French departments are part French regions that, in a whole, are forming France. It might sometimes seem a bit complicated to understand how the country is organized! So let’s clear it up!
Regions of France
Did you know that France was not only what we call the Metropolitan France, but that islands all over the world were also part of France? The country is divided into 18 regions : 13 that are in Metropolitan France and 5 that are islands. Find below the list of the different French regions and their capital city :
| REGION | CAPITAL CITY |
| Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | Lyon |
| Bourgogne-Franche-Comté | Dijon |
| Bretagne | Rennes |
| Centre-Val de Loire | Orléans |
| Corse | Ajaccio |
| Grand Est | Strasbourg |
| Hauts-de-France | Lille |
| Île-de-France | Paris |
| Normandie | Rouen |
| Nouvelle-Aquitaine | Bordeaux |
| Occitanie | Toulouse |
| Pays de la Loire | Nantes |
| Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur | Marseille |
| Guadeloupe | Basse-Terre |
| Martinique | Fort-de-France |
| Guyane | Cayenne |
| La Réunion | Saint-Denis |
| Mayotte | Dzaoudzi |
French overseas departments, that is to say Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane, La Réunion and Mayotte, are fully ruled by the French government, whereas French overseas collectivities can adapt French laws in agreement with France (taxation laws for instance). Find below the list of the French overseas collectivities :
| COLLECTIVITY | CAPITAL CITY |
| Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon | Saint-Pierre |
| Saint-Barthélémy | Gustavia |
| Saint-Martin | Marigot |
| Wallis et Futuna | Mata Utu |
| Polynésie française | Papeete |
Try to guess where those French collectivities are in the world, before clicking on the links in the above table. You will be surprised to travel that far away to go to France 🙂
Read also : The exclusive road trip among the Châteaux de la Loire
French departments
We count 101 French departments. Each of them corresponds to a number (you can find it on car plates for example), by alphabetical order. Have a look at the below table and let’s play a game right after 🙂
| NUMBER/DEPARTMENT | CAPITAL CITY |
| 01. Ain | Bourg-en-Bresse |
| 02. Aisne | Laon |
| 03. Allier | Moulins |
| 04. Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | Digne-les-Bains |
| 05. Hautes-Alpes | Gap |
| 06. Alpes-Maritimes | Nice |
| 07. Ardèche | Privas |
| 08. Ardennes | Charleville-Mézières |
| 09. Ariège | Foix |
| 10. Aube | Troyes |
| 11. Aude | Carcassonne |
| 12. Aveyron | Rodez |
| 13. Bouches-du-Rhône | Marseille |
| 14. Calvados | Caen |
| 15. Cantal | Aurillac |
| 16. Charente | Angoulême |
| 17. Charente-Maritime | La Rochelle |
| 18. Cher | Bourges |
| 19. Corrèze | Tulle |
| 2A. Corse-du-Sud | Ajaccio |
| 2B. Haute-Corse | Bastia |
| 21. Côte d’Or | Dijon |
| 22. Côtes-d’Armor | Saint-Brieuc |
| 23. Creuse | Guéret |
| 24. Dordogne | Périgueux |
| 25. Doubs | Besançon |
| 26. Drôme | Valence |
| 27. Eure | Evreux |
| 28. Eure-et-Loir | Chartres |
| 29. Finistère | Quimper |
| 30. Gard | Nîmes |
| 31. Haute-Garonne | Toulouse |
| 32. Gers | Auch |
| 33. Gironde | Bordeaux |
| 34. Hérault | Montpellier |
| 35. Ille-et-Vilaine | Rennes |
| 36. Indre | Châteauroux |
| 37. Indre-et-Loire | Tours |
| 38. Isère | Grenoble |
| 39. Jura | Lons-le-Saunier |
| 40. Landes | Mont-de-Marsan |
| 41. Loir-et-Cher | Blois |
| 42. Loire | Saint-Etienne |
| 43. Haute-Loire | Le Puy-en-Velay |
| 44. Loire-Atlantique | Nantes |
| 45. Loiret | Orléans |
| 46. Lot | Cahors |
| 47. Lot-et-Garonne | Agen |
| 48. Lozère | Mende |
| 49. Maine-et-Loire | Angers |
| 50. Manche | Saint-Lô |
| 51. Marne | Châlons-en-Champagne |
| 52. Haute-Marne | Chaumont |
| 53. Mayenne | Laval |
| 54. Meurthe-et-Moselle | Nancy |
| 55. Meuse | Bar-le-Duc |
| 56. Morbihan | Vannes |
| 57. Moselle | Metz |
| 58. Nièvre | Nevers |
| 59. Nord | Lille |
| 61. Orne | Alençon |
| 62. Pas-de-Calais | Arras |
| 63. Puy-de-Dôme | Clermont-Ferrand |
| 64. Pyrénées-Atlantiques | Pau |
| 65. Hautes-Pyrénées | Tarbes |
| 66. Pyrénées-Orientales | Perpignan |
| 67. Bas-Rhin | Strasbourg |
| 68. Haut-Rhin | Colmar |
| 69. Rhône | Lyon |
| 70. Haute-Saône | Vesoul |
| 71. Saône-et-Loire | Mâcon |
| 72. Sarthe | Le Mans |
| 73. Savoie | Chambéry |
| 74. Haute-Savoie | Annecy |
| 75. Paris | Paris |
| 76. Seine-Maritime | Rouen |
| 77. Seine-et-Marne | Melun |
| 78. Yvelines | Versailles |
| 79. Deux-Sèvres | Niort |
| 80. Somme | Amiens |
| 81. Tarn | Albi |
| 82. Tarn-et-Garonne | Montauban |
| 83. Var | Toulon |
| 84. Vaucluse | Avignon |
| 85. Vendée | La Roche-sur-Yon |
| 86. Vienne | Poitiers |
| 87. Haute-Vienne | Limoges |
| 88. Vosges | Epinal |
| 89. Yonne | Auxerre |
| 90. Territoire de Belfort | Belfort |
| 91. Essonne | Evry-Courcouronnes |
| 92. Hauts-de-Seine | Nanterre |
| 93. Seine-Saint-Denis | Bobigny |
| 94. Val-de-Marne | Créteil |
| 95. Val d’Oise | Pontoise |
| 971. Guadeloupe | Basse-Terre |
| 972. Martinique | Fort-de-France |
| 973. Guyane | Cayenne |
| 974. La Réunion | Saint-Denis |
| 976. Mayotte | Dzaoudzi |
Now learn it by heart! Just kidding 🙂 However, it is a common game in France (for children of for adults) when we are travelling somewhere by car to try to guess where the car in front of us comes from depending on the number indicated on its plates.
Let’s play!
Would you be able to place all the different French regions on this below blank map of France? Find the correct answer here.
Let’s keep playing ?
And on this map below, would you be able to place all the French departments to the right place? Click here to check your answers.
I hope that now you know a little more about the geographical organization of France. If you learnt something today thanks to this article, please share it 🙂
