France departments quiz

The 101 departments in the quiz

France has 96 departments in metropolitan France and 5 overseas: 101 in the quiz. Use the Capitals button in the panel to find their capitals instead. Use Regions to play its 18 regions, which group the departments.

How to play

In Point mode we name a department and you tap it on the map; in Type mode one lights up and you type its name (accents don’t matter); and in Time trial you get 6 seconds per question. If you miss, we show you where it was, which way it lies and a hint drawn from the data: its size rank and its neighbors.

Each game has 10, 20 or all the questions, and at the end you can practice just the ones you missed. Your best score for each mode is saved in this browser only: neither we nor anyone else can see it, and there’s no sign-up.

The hardest ones

The smallest departments are the hardest, since they barely show on the map: Paris (about 50 sq mi), Hauts-de-Seine (about 64 sq mi), and Seine-Saint-Denis (about 90 sq mi). Zoom in with the buttons or two fingers to tap them.

And watch out for look-alike names: Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Alpes-Maritimes; Bouches-du-Rhône and Rhône; Charente and Charente-Maritime; Cher and Loir-et-Cher; Eure and Eure-et-Loir; Hautes-Alpes and Hautes-Pyrénées.

Tips to learn them

• The 6 departments bordering Switzerland trace that border on the map: Ain, Doubs, Haut-Rhin, Haute-Savoie, Jura, and Territoire de Belfort.
• Guadeloupe, Guyane, La Réunion, Martinique, and Mayotte have no land border with any other department on the map: look for them at sea.
• Seine-et-Marne has the most neighbors: it borders 10 departments. Once you place it, you have a landmark for many more.

Playing in class

If you teach in France, start with your school’s department and its neighbors and add a few each day. Otherwise, it’s a good way to get to know the country before studying it.

With the Challenge your class link, everyone gets the same questions in the same order, with no accounts or passwords, and each student sees their own score, time and streak. To practice on paper, there’s a printable worksheet of the same map with an answer key.

List of all 101 departments

1. Ain Bourg-en-Bresse
2. Aisne Laon
3. Allier Moulins
4. Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Digne-les-Bains
5. Alpes-Maritimes Nice
6. Ardèche Privas
7. Ardennes Charleville-Mézières
8. Ariège Foix
9. Aube Troyes
10. Aude Carcassonne
11. Aveyron Rodez
12. Bas-Rhin Strasbourg
13. Bouches-du-Rhône Marseille
14. Calvados Caen
15. Cantal Aurillac
16. Charente Angoulême
17. Charente-Maritime La Rochelle
18. Cher Bourges
19. Corrèze Tulle
20. Corse-du-Sud Ajaccio
21. Côte-d'Or Dijon
22. Côtes-d'Armor Saint-Brieuc
23. Creuse Guéret
24. Deux-Sèvres Niort
25. Dordogne Périgueux
26. Doubs Besançon
27. Drôme Valence
28. Essonne Évry-Courcouronnes
29. Eure Évreux
30. Eure-et-Loir Chartres
31. Finistère Quimper
32. Gard Nîmes
33. Gers Auch
34. Gironde Bordeaux
35. Guadeloupe Basse-Terre
36. Guyane Cayenne
37. Haut-Rhin Colmar
38. Haute-Corse Bastia
39. Haute-Garonne Toulouse
40. Haute-Loire Le Puy-en-Velay
41. Haute-Marne Chaumont
42. Haute-Saône Vesoul
43. Haute-Savoie Annecy
44. Haute-Vienne Limoges
45. Hautes-Alpes Gap
46. Hautes-Pyrénées Tarbes
47. Hauts-de-Seine Nanterre
48. Hérault Montpellier
49. Ille-et-Vilaine Rennes
50. Indre Châteauroux
51. Indre-et-Loire Tours
52. Isère Grenoble
53. Jura Lons-le-Saunier
54. La Réunion Saint-Denis
55. Landes Mont-de-Marsan
56. Loir-et-Cher Blois
57. Loire Saint-Étienne
58. Loire-Atlantique Nantes
59. Loiret Orléans
60. Lot Cahors
61. Lot-et-Garonne Agen
62. Lozère Mende
63. Maine-et-Loire Angers
64. Manche Saint-Lô
65. Marne Châlons-en-Champagne
66. Martinique Fort-de-France
67. Mayenne Laval
68. Mayotte Mamoudzou
69. Meurthe-et-Moselle Nancy
70. Meuse Bar-le-Duc
71. Morbihan Vannes
72. Moselle Metz
73. Nièvre Nevers
74. Nord Lille
75. Oise Beauvais
76. Orne Alençon
77. Paris Paris
78. Pas-de-Calais Arras
79. Puy-de-Dôme Clermont-Ferrand
80. Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pau
81. Pyrénées-Orientales Perpignan
82. Rhône Lyon
83. Saône-et-Loire Mâcon
84. Sarthe Le Mans
85. Savoie Chambéry
86. Seine-et-Marne Melun
87. Seine-Maritime Rouen
88. Seine-Saint-Denis Bobigny
89. Somme Amiens
90. Tarn Albi
91. Tarn-et-Garonne Montauban
92. Territoire de Belfort Belfort
93. Val-d'Oise Pontoise
94. Val-de-Marne Créteil
95. Var Toulon
96. Vaucluse Avignon
97. Vendée La Roche-sur-Yon
98. Vienne Poitiers
99. Vosges Épinal
100. Yonne Auxerre
101. Yvelines Versailles