Les Machines de l'Île

This was on my "bucket list". It was amazing. Total of €30 to visit the Elephant, Carousel and Warehouse. You can see the Elephant walking around without paying if you don't want to pay to ride it. Worth knowing that parts of the carousel ride are wheelchair friendly too. It took us from 11am to 4pm ( with a break for lunchtime closure 12-2), to see everything.

Definitely worth a visit. We visited during new year period and it was pretty entertaining but I'm sure its way more enjoyable during summer time.

I found this a slightly bizarre experience, maybe best suited to children and anyone interested in beautiful carvings/mechanics.... but the mechanical animals were genuinely impressive and the people doing the tour were very enthusiastic and knowledgeable. The highlight for me was the mechanical elephant, which you don't have to pay to watch.

I liked the fact that this building had been renovated for such an interesting and, above all, interactive project. Fortunately, there was an English-speaking guide available. During the visit we were able to touch some of the machines ourselves and activate them, making the whole thing much more fun. It was also nice to be able to access the area where these machines are actually built, so that everyone can understand the hard engineering work that goes into them.

Love the experience. Amazing place. Most of presentations are in French. You can use app to read all info online. Would suggest more English tours through the week. One on Monday evening doesn’t suit all visitors on different days.

The gallery is extremely disappointing. You pay 12 euros to watch the staff having fun with the animatronics. You'll be at 10m of distance (if lucky) and with 100 people around. Maybe, maybe you're lucky enough to be selected to "pilot" some machine (actually is managed by the staff) The elephant ride is worth its price though

An unexpected surprise to see the mechanical elephant walking around. We parked at the hospital ages away at the river to avoid the traffic hassle. Good fun. I wonder if the JD Wetherspoons in Margate, UK is named after this?

Fascinating experience to ride the machine ourselves. Especially during the night, the lights elevate the space. Would recommend if you're around Nantes

This is not an "amusement park" but instead a displayed work in progress by an artist-industrial group of some fascinating large mechanical creations in a well reused shipyard. On an hour-long circulation of the machines, guides walk through each unit, showing how they move and providing dialogue in French. There's an app they have you download that provides basic info in several other languages including English, but not nearly what the live info seems to provide. Everything is charged separately: the machines on display, elephant rides, and carousel rides. Doing all 3 would add up to over 25 EUR per adult.

So many things to do in this lovely city. Les Machines de I'lle is one of the big highlights of the city. One of the first places you must visit when you get to Nantes. Appealing for any age group. Make sure to get there early because the lines can get long. Also make sure to visit their gift shop! I enjoyed buying a few things in there and I look forward to returning back again. Keep in mind they are closed on Sunday and Monday so it's best to visit the city from Tuesday-Saturday.

A very interesting concept in Nantes. My French is severely lacking, so I still don't fully understand what it is, but it seems to be a collective or artists coming together to produce something truly original in an exhibition space. The place is full of fantastic things, the highlight of which is the massive elephant which trundles through the main building, spraying water at the visitors. You can also ride on the elephant, which looks like great fun. If you do speak French, there is a museum-type part explaining the machines and how they were build, as well as what the future plans are. There's a café and shop on site, so you can make a day trip of it. Worth checking out in Nantes.

Les Machines de l'Ile is a sight to see. It's the closest thing I've seen in France to a "theme park" as you would consider them in the United States, but it's not really an America theme park either. There isn't enough plastic here, and it's all made of metal. It's almost steampunk-ish. They've built a walking elephant with leather ears (made from the skins of 10 cows, PETA eat your heart out) that sprays you with water periodically. You can ride said elephant from one end of the park to the other (which wasn't open when we got there, but will open in a few weeks, a marineland of sorts) for a fee, but I found it sufficient to watch and stay out of its way (especially when it sprayed!). The gallery inside is home to many other animals you can ride (that is, if you can push all of the children out of th way). There's a caterpillar with two levers to control it: one to advance, and the other to contract its body. There is also a huge heron with baskets for people to ride in, complete with pedals to flap wings, and move other parts of it. It's truly a spectacle to behold. I would happily return.

If you have the opportunity to visit Nantes, dedicating an hour or two to Les Machines de l'Ile is a must! It's one of the most intriguing museums/showcases/amusement parks I've ever been to, and there's really nothing quite like it in the U.S. You can ride Le Grand Eléphant, a 4-floor high mechanical elephant that walks around spouting water from its trunk while giving off the occasional trumpet (6,50 €; student price). Additionally, there is an exhibit showcasing the different animal and insect machines built in the past and you have the opportunity to climb onto the first branch of the Heron Tree (6,50 €; student price). The whole Heron Tree is set to be completed by 2018, so that will definitely be a sight to see and explore! I didn't go to the Marine World Carousel, but from the history film shown on the second floor, it seems like a unique carousel for people of all ages.

The adventure of machines continues! The Machines of the Island are a totally unpublished artistic project. Born of the imagination of François Delarozière and Pierre Orefice, it is situated between the invented worlds of Jules Verne, the mechanical universe of Léonard de Vinci and the industrial history of Nantes, on the exceptional site of the formershipyards. The public is invited to discover, freely, this singular mechanical bestiary, to walk on the big branch of the Tree in the Herons of about twenty metres and about twenty tons, which takes(brings) out its branches of the Workshop. He can also admire the walking of the Big Elephant or embark in his edge. Visit the Gallery of Machines, where the stagehands(drivers) give life and present the first elements of the marine Worlds, the strange creatures of the gaps which are going to populate the future merry-go-round, at feet of the yellow crane, on the edges of the Loire in 2011. They install passengers to the commands of animals of ocean deeps, marine monsters or funny flying machines: the squid In reverse thrust, the manta ray, the huge crab, the boat rages, the lamp of ocean deeps the models of elephants, or still the European Trial center in flight. Sketches, models, films, tell all the adventure of their contruction, with which Jules Verne would not have to blush. Discover the Workshop, the space of work and creation, visible since the passageway, where all the skills are for the work around the elements of wood and steel of the future Machines. Take the branch prototype of the Tree from Herons, in prelude to the installation of the big steel tree of 28 m of height surmounted by two herons, capable of taking passengers within terraced gardens, which should be born in 2016 on the Island Beaulieu. It is the first element of this machine which allowed to validate the solidity of the construction, the security of the public and the végétalisation. At the end of the visit we take it to join the Coffee(Cafe) of the Branch and the Shop of the Gallery. And travel aboard the Big Elephant. The pachyderm lives under one of the big Naves. It is the point of departure of its favourite walk towards the yellow crane, the symbolic element of the port of Nantes. The impressive animal can embark on the stomach and on the back, 45 passengers. It is real architecture in movement which goes out of a cathedral of steel (45 tons of steel and wood (tulip tree of Virginia) - hydraulic carcass irrigated by 4 tons of oil - engine 450 horses - Speed 1 in 4 km/h 12 = M of height and 8m of wide). Every exit of the pachyderm is a unique show. It is a happiness to visit this nave in the machines which will be installed in the merry-go-round as a fabulous place of the sea and of twenty thousand leagues under seas . It is fascinating and amusing for the big as the youngs. We not stopped speaking about it run there, it is not often that we can dream please excuse my translation!

Here's a video demonstrating the three major projects, the Great Elephant, the Marine Worlds and the Heron Tree, of Machines de l'Ile in Nantes. Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSLvz8SBjtk

We just had time to see the mechanic elephant, but even this single attraction was worth our while. If you are around Nantes you have to visit this place!