97 articles
Neuilly-sur-Seine
Neuilly-sur-Seine, a wealthy Hauts-de-Seine commune on the Seine's right bank between Étoile and La Défense; 59,538 inhabitants in 2023, commune since 1790, renamed by 1897 decree, known for the fête à Neu-Neu and garden quarters.
Nouans-les-Fontaines
Nouans-les-Fontaines (INSEE 37173) is a rural commune in Indre-et-Loire, Centre-Val de Loire, near Loches, with 672 inhabitants in 2023, declining population, and the Saint-Martin church holding a Jean Fouquet Pietà.
Oisseau-Le-Petit
Oisseau-Le-Petit, a Sarthe commune in France, preserves a restored Gallo-Roman fanum at Les Busses, a small Roman agglomeration with baths, theatre, and villa, and an 1865 hoard of 110 Iron Age gold coins.
Orléans
Orléans, capital of France's Centre-Val de Loire region on the Loire river, 120 km from Paris; about 116,000 inhabitants. Known for the 1429 siege relieved by Joan of Arc and the UNESCO Loire Valley.
Ouarville
Ouarville is a commune in the canton of Voves, Eure et Loir, France, with 548 inhabitants. Located in the Beauce plain southeast of Chartres, it has a rich recorded history.
Ouistreham
Ouistreham (Riva-Bella) is a Calvados commune in Normandy at the Orne mouth, port of Caen and French terminus of the Portsmouth ferry; 9,212 inhabitants (2023), fishing port, seaside resort, coastal-flood risk management.
Paris
Paris, capital of France, metro area about 11.2 million. Haussmann's 19th-century rebuilding, dense transit (3.3 stations/km2), climate adaptation plan 2024-2030, 45% NO2 drop, Seine swimming since 2025.
Petit-Mars
Petit-Mars (Kervarc'h), commune in Loire-Atlantique, France, north of Nantes; named after the god Mars and the forêt de Mars. Gallo-Roman theater and Temple of Mars at the Coussol (SILVA MARTIS); 3,888 inhabitants; mayor Chrystophe Pabois since 2026.
Pithiviers-le-Vieil
Pithiviers-le-Vieil, a Loiret commune (INSEE 45253) southwest of Pithiviers, France, known for its Gallo-Roman baths, eight fanum temples, and 1972 merger with Bouzonville-en-Beauce.
Plage de Longchamp
Plage de Longchamp, the longest beach of Saint-Lunaire (also touching Saint-Briac-sur-Mer) on Brittany's Côte d'Émeraude: a 600 m northwest-facing fine-sand surf spot with a 1926 stepped seawall from Pierre Patout's unfinished 1928–1931 resort project.
Plage du Minou
Plage du Minou (Plage du Petit Minou), sandy surf cove in Plouzané, Finistère, Brittany, at the western entrance of the Goulet de Brest below the Petit Minou lighthouse and fort du Minou; unguarded, tide-dependent beach with monitored bathing water.
Plailly
Plailly (Oise, France): commune near Senlis with Saint-Martin church (12th century); excavations at 13-21 rue de Paris show continuous occupation from Merovingian times; TGN 1034872, Pleiades 109250.
Port-le-Grand
Port-le-Grand, a commune on the right bank of the lower Somme (Somme, Hauts-de-France), an ancient Gallo-Roman port and Roman villa site, birthplace of Saint Honoré, chartered 28 July 1218 by Guillaume, count of Ponthieu.
Pouzauges
Pouzauges, a hilltop commune in Vendée, France (INSEE 85182), Petite Cité de Caractère with an 11th-century donjon, 355 m castle curtain wall, Romanesque churches, and about 5,700 inhabitants.
Provins
Provins, Seine-et-Marne commune near Paris; UNESCO World Heritage medieval fair town of Champagne (inscribed 2001); 11,632 inhabitants (2023); ramparts, Tour César, vaulted cellars.
