Sister cities of Nantes

Nantes (French pronunciation: ​[nɑ̃t]) (Breton: Naoned, Gallo: Naunnt) is a city in West France, located on the Loire River, 50 km (31 mi) from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 6th with nearly 900,000 inhabitants.

Nantes, labeled art and history city, is the capital city of the Pays de la Loire region and the Loire-Atlantique département and also the largest city in the Grand-Ouest, North western France in English. Together with Vannes, Rennes and Carhaix, it was one of the major cities of the historic province of Brittany, and the ancient Duchy of Brittany. Though officially separated from Brittany in 1789, Nantes is culturally Breton and still widely regarded as its capital city.

The city's Tramway system the Nantes Tramway, opened in 1985 and re-introduced today's modern tramways in France and in Europe, reversing the trend of tramway closures that had been going on since the middle of the 20th century and becoming the first in a wave of tramways built from scratch. The Nantes tramway system is one of the largest and busiest in France. The city also has a Busway line, an innovative and notable Bus Rapid Transit. Nantes is served by an international airport, Nantes Atlantique Airport and a major French railway station, the Gare de Nantes.

In 2004, Time named Nantes as "the most liveable city in Europe". In 2010, Nantes was named a hub city for innovation in the Innovation Cities Index by innovation agency, 2thinknow. The city was ranked 36th globally from 289 cities and 4th overall in France, behind Paris, Lyon and Strasbourg for innovation across multiple sectors of the economy. As of 2013, Nantes holds the title of European Green Capital awarded by the European Commission for its efforts to reduce air pollution and CO₂ emissions, for its high quality and well-managed public transport system and for its biodiversity with 3,366 hectares of green spaces and several Natura 2000 zones which guarantee a protection of nature in the area.

Euronantes is the city's Central business district, which is currently in development near Gare de Nantes and on the Île de Nantes, offering by 2015 500,000 m2 of office space, retail space and upscale hotels. The district is served by Busway line 4 at Cité Internationale des congrès et Tripode stations.