Orléans (France) – Location, History, Facts

Orléans is a city and commune in north-central France that serves as the prefecture of both the Loiret department and the Centre-Val de Loire region.

Orléans, France.

Country: France
Coordinates: 47.9022° N, 1.9042° E
Country and status: City and commune in France
Administrative role: Prefecture of the Loiret department and Centre-Val de Loire region
River setting: Located on the Loire River, which crosses the city east–west

Orléans overview

Orléans is a city and commune in north-central France that serves as the prefecture of both the Loiret department and the Centre-Val de Loire region. Built on the Loire River about 120 kilometres southwest of Paris, it combines a regional administrative role with a river-based urban history. The city’s public identity is also shaped by the siege of 1429 and its continuing annual commemoration of Joan of Arc. Its university, tram system, bridges, museums, and former trading functions connect those historical associations to present-day civic life.

Official recorded sales

Residential property prices in Orléans

The median recorded residential sale price was €2,574 per m² across 9,117 qualifying transactions in 2021–2025. This is a historical transaction measure, not a live asking price or a valuation.

Apartment median: €2,561/m²
House median: €2,609/m²
Source updated: 2026-07-17

Open the full data analysis and methodology

Orléans coordinates

Orléans is commonly mapped at approximately 47.9022° N, 1.9042° E, or 47.9022, 1.9042 in decimal degrees.

Degrees: 47.9022° N, 1.9042° E

Decimal: 47.9022, 1.9042

Where Orléans is located

Orléans lies in north-central France, on the Loire River and within the Loire Valley UNESCO World Heritage area. The river crosses the city from east to west, with five bridges within the urban area, making the waterway a structural part of the city rather than a distant geographic feature. The commune covers 27.48 square kilometres. In 2023, its population was 116,357, while the metropolitan area was listed at 463,435. The city is approximately 120 kilometres southwest of Paris.

A dual prefecture on the Loire

Orléans performs a regional and departmental administrative role as the prefecture of Centre-Val de Loire and Loiret.

Its most concrete civic function is administrative: the city is the seat of the prefecture of the Loiret department and the Centre-Val de Loire region. That places regional and departmental public administration within the same urban setting as the historic centre, river crossings, transport services, museums, and educational institutions. A former Benedictine monastery is listed as housing the Loiret prefecture, linking an older religious building to modern governmental use. The city’s status as a commune and prefectural centre distinguishes it from a settlement defined only by its historical associations or river location.

The Loire as the city’s east–west framework

The Loire structures Orléans’s urban form by crossing the city east–west and concentrating movement at five bridges.

The river is a physical organiser of the city. Five bridges cross the Loire within Orléans, including the George V or Royal Bridge, so movement between the two sides depends on a limited set of crossings. This geography sits alongside a modern public-transport network of two tram lines with 29.3 kilometres of rail. Rail access is distributed between Gare d’Orléans and Gare des Aubrais-Orléans, with most long-distance trains using the latter. The result is an urban setting shaped by river crossings, tram corridors, and separate central and longer-distance rail facilities.

From Cenabum to a Loire trading centre

The city developed from the Gaulish settlement of Cenabum into a medieval political centre and later a river-based commercial city.

Orléans’s historical development reflects successive uses of the same strategic location. The ancient settlement of Cenabum was associated with the Carnutes; Julius Caesar destroyed it in 52 BC, after which it was renamed civitas Aurelianorum, the source of the later name. In the Merovingian period it was the capital of the Kingdom of Orléans, and it later became a county and duchy connected with the Valois-Orléans family. The Loire then supported trading activity, including sugar refining in the seventeenth century and vinegar-making associated with the city in the eighteenth.

Prefecture, university, and cultural institutions

Public administration, higher education, museums, and transport institutions give the city civic functions beyond its historical reputation.

The Loiret prefecture and regional prefecture provide the principal governmental framework. Higher education adds a distinct institutional presence: the University of Orléans campus is in the La Source area, alongside Polytech Orléans, IUT, IAE, ESAD Orléans, and ESCEM. Cultural institutions include the Musée des Beaux-Arts, the Charles Péguy Centre, and the City Historical and Archaeological Museum. Sainte-Croix Cathedral, the historic centre, Joan of Arc’s House, and the Hôtel des Créneaux connect these institutions and landmarks to the city’s built and cultural record.

Joan of Arc and the May civic calendar

Joan of Arc’s relief of the 1429 siege remains the city’s central commemorative reference.

The siege of Orléans formed a decisive episode in the Hundred Years’ War. On 8 May 1429, the battle enabled Joan of Arc to enter the city and helped lift the siege. Since 1432, the city has held annual Johannic Holidays during the first week of May in her honour. The Wikipedia dossier states that this celebration appears in France’s inventory of intangible cultural heritage. The commemoration therefore operates as a recurring public use of historical memory, connecting a medieval military event with a continuing civic calendar.