What You Need to Know About the Sarthe Department
We invite you to discover the French department located in the central-western section of France. It is actually the 72nd department, also named Sarthe. This department came into existence following a decree issued by the National Assembly after the French Revolution of 1790. Furthermore, the territory currently occupied by the department is Haut-Maine, but the southwestern section of this said department was an integral part of the historical territory of Haut-Anjou.
Moreover, the capital and prefecture of this said department is called Le Mans, and its sub-prefectures are Mamers and La Flèche. In terms of demographics, the 72 department has 566,412 inhabitants, also called Sarthois. Given the area of this department, which is 6,206 km2, the population density per km2 is 91. Administratively, the Sarthe department is divided into 3 arrondissements, 5 legislative constituencies, 21 cantons, 16 intercommunalities, and 354 communes.
What Are the Neighboring Departments of the Sarthe Department?
Since the Sarthe department is part of the Grand-Ouest section, and moreover, it was previously part of the Pays-de-la-Loire region, its neighboring departments are therefore the Maine-et-Loire department and the Indre-et-Loire department which border it to the south. Then, there is the Loir-et-Cher department which borders it to the east, the Orne and Eure-et-Loir departments which border it to the north. Finally, to the west, there are the Mayenne and Maine-et-Loire departments.
What Is the Climate Like in the Sarthe Department?
Since the Sarthe territory is located near the English Channel and also the Atlantic coast, its climate is closer to an oceanic climate than a continental climate. However, there is still a continental influence in the said climate of the 72. That is to say, there is lower rainfall on the Atlantic coast and also on the shore. Also, in this same area, the summer periods are warmer. In fact, the average maximum temperature during the warm periods ranges around 7.9°C to 25.5°C. And for the average minimum temperatures, the temperature ranges around 2.1 to 14.4°C.
Regarding precipitation, annually, the Sarthe department records on average 687 mm of annual precipitation with the highest precipitation of 67 mm occurring in January. Concerning sunshine, annually, the Sarthe department records on average 1772 hours of sunshine with 227 hours in July, the hottest month.
What Are the Most Important Cities in the Sarthe Department?
In terms of the best cities for tourist destinations, that is to say the cities in the 72 most frequented by tourists, we count:
- Le Mans
- Sablé-sur-Sarthe
- La Ferté-Bernard
- Arnage
- Allones
- Coulaines
- Sargé-lès-le-Mans
- Yvré-l’évèque
- Changé
- Mulsanne
- Montval-sur-Loir
What are the most important municipalities in the Sarthe department?
To make this list, we referred to the population density per km2 of each municipality in Sarthe:
- La Flèche
- Précigné
- Le Mans
- Auvers-le-Hamon
- Le Lude
- Parigné-l’Évêque
- Mayet
- Luché-Pringé
- Saint-Denis-d’Orques
- Vibraye
Regarding this second ranking of municipalities in the Sarthe department branch, we grouped them according to the density of inhabitants per km2:
- Le Mans
- Sablé-sur-Sarthe
- La Ferté-Bernard
- Montval-sur-Loir
- Mamers
- La Flèche
- Allonnes
- Coulaines
- Changé
- Arnage
