Ardennes is a department in the
Grand-Est region of northeastern France named after the broader Ardennes; its prefecture is the town Charleville-Mézières. The department is landlocked by the neighbouring departments of
Aisne to the west, Marne to the south, Meuse to the east and the Belgian province of Namur to the north. The district is crossed in its northern part by the winding Meuse Valley where most people live and activities are focused. Charleville-Mézières and Sedan are the main urban centres. The Ardennes is composed of 452 communes which are grouped into 19 cantons and four arrondissements of varying sizes. The largest arrondissement of the department is that of Charleville-Mézières while the smallest is Sedan which is half the size. The two arrondissements that occupy the northern part of the Ardennes, however, have four-fifths of the departmental population.
Arrondissement Structure
The other two arrondissements, Rethel and Vouziers, occupy the southern part of the department with roughly comparable areas but are sparsely populated. Before the Poincaré decree of 10 September 1926, which removed many sub-prefectures in France, the department had five arrondissements. In addition to the four mentioned above, the fifth was that of Rocroi – a small historic city in the northwest of the department close to Belgium – which has since been annexed to the Charleville-Mézières district. The former arrondissement of Rocroi then consisted of six cantons – including four on the border with Belgium – which were Givet, Fumay, Revin, Rocroi, Rumigny, and Signy-le-Petit. Home purchases by Belgians and Dutch people are common in the region because the prices are much lower than in their country.
Tourist Attractions in the Ardennes
There are iconic landmarks that attract many visitors to the Ardennes each year; the
Château de Sedan (the busiest paying attraction in the Ardennes with approx. 60,000 admissions/year), the fortified site of
Charlemont at Givet, the fort at
Les Ayvelles, and the fortress of
Rocroi. There are also many fortified churches and medieval sites in the department. There is the Ardennes forest, the "Green Way" (a bicycle path connecting
Montcy-Notre Dame near Charleville-Mézières to
Givet along the Meuse Valley), promoting weekend tourism and tourist routes (green tourism).
Cultural and Eco-Tourism Growth
Cultural tourism is booming with many music festivals (
Le Cabaret Vert, the
Douzy'k festival, the
Aymon Folk Festival) not to mention museums (such as the Museum of the Ardennes) and
castles and the growing interest in industrial heritage. Finally, the creation of the
Natural Regional Park of Ardennes (Regional Natural Park of Ardennes) on 21 December 2011 should continue to increase this type of tourism.
Key Information about Ardennes
- Main City/Prefecture: Charleville-Mézières
- Nearest Airport: Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (approx. 200 km)
- Population: Around 265,000 (as of the latest census)
- Area: 5,229 sq. kilometres and 2,018 sq. miles
- Landmark: Place Ducale, a beautiful 17th-century square in Charleville-Mézières.
- Number of Tourists/Year: Approx. 800,000, drawn by its forests, medieval fortresses and the world-famous Puppet Festival.
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