Orléans is a city in north-central France, about 130 km (80 miles) southwest of Paris. It is the capital of the Loiret department and of the Centre region.

The city is located on the Loire River where the river curves south towards the Massif Central.

The city of New Orleans (originally La Nouvelle-Orléans), in the United States is named after the city of Orléans.

Geography

Orléans is located in the septentrional bend of the Loire, which crosses from east to west. Orléans belongs to the vallée de la Loire sector between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes-sur-Loire, which was in 2000 inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The capital of Orléanais, 120 kilomètres south-south-west of Paris, she is bordered to the north by the Beauce region and the forêt d'Orléans, and the Orléans-la-Source neighborhood and the Sologne region to the south.

Five bridges in the town cross the river :

• Pont de l'Europe
• Pont du Maréchal Joffre (also called pont Neuf)
• Pont George-V (also called pont Royal), carrying the city tramway
• Pont René-Thinat
• Pont de Vierzon (rail bridge)

To the south of the Loire (on the "rive gauche") is to be found a small hill (102m at the pont Georges-V, 110m at the place du Martroi) which gently rises to 125m at la Croix Fleury, at the limits of Fleury-les-Aubrais.

Conversely, the north (on the "rive droite") has a gentle depression to about 95 m above sea level (at Saint-Marceau) between the Loire and the Loiret, designated a "zone inondable" (flood-risk zone).

At the end of the 1960s the Orléans-la-Source quarter was created, 12km to the south of the original city and separated from it by the Val d'Orléans and the Loiret River (whose source is in the Parc floral de La Source). This quarter's altitude varues from about 100 to 110m.

Orléans is an autoroute intersection : the A10 (linking Paris to Bordeaux) links to the city outskirts, and A71 (whose bridge over the Loire is outside the city limits) begins here, heading for the Mediterranean via Clermont-Ferrand (where it becomes the A75).

The Loire and navigation

The Loire was formerly an important navigation and trading route, but now large ships can only navigate the estuary up to about Nantes.

Boats on the river were traditionally flat-bottomed boats, with large but foldable masts to gather wind from above the river banks but also to allow them to pass under bridges - they are known as gabarre, futreau, and so on, still on view for tourists near pont Royal.

The river's irregular flow strongly limits traffic on it, in particular at its ascent, though this can be overcome by boats being given a tow.