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Getting There and Away
St Nazaire is the official start of the Eurovelo 6 route and is situated on teh West coast of france and appoixamlet 65 km o Nantes. The general concenus is NOT to use the bridge - basically it is steep dangerous - and appears from reviews from people who have cycled the St Nazaire bridge it a pain in butt.
Advice si to use a ferry from te St Nazare North side to the south side - this is apparently free.
The ferry goes from the village of Cueron ( North side) to teh village of Le Pellerin ( south side) and leave every 20 mins or so. and the North side is flat and more "arty" and the crossing is about 20 km out of Nantes and 50 km along the river towards Nantes form St Nazire.
However, teh local hostel (situated on the south side of teh bridge on the bwach gives soem bus info
| "100m 8–St Brevin.1km–P.Bus stop"Campin"g" for 8.(No service on sunday)Place Basle for P" - kinda cryptic but the local company does not have a map for that sode of teh bay http://www.stran.fr |
There is no international airport at St Naziinre - with the closest connection being Nantes, or Paris - and then achieving on the final leg on a train or bus.
Train.
Saint-Nazaire railway station is served by both the TGV and the regional trains and buses of the TER Pays de la Loire. It appears (?) you can TGV direct or the cheaper and slower option is via SNCF and to NAntes ( from PAris) and get a regional TER train/bus down from Nantes.
Interactive TGF map or area covers to Nantes and the partner service Interloire and a list of Trains running out of Nantes to St Nazaire
MORE TRAIN INFO: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TER_Pays_de_la_Loire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TER_Pays_de_la_Loire
http://www.ter-sncf.com
TGV website which allows good travel with bicycles.
TGV (high speed train) connection to Paris, Lyon, Marseille,Lille, and Strasbourg, with trains to Paris via the LGV Atlantique taking just over 2 hours.
Bus
TER ( part of the french SNCF network ) Pays de la Loire provides links to Nantes, Angers, Le Mans, La Roche sur Yon, and many other regional cities and towns.
Places to eat:
the tourism website list a number fo places to eat for a wide variety of bugets form traditional french resturanetas ot pizza joints to even teh whereabouts of the closet Mcdonalds!
Places to stay:
The Wiki travel page suggests that budget travelled may well do sleeping at the beach, the tourism website gives you a good handle on the accommodation in St Nazaire situation - mid low and high options.
As per usual it does not list the local hostels - The YHA / HI hostel which is about 15 km on to the side of the river mouth directly across from the town. Sounds as if it is a little out of the way - but on the beach - bonus! - it has a self catering kitchen ( always check this with hostels!)
the ocal St Naznaire camping ground "Yukadi Village" ( additional info ) is situtated about 8 km to the west of St Anzire and judging from teh photos seems cool - with access 24hrs - ther are a couple of reviews if the campsite that kindof give it a good rating. from their website ",... Our village is located 600 metres from the sea and 10 km from Royan, much of it situated in a pine forest typical of south west France.... " the place sounds - well - delightful!
Things to do:
The council has made an effort with a interactive map (French mainly). There are market days listed, varous culture places to check out - namely the palce is famous due to a german submarine base - that you can visit
Going to teh beach if it si a nice day - seems to be a good use of time - or visit teh arsh land norh bank http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brière. A "freedom ticket" about 3.5 euros - can be brought for a day pass on the city network .
Key Places:
The tourist office ( always the first place of call) ...
INFO:
travel info ( in French - but google will translate page - or be it badly) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Nazaire
Background and history http://wikitravel.org/fr/Saint-Nazaire
