Travelling In France: Everything You Need To Know About The Wonder Of Nantes’ Giant Elephant

If you’re looking for a family friendly travel adventure on your next trip to France (and one that’s friendly on the wallet) then I really recommend that you visit Nantes for a chance to see the giant mechanical elephant.

We decided to stop and visit on a whim as we had a couple of hours to spare on our journey between the coast and Rouen, and it was an unexpected highlight of our trip!

The mechanical giant elephant is an incredible attraction that looks like it came straight from Jules Verne’s imagination. It is the sibling of the mechanical dragon in Calais, which we rode last summer.

You can take a ride on the elephant until you reach a marvellous 3-storey carousel which is inspired by the 3 levels of the ocean: with the deepest sea creatures on the bottom, and the fantasy creatures of the sea (such as mermaids and kelpies) on the top level. These are known as the machines of the isles of Nantes.

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Riding the Nantes elephant costs 9.5 euros for adults and 7.5 euros for children between the age of 4-14. Under 4s ride for free. If you want to take a ride then I recommend you book this in advance, because the queues on the day we visited in August were insane. You can book this here.

BUT you don’t have to spend the best part of 40 euros for a family of 4 to ride the elephant. In fact, we thought it was more fun to walk alongside the elephant because he regularly squirted the waiting crowds (and especially the children) with water from his trunk, which you couldn’t experience if you were on his back.

Walking alongside the elephant didn’t cost a penny!

We did pay 8.5 euros each to ride the machines at the end of the route, and this was so much fun and a real feat of engineering genius. The combination of wood and steel working together in harmony to create something so beautiful was outstanding.

When you buy a ticket for any of the elements of the machines experience you can use this to visit the smaller elements of the experience, such as the workshop where the machines are created and climbing the living tree: a tree created from wood and steel that you can climb to get an amazing vantage point over the attractions.

Between the larger carousel and the building where the elephant is housed is a smaller carousel. This one can only be ridden by children under 12 but has the same interactive elements and incredible attention to detail and intricate designs.

We paid just 3 euros for the children to ride this, adding to the fun of the overall experience, but still sticking to a super tight budget.

We allowed 3 hours for this whole experience and it was plenty of time.

There were also free playgrounds in this area, and street entertainment, including an obligatory man with an oversized bubble wand, which kept the boys entertained for ages while we sat back and enjoyed the sunshine (and the peace) for half an hour!

You could spend a great morning here without spending a penny, but if you’re traveling with kids then I do recommend visiting both carousels. Save your money for the elephant though, and let him cool you down on a hot day instead!