Nancy Travel Guide, France

Nancy Travel Guide – The Heart of the Department

This Nancy travel guide will give you a few directions and tips you will definitely need upon visiting Nancy. The city is located in Northeastern France, in the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, which is a region that, apart form the city of nancy, has remained highly rural and still relies on mining and agriculture as main economical activities. Therefore Nancy is by far the capital of the department, with a metropolitan area of over 400.000 inhabitants out of which 105.000 in the city proper. Therefore, Nancy concentrates all the administrative, economical and educational activities in the department, functioning as a powerful centre for the entire community. There is also a famous historical battle related to the city (the battle of Nancy, 1944), when the city was freed from Nazi occupation by the U.S. Third army.

Nancy Travel Guide – “Le Capitale de l’Est”

The central spot of the city has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983 and has recently been renovated and inaugurated by former French President Jacques Chirac in 2005. It is the Place Stanislas and its buildings date back to the 18th century, making it one of the most important sites in town. Another very important feature worth mentioning in any Nancy travel guide is its very powerful Art Nouveau school that developed in the end of the 19th century under the “Ecole de Nancy” and gathered many artists interested in architecture, furniture and glassware. Their work turned Nancy into a capital of culture and it therefore received the nickname “Capitale de l’Est”. Most of the works done by these artists can now be visited in the unique Museum of the School of Nancy. The city can also take pride in its very large Botanical Garden (le Jardin botanique du Montet), its aquarium and Natural History Museum, as well as the National Opera of Lorraine.

Nancy Travel Guide – The City of Positive Records

There are many universities and institutions of higher education in Nancy, so the city has gained high prestige among its French competitors in many fields: Nancy has the largest ratio of students, ahead of Lille (21%), the highest income per capita, after Paris and Lyon, the largest protected architectural old town and least congested traffic, it has cheapest real estate and it is also considered to be the safest city in France. The movie theatre attendance is also best in Nancy and the city is considered to have one of the cleanest airs in the country. The public transport is done by trolleybuses and they also have a so-called “guided bus” that can also be described as a tramway on tires and which functions on the busiest line in the city, assuring decongestion of traffic.