What you need to know about the Vienne department
We will present to you here a landlocked department, that is to say without access to the sea, which is located in the interior-west section of the country. It is a very large department, if not the most spacious in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region to which it belongs. This department is called department 86 or the Vienne department.
Geographically, this department is located on the line drawn by the cities of Paris, Bordeaux, and Spain. Additionally, the department has a prefecture, which is also its administrative center named Poitiers. Its sub-prefectures are named Châtellerault and Montmorillon.
When talking about the demographics of department 86, the Viennois now number 468,435 inhabitants with a density of 63 inhabitants per km2, a consequence of the fact that the said department has an area of 6,990 km2. Finally, administratively, department 86 is divided into 3 arrondissements, 4 legislative constituencies, 19 cantons, 7 intercommunalities, and 266 communes.
What are the neighboring departments of the Vienne department?
Since the area of department 86 is 6,990 km2 and it is located in the northern section of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, its neighboring departments are: the Deux-Sèvres department which borders it to the south, the Charente department which borders it to the southeast, and finally, the Haute-Vienne department.
But there is also the Maine-et-Loire department (part of the Pays-de-la-Loire region) which borders the Vienne department to the northwest. Finally, there are other departments belonging to the Centre-Val de Loire region which are the Indre-et-Loire department and the Indre department which border the 86 to the north and east respectively.
What is the climate like in the Vienne department?
Although department 86 is a landlocked department (that is to say without access to the sea), its climate is still oceanic. The fact is also that the department being located near the Atlantic Ocean, this type of climate features a somewhat cooler summer period and a somewhat milder winter period. This causes temperatures to fluctuate around 11.4°C.
The average annual temperature in the Vienne department is 14.4°C. Thus, regarding rainfall, the average precipitation ranges from 600 to about 850 mm depending on the location within the department. But as for sunshine hours, there are about 1900 hours of sunshine per year.
But that’s not all, there is also the fact that even though it is an oceanic climate, temperatures allow for snowfall during the winter periods. And during the summer periods, temperatures are higher, averaging between 27 and 29°C.
As we said, the average temperature is 11°C throughout the year, which is the annual average temperature. Thus, the hottest month will be July with a maximum temperature reaching 40.8°C and the coolest month of the year is January which also shows temperatures that can reach 17°C.
Regarding the rainfall in department 86, there is about 586 mm of rain over 14 rainy days in a month. However, the rainiest months are November and December, where it mainly rains 73 mm and 72 mm respectively. Over successive years, there are many variations in precipitation, so the difference in precipitation amounts during the year is 150 mm.
There are therefore 3 climatic zones in the Vienne department.
- First, in the northern and northeastern part of 86, there is the driest zone, also called the dry zone.
- Next, there is the zone with a lot of rain, which is the area around the Massif Central located in the southeast part.
- Finally, there is the zone with the most rain, which is the area located in the southwest, mainly influenced by the ocean.
What are the most important cities in the Vienne department?
We offer you a list of the 10 cities in the Vienne department that are tourist cities and the best cities to visit in the department:
- Poitiers
- Mignaloux-Beauvoir
- Chauvigny
- Châtellerault
- Loudun
- Chasseneuil-du-Poitou
- Naintré
- Migné-Auxances
- Fontaine-le-Comte
- Saint-Benoît
What are the largest communes in the Vienne department?
To establish this ranking, we referred to the area of the communes in the Vienne department, so here are the 10 largest communes of 86:
- Lathus-Saint-Rémy
- Chauvigny
- Saint-Pierre-de-Maillé
- Usson-du-Poitou
- Adriers
- Archigny
- Le Vigeant
- Saulgé
- Valdivienne
- Sillars
