Petites Cités de Caractère® de France

Petites Cités de Caractère® was born in the mid-1970s out of a desire not to see the rich heritage of small historic towns disappear. Located in exceptional sites, these towns have often seen their urban functions reduced after the administrative and industrial revolutions in France. The aim of Petites Cités de Caractère® is to promote these atypical towns, between urbanity and rurality: both rural in their location and limited population - towns with less than 6000 inhabitants - and urban in their history and heritage.

Meeting a demanding quality charter, the Petites Cités de Caractère® associations now bring together more than 200 towns in France. They help these towns to enhance their uniqueness, to place their heritage at the heart of their attractiveness and the quality of their living environment, thus building contemporary, sustainable, attractive and welcoming (small) towns of the future.

Petites Cités de Caractère® is also a tourist project, an invitation to discover a town, to meet its heritage, its architecture and its inhabitants. They are revealed through urban walks that offer the opportunity to stroll through a remarkable historical setting. With a very inclusive approach, a double promise is made to the visitor: an experience of cultural and sustainable tourism, and an immersion during a visit in this art of living "à la Française", bathed in culture and heritage.