Travel Guide Val-De-Reuil

You're in France's newest commune, and the only one to have been created without a population. Decided at the end of the 1960s to rebalance the growth of Paris-area towns by founding new ones in the region, Le Vaudreuil-Ville nouvelle was built from 1972 onwards; today it has 16,000 inhabitants and is home to numerous industries. The current name of Val-de-Reuil dates from 1984, to avoid confusion with the old village of Le Vaudreuil. Its architecture is totally atypical: a grid plan, which avoids defining important centers in advance, streets that intersect at right angles, American-style, and a raised roadway, all of which made it a totally original urban development at the time. Today, the population is equivalent to just one-sixth of the initial forecasts (which predicted 100,000 inhabitants by 2000), but the lesson is to be cautious! For the past ten years, Val-de-Reuil has been undergoing extensive urban renewal. Another special feature for a town of its size is the number of sports and cultural facilities - there are no fewer than 3 theaters, including the recently rebuilt and enlarged Chalands, and an athletics stadium where major championships are held. Val-de-Reuil thinks big, which makes it without doubt the best-equipped commune in the département in this respect. On your way through Val-de-Reuil, stop off at the Biotropica zoological greenhouse, just a few kilometers away, where adults and children alike will enjoy getting up close to the exotic animals.