France · Île-de-France
Where to Stay in Nanterre, Île-de-France
Nanterre is a city in Île-de-France, prefecture of Hauts-de-Seine, in the western suburbs of Paris beside the towers of La Défense on the Seine.
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Where to stay in Nanterre
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Nanterre sits at the western edge of Paris, so where you stay depends on whether you want the business quarter or the older town. The eastern side runs up against La Défense, where Cœur Défense and the office towers cluster, and hotels here put you within reach of the Grande Arche and the fast trains into central Paris. Book this side for the towers.
The transport links are strong, and the walk to the La Défense concourse is short. The older heart of Nanterre lies further west, a quieter residential town around the church of St. Peter St. Paul, the modern Nanterre Cathedral and the Église Sainte-Marie-des-Fontenelles, with the university and its parkland nearby. Stay here if you want a calmer, more local base away from the glass towers, still on the express line to the middle of Paris.
Toward the Seine on the northern edge the ground opens along the riverbank, greener and lower-rise. Nanterre is compact and well connected, and the choice is really between the working towers of La Défense and the residential streets behind them.
About Nanterre
What is Nanterre known for?
Nanterre is known as the prefecture of Hauts-de-Seine and for its edge onto La Défense, the high-rise business quarter west of Paris. Cœur Défense rises there. The modern Nanterre Cathedral serves the diocese, while the older church of St. Peter St. Paul marks the historic core of the commune, and the archive of La contemporaine keeps its collections here.
The Seine curves past the northern side of the town.
What are the main landmarks in Nanterre?
Nanterre pairs modern towers with older stone. Cœur Défense stands at the La Défense end of the commune, one of the high-rise office blocks that make up the skyline west of Paris and mark the eastern gateway of the town. The modern Nanterre Cathedral rises in the centre, while the historic church of St. Peter St. Paul marks the old parish and the Église Sainte-Marie-des-Fontenelles serves a western quarter.
La contemporaine keeps its research archive here. Glass office blocks and old churches share the townscape.
What is the history of Nanterre?
Nanterre began as an old parish on the plain west of Paris, long before the suburbs reached it. The town is ancient at its root. Its historic church of St. Peter St. Paul marks a settlement that stood on the road out of the capital for centuries, a country town in the loop of the Seine while Paris was still a walk away across the fields.
That older Nanterre survives in the streets around the church. The modern era transformed the commune. As Paris spread outward, Nanterre was drawn into the western suburbs and made the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department, and the business quarter of La Défense rose along its eastern edge with towers like Cœur Défense.
The university came, the cathedral was built for the new diocese, and the archive of La contemporaine settled here. Nanterre now holds two worlds at once, the glass skyline of La Défense against the old parish streets, joined on the same ground beside the Seine.
Where is Nanterre?
Nanterre lies in the western suburbs of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine department of the Île-de-France region, about 11 km northwest of the centre of the capital. The Seine loops along its northern side. The commune runs from the towers of Cœur Défense and La Défense on its eastern edge across to the older residential streets around Nanterre Cathedral and the church of St. Peter St. Paul in the west, on flat ground within the tight ring of inner-suburban communes.
It borders the Seine and the neighbouring towns of Hauts-de-Seine.
What is the climate of Nanterre?
Nanterre shares the mild oceanic climate of Paris and the Île-de-France. Summer here is warm but fickle. Winters stay cool and grey, seldom severe, with rain spread through the year and snow uncommon over the low ground beside the Seine.
Cloud and light rain are the usual weather, and hard frost or heatwave are the exceptions rather than the rule across the suburban plain.
How do you get to Nanterre?
Nanterre is tied into the express and suburban rail network of Île-de-France, with fast lines running through La Défense into the centre of Paris in minutes. Several stations serve the commune. Motorways and the ring roads of the western suburbs cross Hauts-de-Seine nearby, and the towers of La Défense mark the transport hub on the town's eastern edge.
From there, central Paris is a short ride east.
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Updated July 2026