Welcome to Nouvelle-Aquitaine!
Nouvelle-Aquitaine (Occitan: Nòva Aquitania, Basque: Akitania Berria, Poitevin-Saintongeais: Novéle-Aguiéne, all mean New Aquitaine in English) is the largest region of France. It stretches from the Spanish border and Pyrenees in the south, to the Loire Valley 500 km to the north, and from the Atlantic coastal sands in the west to the Massif Central in the east. Though centred on the refined city of Bordeaux, the region is predominantly rural, with sweeping agricultural vistas lying comfortably between sleepy villages and market towns. It is hard to generalise what is a genuinely diverse landscape that contains both mountain and beach, city and country, but at its heart this is la douce France at its softest and sweetest. Lazy river valleys, sunflower fields, pine forests and vineyards share the stage with tumbling hill towns, rocky promontories and rustic farmhouses. Local life is shaped by strong traditions, fine wine and hearty cooking, and you won't lack opportunities for surfing or cycling either. If joie de vivre really exists, you'll find it here.
Nouvelle-Aquitaine (Basque: Akitania Berria, Poitevin-Saintongeais: Novéle-Aguiéne) or New Aquitaine, is the largest administrative region in France, spanning the west and southwest of the mainland. The region was created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014 through the merger of three regions: Aquitaine, Limousin and Poitou-Charentes. It covers 84,036 km2 (32,446 sq mi) – or 1⁄8 of the country – and has 5,956,978 inhabitants (municipal population on 1 January 2017). The new region was established on 1 January 2016, following the regional elections in December 2015.It is the largest region in France by area (including overseas regions such as French Guiana), with a territory slightly larger than that of Austria and the Chinese Municipality of Chongqing. Its prefecture and largest city, Bordeaux, together with its suburbs and satellite cities, forms the seventh-largest metropolitan area of France, with 850,000 inhabitants. The region has 25 major urban areas, among which the most important after Bordeaux are Bayonne (288,000 inhabitants), Limoges (283,000), Poitiers (255,000), Pau (241,000) and La Rochelle (206,000), as well as eleven major clusters. The growth of its population, particularly marked on the coast, makes this one of the most attractive areas economically in France, the new region outperforms Île-de-France and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur in demographic dynamism.
After Île-de-France, New Aquitaine is the premier French region in research and innovation, with five universities (Bordeaux, La Rochelle, Limoges, Poitiers and Pau) and several Grandes Écoles. The agricultural region of Europe with the greatest turnover, it is the French region with the most tourism jobs, as it has three of the four historic resorts on the French Atlantic coast: Arcachon, Biarritz and Royan, as well as several ski resorts (most notably Gourette). It is the fifth French region for business creation (all sectors).
Its economy is based on agriculture and viticulture (vineyards of Bordeaux and Cognac), tourism, a powerful aerospace industry, digital economy and design, parachemical and pharmaceutical industries, financial sector (Niort is the fourth-largest financial center in the nation, specialising in mutual insurance companies) and industrial ceramics (Limoges). The new region includes major parts of Southern France ("Midi de la France"), marked by Basque, Occitan, Poitevin and Saintongeais cultures. Historically, it is the "indirect successor" to medieval Aquitaine, it extends over a large part of the former Duchy of Eleanor of Aquitaine.