PRESENTATION

Set in the heart of the region Pays de la Loire, and very Europe-minded, France’s 17th city enjoys a good reputation as a desirable place to live. According to the Express magazine, Angers even offers the highest quality of life to its residents compared to other big french cities (septembre 2012).

From the castle walls, a thousand years of history are reflected in the river Maine.

Angers in figures:

• Population: 147 571 (City of Angers in 2010), 283 000 (Angers Loire Métropole urban area of 33 municipalities).
• 300 km from Paris, 90 km from Nantes, 110 km from Tours.
• Motorways: A11 Nantes-Paris, A85 Angers-Saumur, A87 Angers/Les Sables-d’Olonne 
• High-speed rail: 1hr30mins from Paris, 3hrs 40mins from Brussels, 4 hrs from Lyons, 5hrs 45 mins from Marseille.
• Angers Loire Airport: flights to London, Tunis, Palma and Nice.
• 24 city bus routes and 1 tramway.
• Economy : 14 000 companies, 141 000 employments, 3 strategic branches (Plants, professionnal electronics, health-biotech-pharma), 1 world competitive cluster for plants, 4 developing sectors (green economy, cultural and creative economy, digital industry and tourism)
• University : 4 campus, 30 000 students (State university, Catholic university of western France, High School of Agriculture - ESA-, Business High School - ESSCA-, Electronic High School - ESEO-, etc...) 
• Research : 54 laboratories, 440 PhD students, international research center in cancer immunology, cardiovascular,metabolism,...
• Education : 107 pre-schools and elementary schools, 20 secondary schools, 17 colleges, 2 agriculture schools, Angers city institute.
• Health : University Hospital Center (CHU), Anjou private hospital, Western Cancer Institute (ICO)
• Culture : Le Quai(Public institution of cultural cooperation), CNDC (National Centre for Contemporary Danse), NTA (New Theatre of Angers- National Dramatic Centre of Pays de la Loire), Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire (ONPL), Music Conservatory, Fine Arts School, Le Chabada (Current Music Scene), Company Jo Bithume, 5 museums, 3 theatres, 3 cinemas, 10 libraries, 24 leisure centers for children.
• Festivals and events :European first film festival Premiers Plans(January), Made In Angers ( February), the Poets spring (March), Cinemas of Africa (April, biennial), Angers is moving sport event (May), Artaq festival of urban arts (June), Tempo Rives current music festival (July, August), Accroche-Coeurs street performances (September), Winter Suns Christmas event (December)
• Green areas : 550 hectares of green spaces giving a percentage of 40m2 per resident, 5000 hectares of remarkable natural spaces in the Angers area, 300 000 plants produced yearly in municipal glasshouses, 72% of green spaces maintained without pesticides...
• Sport : 1 nautical base and 1 rowing base, 35 000 members of sport federations, 150 clubs, 6 swimmingpools, 54 tennis courts, 1 ice rink, 1 velodrome, 6 places for "boule de fort"...
• Business and Tourism : Tourist Information Centre, Convention Bureau, 30 hotels (2234 beds), 5 hosting centres (696 beds), 1 camping place 4****(163 places), congress centre (1240 seats and 11 conference rooms), exhibition centre (28 000 m2), 1 concert hall (7500 persons)
• International relationships : Angers is twinned with Bamako (Mali), Haarlem (Netherlands), Pisa (Italy), Osnabrück (Germany), Seville (Spain), Södertälje (Sweden), Wigan (England) and Austin (USA, Texas)