there is no storyline to follow from one stop to the next. Up to three levels of hints are on hand if you get stuck. The centre of Nantes is compact and largely flat, which suits a game on foot, and the route moves from medieval streets to 18th-century squares without long detours.
- Durationabout 2 hours
- Walkingabout 33 min · 2.9 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
What you do on the escape game
Solve
Crack the puzzle at each stop through close observation and logic. No prior knowledge of Nantes is needed.
Read the surroundings
The clues come from the details around each place, such as façades, sculptures and the layout of the square.
Walk
Follow Google Maps from sight to sight: about 33 minutes on foot over roughly 2.9 km.
Take your time
There is no countdown. Ask for a hint when you need one, take a coffee break, and come back later or on another day.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of players. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Play when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who it suits
Friends
Each puzzle gives the group something new to discuss, and nobody has to know the city in advance.
Couples
A challenge you share, which keeps you talking as you stroll from the cathedral down towards the Loire, with no clock running.
Team building
Teams of up to 5 play on their own phones, a straightforward choice for colleagues.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- Best started in daylight, so you can see the details the puzzles ask about.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Teams of up to 5 work best; bigger groups split into several teams, one ticket per player.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
Puzzle route: from the Musée d'Arts de Nantes to the Memorial on the Quai de la Fosse
10 stops · about 33 min walking · start: Musée d'Arts de Nantes · finish: Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery
The first puzzle sits at the Musée d'Arts de Nantes and the last at the Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery on the Quai de la Fosse. In between you visit the cathedral, the Château des ducs de Bretagne, Église Sainte-Croix, Basilique Saint-Nicolas, Place Royale, Passage Pommeraye, Théâtre Graslin and the Natural History Museum. Daylight makes the best start, because rain or wind slow every stop. Google Maps guides you between puzzles, the app lets you reorder them, and no entry tickets are needed.
Open the route map ↗
1Musée d'Arts de NantesStart
The city's fine arts museum occupies a palace completed around 1900 and reopened in 2017 after a long renovation that added a contemporary wing. Its collections run from the 13th century to the present day, behind a monumental stone façade with tall arched windows.
2Nantes Cathedral
Building of the Cathedral of Saint Peter and Saint Paul began in 1434 and was only completed in 1891, yet it kept a unified Gothic style in pale tufa stone. Inside lies the Renaissance tomb of Duke Francis II of Brittany, carved by Michel Colombe, where the statue of Prudence has two faces: a young woman in front and an old man behind.
3Château des ducs de Bretagne
Duke Francis II began rebuilding this castle in 1466, and his daughter Anne of Brittany, twice Queen of France, continued the work. Behind its moat and walls, a fortress encloses an elegant residence of white tufa stone. Today it houses the Nantes History Museum, and you can walk along its ramparts.
4Église Sainte-Croix
This church in the old Bouffay quarter was built mainly in the 17th century. In the 19th century the city's belfry, with its clock and bells, was placed on top of its tower, where angels blowing trumpets still keep watch over the narrow streets around it.
Read the full story →
5Basilique Saint-Nicolas
Built between 1844 and 1869 to designs by Jean-Baptiste Lassus, this basilica is one of the first large neo-Gothic churches in France. Its slender spire rises high above the shopping streets of the centre, and the church was restored after being damaged by bombing in the Second World War.
6Place Royale
The architect Mathurin Crucy designed this elegant square at the end of the 18th century to link the old town with the new districts to the west. Its fountain of 1865 shows a figure of Nantes standing above statues of the Loire and its tributaries. Badly damaged in the Second World War, the square was rebuilt in its original style.
7Passage Pommeraye
Opened in 1843, this covered arcade connects two streets at different heights with a monumental staircase over three levels. Look up at the glass roof, the sculpted figures and the iron railings of its galleries, which make it one of the finest 19th-century arcades in France.
8Théâtre Graslin
Designed by Mathurin Crucy and opened in 1788, the theatre is named after the financier Jean-Joseph-Louis Graslin, who developed the surrounding district. Its neoclassical portico of eight Corinthian columns is crowned by statues of the Muses, and the building is used today as an opera house.
9Natural History Museum
The Muséum d'histoire naturelle de Nantes has occupied the building of the city's former mint since the 1870s. Its collections cover zoology, geology and minerals, and the skeleton of a large whale is one of its best-known exhibits.
10Memorial to the Abolition of SlaveryFinish
Opened in 2012 on the Quai de la Fosse, this memorial recalls that Nantes was France's main slave-trading port in the 18th century. Glass plaques set into the riverside walk carry the names of slave-trading expeditions, and beneath the quay a passage displays the word freedom in many languages.
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France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
C’est très sympa. Juste, j’aurais aimé que les commentaires historiques soient audio
Pascale– France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Petit parcours très sympathique pour découvrir Nantes et ses monuments principaux. A faire en famille ou entre amis. Ravie d’avoir partager ce parcours avec des proches. Les énigmes sont relativement faciles. Je recommande cette activité sans réserve.
Frédéric– France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Une bonne idée, cependant les explications font un peu copier/coller de Wikipedia et quand ils sont vocalisés, la voix utilisée est très artificielle. Le parcours ne contient que 10 étapes, ce qui est un peu court. En revanche, les énigmes sont sympa et pas trop difficiles.
Renate– Switzerland –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Eine sehr gute Möglichkeit die Stadt im Alleingang zu erkunden. Mann erfährt einiges über die besuchten Orte und auch grundsätzlich über Nantes.
Alexandra– France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Très belle balade pour découvrir les monuments nantais