Rambouillet
Rambouillet, a commune in the Yvelines (Île-de-France) about 35 minutes from Paris, is known for its château, bought by Louis XVI in 1783, its presidential residence role, the 1975 first G6 summit, and the 13,712-hectare Rambouillet forest.
Rennes
Rennes, capital of the Brittany region in western France, is a city of about 231,000 inhabitants (2023) known for its half-timbered historic center, the Parliament of Brittany building, the Marché des Lices, two metro lines, and TGV access 90 minutes from Paris.
Rouen
Rouen, capital of Normandy and Seine-Maritime on the Seine 123 km from Paris; also Rotomagus. 116,331 inhabitants (2022), fifth French port, former ducal capital, Joan of Arc burned there, Métropole Rouen Normandie seat.
Rouvroy-les-Merles
Rouvroy-les-Merles, a small Oise commune (INSEE 60555) near Breteuil with 70 inhabitants in 2022; site of a Gallo-Roman vicus at Mont-Catillon with a theatre, baths, and a 642-coin hoard found in 1953.
Saffré
Saffré is a commune in Loire-Atlantique, France, with Neolithic and Gallo-Roman remains, a historic lime industry, the protected Bois-Gouët upper Lutetian fossil site, and the WWII maquis de Saffré memorial.
Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis
Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis: northern Paris suburb (149,077 inhabitants, 2023), home of the royal necropolis basilica where Dagobert I was buried in 639, a 19th-century industrial center, and site of the Paris 2024 Olympic Village.
Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Yvelines commune west of Paris, former royal residence founded around 1120, birthplace of Louis XIV, site of the 1919 treaty with Austria, home of the Musée d'Archéologie nationale.
Saint-Lô
Saint-Lô, prefecture of the Manche department in Normandy, France; about 19,500 inhabitants. Known for its near-total destruction (77%) in July 1944, the Battle of Saint-Lô, Samuel Beckett's "capital of ruins," and postwar reconstruction.
Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo (Sant-Maloù), Brittany's walled Corsair City at the Rance mouth: privateers Duguay-Trouin and Surcouf, Vauban forts, 80% wartime destruction, 17 August 1944 liberation, and identical postwar reconstruction.
Saint-Nazaire
Saint-Nazaire, Loire-Atlantique port city at the Loire estuary (74,568 inhabitants, 2023); France's shipbuilding capital since 1862 (Chantiers de l'Atlantique), Nantes-Saint-Nazaire port (4th French port), WWII U-boat base, Operation Chariot, 80% destroyed, rebuilt modernist, 480 MW offshore wind farm.
Saint-Quentin, Aisne
Saint-Quentin (Aisne), sub-prefecture of the Aisne in Hauts-de-France, on the Somme and Canal de Saint-Quentin; 52,813 inhabitants (2023), old textile center, Gothic collegiate church, Art déco heritage.
Sainte-Mère-Église
Sainte-Mère-Église is a Manche commune in Normandy, the first French town liberated on D-Day, 6 June 1944, famous for paratrooper John Steele caught on the church steeple, its Airborne Museum, and kilometer 0 of the Voie de la Liberté.
Sceaux-sur-Huisne
Sceaux-sur-Huisne, a Sarthe commune (INSEE 72331) in Pays de la Loire on the Huisne river, 587 inhabitants in 2023; Gallo-Roman villa remains, medieval manoir de la Cour, listed church, and the Bahier charcuterie plant as main employer.
St-Just-en-Chaussée
St-Just-en-Chaussée is a commune in the Oise department, Hauts-de-France, France, on the Plateau picard. Known for its Gallic and Gallo-Roman sanctuary at Le Rossignol and its 1846 station on the Paris–Lille railway; distinct from other Saint-Just communes.
Tourcoing
Tourcoing, commune in Nord, France (INSEE 59599), near Belgium in the Lille metropolis; former textile city, 98,772 residents in 2023, MUba museum, Bourgogne renewal, Extramobile tramway.