Intercultural program
As a EURAXESS services centre, our organisation offers foreign researchers and their family a programme of events: cultural outings and social opportunities all year long. Come and meet other foreign researchers living in Nantes !
Headsup on this semester’s program (see full program below for details and fees):
- Thursday, January 23, 2025, Kings’ Cake Party : Taking place at the Maison des Chercheurs, this event will be the first of this biannual agenda, to celebrate together (recently arrived and well settled international researchers in Nantes) this new year 2025, gathered around the traditional January dessert in France, the galette des rois (King’s Cake)! Come and join us at the Maison des Chercheurs Étrangers from 6.30pm. The event is free of charge, but you must register by email.
- Thursday February 13, 2025, Board Games and Pizza Evening: a casual evening for international researchers to get to know each other and relax over board games and pizza. At the Maison des Chercheurs Etrangers. Games available: Skyjo, Six qui prend, Twin it, Pictionnary, Dixit, Uno, Chess, card games…
- Tuesday, February 25, 2025, Classic music concert at the Cité des Congrès. Quite a unique artist, Avi Avital and his mandolin will perform pieces from Vivaldi and Bach in a concert with the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire (ONPL) in Nantes’ most prestigious concert hall, the Cité des Congrès..
- Thursday, March 13, 2025: Local Products Tasting Party at the Maison des Chercheurs Étrangers. Join Nathalie and Soline to discover and taste a wide range of savory dishes from the local culinary traditions and productions of Brittany, Nantes and the Pays de la Loire. A whole buffet awaits you!
- Saturday April 26, 2025, Guided tour of the Nantes Museum of Art.
Guided visit in English (1h30) to discover the masterpieces on display at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes, from Italian primitives to contemporary art..
- Saturday, May 17, 2025: Daytrip to Mont Saint Michel: discover one of the most visited sites in France: Mont St Michel, its medieval abbey, its village clinging to a tiny rocky island, and its bay. Enjoy a guided tour of the village to learn about Mont St Michel’s history dating back to the 8th century, followed by a tour barefeet in the bay to understand its ecosystem and experience the thrill of quicksand!
- Saturday June 14: Daytrip to Guérande and the Atlantic coast. Come and discover a unique region combining medieval history, salt culture and a seaside resort. You’ll use both your neurones and your legs thanks to two guided tours (medieval town of Guérande, salt marshes ecosystem and traditional harvesting) followed in the afternoon by a hike along the Atlantic Ocean coast of Le Croisic!
Daytrip “Nature and Culture” : Guérande, Le Croisic, marais salants
June 14th, 2025 from 8.45am to 8pm
Come spend a day enjoying land and ocean, histoy and nature, Bretagne and Pays de la Loire. The association organises a daytrip starting with an 1.5hr private bus drive to Guérande where you'll enjoy a one hour guided tour (in French and in English) of the medieval city center, followed by some free time in the city to lunch or shop and explore. Then we'll enjoy a discovery visit of the salt marshes with a professional guide explaining the eco-system and the hand harvested salt craft of this region. We'll finish the afternoon in the little sea resort and harbor of Le Croisic where you'll be able to stroll, shop, go to the beach or take a little hike by the coast line, according to your preferences. The bus will bring us back to Nantes around 8pm.
Registration (mandatory) opens on Wednesday May 21st at 6pm (details sent by email)
Fee is 24€ per person (it includes 2 guided visits and private bus transportation, does not include lunch)
1 guest maximum per registered researcher, unless you came to Nantes with your spouse and a child, possibility of getting a third ticket in that context.
Little streets of Guérande
Salt marshes
Salt marsh guided tour
Le Croisic harbor
A day at Mont Saint Michel
Saturday May 17th, 2025 - from 7.30 am to 8.30pm
A day at the Mont Saint Michel, a must see!!!
Meeting at 7.30am in MCE neighborhood, we leave Nantes by private bus for a 2.5hr coach ride. Once at Mont St Michel, we first have a one hour guided tour (one group in English, one group in French) to learn about this unique place history and its village gathered on that tiny rock in the middle of the bay. At 12.30, you'll have 2 hours of free time on Mont St Michel to wander, visit, and admire this historical world famous site. Either you take time to stroll and eat or you visit the abbey and rush for a sandwich.
At 2.30pm, we meet again to start a two hour guided tour in the bay, walking barefoot on the humid sand, to discover the unique ecosystem of the bay (quick sands, tidal bores...).
At 5.30 pm we meet back at the coach to ride back to Nantes. Arrival in city center scheduled at 8.30 pm
27.50€ per person (The fee includes the 2 guided walks and bus transportation. The fee does not include lunch or the abbey entrance ticket, if you choose to visit it.)
Online registration will start on Friday April 18th at 6pm. Limited seating. Make sure to register to only one of the two groups (one link for the visits both in English, one link for the visits both in French).
Registration links and details will be sent by email by mid-April.
Contact us if you didn't receive it.
One guest possible per researcher member of the association. Kids welcomed if 7 and older, but parents please keep in mind it is a LONG day and parental supervision is mandatory during the visit of the bay (quick sands are real and dangerous for a unsupervised kid !)
Art Museum of Nantes
April 26th, 2025 from 11:30am to 1 pm
Presentation in English by a professionnal art history guide of all the major artworks in the Museum. Visit with a small group 9 centuries of masterpieces in an hour and half tour : from italian primitive painters to contemporary art, from Perugin to Chagall via De la Tour or Monnet...
Then free time to wander in the museum
Ticket fee: 8.50€ per person
Registration mandatory, information sent by email.
Only 24 seats, registration open only to reseachers registered with the association and their spouse.