Tours

Tours is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire in France and the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. It stands on the lower reaches of the Loire between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. The commune had 138,668 inhabitants in 2022 and the whole metropolitan area 526,370. The Romans founded it under Augustus as Caesarodunum, and the later name Tours comes from the Gallic tribe of the Turones; the city keeps one of the largest amphitheatres of the Roman Empire. It is linked with the Battle of Tours of 732, with Saint Martin and Gregory of Tours, and with the livre tournois, the currency of the French kingdom. The historic centre is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the city is a university town with more than 30,000 students, and it is the finish of the Paris-Tours cycle race.