Alençon

Alençon (, , ; ) is a commune in Normandy, France, and the capital of the Orne department. It is situated between Paris and Rennes (about west of Paris) and a little over north of Le Mans. Alençon belongs to the intercommunality of Alençon (around 55,000 people in 2022, of which around 25,000 lived in Alençon).

OverviewAI-generated

Alençon is a commune in France, situated in the Orne department within the Normandy region. It serves as the capital of the Orne department, the arrondissement of Alençon, and the cantons of Alençon-1 and Alençon-2. The town is located near the Sarthe river and shares borders with Damigny, Cerisé, Condé-sur-Sarthe, and Saint-Germain-du-Corbéis. Its postal code is 61000, and it operates in the Europe/Paris timezone.

The area of Alençon is 10.68 square kilometers, with an elevation above sea level recorded at 152 meters. Population figures vary by source, with one listing 27,221 residents, including 11,858 males, while another records 30,786. The town is twinned with Basingstoke, Braine-l'Alleud, Koutiala, and Quakenbrück.

Synthesized by Vinony from 53 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Open Meteo, Openweathermap, OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Vinony graph, Geo. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

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7-day forecast

via Open-Meteo

Place details

Locality: Alençon
Region: Normandie
Country: France
Population: 30,786
Timezone: Europe/Paris

via OpenStreetMap · GeoNames

Air quality

33US AQIGood

PM2.5: 5.3 µg/m³
PM10: 9.7 µg/m³

As of 2026-08-11 02:00 · Open-Meteo

Key facts

French commune.name: Alençon
French commune.commune status: Prefecture and commune
French commune.image coat of arms: Blason Alençon.svg
French commune.image: Hotel de ville Alencon.jpg
French commune.caption: Town hall
French commune.arrondissement: Alençon
French commune.canton: Alençon-1 and 2
French commune.INSEE: 61001
French commune.postal code: 61000
French commune.mayor: Joachim Pueyo
French commune.term: 2020–2026
French commune.intercommunality: Alençon
French commune.elevation m: 135
French commune.elevation min m: 127
French commune.elevation max m: 152
French commune.area km2: 10.68

via Wikipedia infobox

Travel guide

Understand

thumb|Example of Alençon Lace. Some may have heard of Point d'Alençon a rare needle point lace making technique that originated in Alençon. UNESCO have included the craftsmanship of Alençon needle lace-makingin the "Representative List of the Cultural Heritage of Humanity". Genuine Alençon lace is expensive and a lot of the lower cost offerings are machine made imitations often from China. True Alençon lace is hand made and takes many hours of work to make even a square centimetre.

Get in

Alençon is 170 km to the W of Paris, 110 km S of Caen and 50 km N of Le Mans, close to the border between Basse Normandie and Pays de la Loire.

Get around

The centre of the town is small enough to walk around. The town has a local bus service operated by Alto Bus. Free car parking is available in pl Foch (next to Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall)) and pay and display parking around the town.

See

thumb|Chateau des Ducs, Alencon thumb|Basilique Notre-Dame, Alençon thumb|Église des Jésuites, Alençon

Go next

Caen - The historical capital of the region Le Mans - A nearby town best known for its annual 24 hour automobile race.

Travel guide from Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA 4.0)

~12 min read

Encyclopedic overview

23 sections

Contents

History
Geography
Climate
Population
Heraldry
Economy
Social Housing
Points of interest
Museums
National heritage sites
Architecture contemporaine remarquable
Education
Primary education
Secondary education
Higher education
Transport
Sport
Notable people
Twin towns – sister cities
Gallery
See also
References
External links

==History== The name of Alençon is first recorded in a document dated in the seventh century. During the tenth century, Alençon was a buffer state between Normandy and the Maine regions.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Alençon” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (5)

On the map

3 mapped locations

Alençon