Le Mans may be described as a town in the country, with 360 ha of French and English style gardens, scented or medieval, and the “Green Belt” of 450 ha of forest, meadowland and river, a farm with its local breeds of animals, vegetable garden, orchards and festivals – a favourite day out for families.
Le Mans also stands out for the variety of its heritage: the Roman walls, Saint-Julien cathedral, Épau Abbey, 110 timbered houses and Renaissance mansions … The historic centre, the fortified Plantagenet town... all are reminders of 17 different centuries. The town has attracted the greatest film directors.
This does not prevent the town from being resolutely modern and dynamic.
Its new tramway, which has carried ten million passengers in its first year of service, and its proximity to Paris are a real economic attraction, to the extent that a number of international companies have set up their headquarters in the business districts.
Le Mans is also the home of top-level sport, with the Le Mans 24-hour race, Muc 72 (football) and MSB (basketball); there are also leisure sports for all, with the skating rink, the covered skateboard park, the water centre, golf courses, racecourse, climbing walls, the mountain biking/BMX track, cycling stadium, circus village, rowing centre and go-kart circuit.
The Town Council also places the emphasis on culture with events such as the 25th “Heure du Livre” book festival, the “Le Monde Le Mans” Forum, the “Carrefours de la Pensée”, “Puls'Art”, “Les Automnales” and the Europa Jazz Festival, and on celebration, with “Le Mans Fait son Cirque”, “Jazz en Balade” and the “Grande Parade des Pilotes”.
Le Mans is on a direct TGV line from most large French and European cities. There are some forty services a day from the Paris region (18 TGV trains in 54 min and 14 TER trains with free bike transport from Montparnasse station, and services to and from Massy-TGV and Roissy.
If you’re coming by car, the town lies at the centre of a five-pointed star of motorways: Paris is 205 km away via the A11, Rouen 210 km via the A28, Rennes 161 km via the A81 and N12, Nantes 183 km via the A11 and Bordeaux 425 km via the A28 and A10.
Le Mans is the home of the Sarthe prefecture and is the central town in the metropolitan area known as “Le Mans Métropole”. With nearly 150,000 inhabitants living on 5,281 ha, and a conurbation of 190,000 inhabitants, the town covers an area as large as Lyon but has six times fewer inhabitants. It is France’s twentieth largest town. Over half the housing stock consists of homes with gardens, the highest rate in France.
