cities

Cherbourg-en-Cotentin

Open on map More cities Spin a random place Ask WorldAI

Overview

Cherbourg is a port town at the north end of the Cotentin Peninsula in Manche, France.

Cherbourg is located near the D-Day beaches where Allied forces landed in 1944 during World War II. The town was liberated by America

Facts

Rank

—

Coordinates

—

Source

WBP almanac

External sources

Wikivoyage Wikipedia

Media

From Wikipedia757 words

WBP editorial3

Maritime heritage beyond the harbour

While most visitors focus on the bustling port, the city's maritime story is woven into its streets. Former shipyard districts now host artisan workshops where carpenters still employ traditional wooden hull techniques, offering occasional open‑studio days. A short walk from the docks, the Musée de la Cité, housed in a repurposed customs house, presents a tactile glimpse of naval engineering through restored tools and interactive displays. Sampling a freshly caught scabbard fish at a neighbourhood tavern, then strolling along the former submarine base's perimeter, gives a sense of how past defence imperatives have been reshaped into cultural assets.

Cross‑Channel day‑trips from a railway hub

Cherbourg‑en‑Cotentin’s rail links make it an understated launchpad for day excursions across the Channel. The line to Granville, a scenic coastal route, connects with a ferry that reaches Portsmouth in under three hours, allowing a swift swap of French brioches for English cream teas. For the more adventurous, the lesser‑known service to Dieppe opens a route to the historic town of Newhaven, where independent galleries showcase contemporary art from both sides of the Channel. These rail‑ferry combos are rarely highlighted in guidebooks yet provide a seamless way to compare coastal cultures without the fatigue of long‑haul travel.

Seasonal rhythms in the surrounding countryside

Beyond the urban core, the hinterland of Cherbourg‑en‑Cotentin follows a subtle calendar that enriches the visitor experience. In late spring, the meadows of the Cotentin Peninsula burst with wild poppies, and local farms host open days for cider‑pressing demonstrations, offering fresh, unfiltered Normandy cider straight from the press. Autumn brings a modest harvest festival in nearby Barneville, where producers showcase seaweed‑infused cheeses—a product of the region’s long tradition of marine agriculture. Timing a stay to coincide with these modest, community‑led events reveals a layer of regional identity that standard tourist itineraries often overlook.

Introduction

This article is about the city established in 2016. For the commune that existed between 2000 and 2016, see Cherbourg-Octeville. For other uses, see Cherbourg (disambiguation). You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French.  (February 2022) Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must follow the LLM translation guideline, revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Cherbourg-en-Cotentin]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|fr|Cherbourg-en-Cotentin}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation. Subprefecture and commune in Normandy, FranceCherbourg-en-Cotentin Tchidbouo (Norman)Subprefecture and communeAn aerial view of CherbourgLocation of Cherbourg-en-CotentinCherbourg-en-CotentinShow map of FranceCherbourg-en-CotentinShow map of NormandyCoordinates: 49°38′20″N 1°37′30″W / 49.639°N 1.625°W / 49.639; -1.625CountryFranceRegionNormandyDepartmentMancheArrondissementCherbourgCanton6 cantonsIntercommunalityCA CotentinGovernment • Mayor (2026–32) Camille MargueritteArea168.54 km2 (26.46 sq mi)Population (2023)78,258 • Density1,142/km2 (2,957/sq mi)DemonymCherbourgeoisTime zoneUTC+01:00 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)INSEE/Postal code50129 /50100Websitewww.cherbourg.fr1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. Cherbourg-en-Cotentin (French pronunciation: [ʃɛʁbuʁ ɑ̃ kɔtɑ̃tɛ̃]; lit. 'Cherbourg-in-Cotentin'; Norman: Tchidbouo), commonly known as Cherbourg, is a major port city in the department of Manche, Normandy, northwestern France, established on 1 January 2016. The commune takes its name from Cherbourg, the main town of the commune, and from the Cotentin Peninsula. Cherbourg is an important commercial, ferry and military port on the English Channel. Cherbourg-en-Cotentin is a maritime prefecture and a subprefecture of Manche. The merger makes it the most populous commune in the department, with 79,144 inhabitants as of 2018 (of which 35,545 in Cherbourg-Octeville) and the largest city of the department, ahead of the Saint-Lô prefecture, and the second-largest city in the region, after Caen. Its urban unit is composed of three communes (Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, Martinvast and Tollevast) and has 81,963 inhabitants (2018). Its larger functional area covers 77 communes and had 152,630 inhabitants as of 2018.

Population

[edit] Historical populationYearPop.±% p.a.196879,121—    197582,539+0.61%198285,485+0.50%199092,045+0.93%199988,588−0.42%200785,149−0.49%201281,103−0.97%201779,200−0.47%202378,258−0.20%Populations of the area corresponding with the commune of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin at 1 January 2025.Source: INSEE Population by age and gender, 1 January 2017 90+ 949 75–89 6806 60–74 13118 45–59 16534 30–44 13838 15–29 14874 0–14 13081 Total: 79200 male female Source: INSEE Housing[edit] In 2017, in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin there were 43,118 dwellings of which 88.8% of primary residences, 3.5% second homes and 7.7% vacant houses. 50.5% were houses and 48.8% were apartments. Of the 37,983 principal residences built before 2015, the largest share (35.7%) was built between 1971 and 1990. 6.6% were built between 2006 and 2014, which is much lower than the departmental rate (11.1%). The commune shares the social housing with the Communauté d'agglomération du Cotentin. Several HLM agencies are responsible for social housing of the agglomeration: Presqu'île Habitat, Les Cités Cherbourgeoises, HLM du Cotentin, Manche Habitat and HLM Coutances Granville.