What are the 10 French cities farthest from the sea?

In order: Colmar, Erstein, Sélestat, Illkirch-Graffenstaden, Riquewihr, Strasbourg, Ostwald, Lingolsheim, Schiltigheim and Bischheim.

What is the top 5 of French cities farthest from the sea?

Colmar (480 km), Erstein (480 km), Sélestat (479 km), Illkirch-Graffenstaden (475 km) and Riquewihr (474 km).

Which city is 2nd in the ranking of French cities farthest from the sea?

Erstein, at 480 km, just behind Colmar (480 km).

Is Colmar really the French city farthest from the sea?

Yes, at 480 km, ahead of Erstein (480 km) and Sélestat (479 km).

In which département is Colmar?

Colmar is in département 68, in the Grand Est region.

How many French cities does this ranking compare?

1,052, with the top 50 listed in full in the table below.

What are the French cities farthest from the sea in 2026?

This ranking uses the most recent official figures published as of 2026: Colmar leads with 480 km.

Is there a complete ranking of French cities farthest from the sea?

Yes, the table below: the top 50 of 1,052, each with its département and its region, and the exact method and scope stated underneath it.

Which is the most landlocked city in France?

Colmar, at 480 km from the nearest coast. The common answer of Dijon is wrong: eastern France, around Alsace and the Vosges, is markedly farther inland.

How far is France's farthest point from the sea?

No city in this dataset is more than about 480 km from a coast, which is what makes France unusual: nowhere in the Hexagon is truly far from the sea.

Which sea or ocean counts as the nearest coast?

Whichever is closest: the Channel, the Atlantic or the Mediterranean, measured against metropolitan coastlines including Corsica. Overseas cities have no value here rather than a made-up one.

In order: Colmar (480 km), Erstein (480 km), Sélestat (479 km), Illkirch-Graffenstaden (475 km), Riquewihr (474 km), Strasbourg (473 km), Ostwald (472 km), Lingolsheim (470 km), Schiltigheim (469 km), Bischheim (469 km).

Isn't Dijon the usual answer?

Dijon is the answer people repeat, and it is not the one the coordinates give. Measured as the crow flies to the nearest coastline, the most landlocked cities in France are in Alsace, penned in between the Vosges and the Rhine: Dijon is genuinely far from the sea, but roughly a hundred kilometres less far than the Alsatian plain.

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Position and size · INSEE / geo.api.gouv.fr

The French cities farthest from the sea

Name: The French cities farthest from the sea
Creator: Le Bon Rang
License: https://www.etalab.gouv.fr/licence-ouverte-open-licence/

The French city farthest from the sea is Colmar, 480 km from the nearest coast as the crow flies, ahead of Erstein (480 km) and Sélestat (479 km).

To the sea, 1052 cities shown. The coloured surface is a local average over 34,746 communes, 96.0% of the country's population, weighted by the population of each one. Every commune with a published value counts, not only the towns in the table. Projection: longitude compressed by cos(46.3°N), so east-west and north-south distances stay comparable. Source: INSEE / geo.api.gouv.fr.

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Top 50 of 1,052 cities
Rank	City	To the sea km	Population	Region
1	68 Colmar	480	66,970	Grand Est
2	67 Erstein	480	10,790	Grand Est
3	67 Sélestat	479	19,589	Grand Est
4	67 Illkirch-Graffenstaden	475	27,872	Grand Est
5	68 Riquewihr	474	999	Grand Est
6	67 Strasbourg	473	293,771	Grand Est
7	67 Ostwald	472	13,946	Grand Est
8	67 Lingolsheim	470	20,826	Grand Est
9	67 Schiltigheim	469	34,708	Grand Est
10	67 Bischheim	469	18,558	Grand Est
11	67 Hœnheim	468	11,742	Grand Est
12	67 Bischwiller	466	12,242	Grand Est
13	67 Obernai	465	12,587	Grand Est
14	67 Brumath	460	10,499	Grand Est
15	67 Haguenau	458	36,391	Grand Est
16	68 Guebwiller	458	11,243	Grand Est
17	88 Gérardmer	456	7,581	Grand Est
18	88 Saint-Dié-des-Vosges	447	19,251	Grand Est
19	68 Wittenheim	447	15,553	Grand Est
20	68 Cernay	446	12,057	Grand Est
21	68 Wittelsheim	446	10,645	Grand Est
22	68 Kingersheim	445	13,354	Grand Est
23	68 Illzach	443	14,923	Grand Est
24	68 Pfastatt	442	10,314	Grand Est
25	68 Mulhouse	441	104,978	Grand Est
26	68 Rixheim	440	14,380	Grand Est
27	70 Vesoul	439	15,078	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
28	68 Riedisheim	439	12,200	Grand Est
29	67 Saverne	436	11,460	Grand Est
30	90 Belfort	431	45,912	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
31	88 Épinal	427	32,251	Grand Est
32	68 Saint-Louis (68)	423	22,805	Grand Est
33	70 Héricourt	423	10,621	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
34	57 Sarrebourg	419	12,170	Grand Est
35	25 Montbéliard	418	24,672	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
36	21 Chevigny-Saint-Sauveur	416	11,108	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
37	25 Audincourt	413	14,071	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
38	25 Valentigney	412	10,501	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
39	21 Chenôve	410	14,244	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
40	21 Dijon	408	161,830	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
41	21 Talant	406	11,896	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
42	25 Besançon	402	118,489	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
43	54 Lunéville	400	18,262	Grand Est
44	39 Dole	395	23,840	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
45	57 Sarreguemines	395	20,143	Grand Est
46	21 Beaune	388	20,352	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
47	57 Stiring-Wendel	380	10,956	Grand Est
48	57 Forbach	378	20,493	Grand Est
49	54 Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy	376	29,942	Grand Est
50	54 Nancy	375	103,671	Grand Est

The table stops at 50. Search any of the 1,052 ranked towns ↑

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Scope, method and sources

Scope: France, metropolitan and overseas, Corsica and the DROM included. This dataset holds every commune of 10,000 inhabitants or more, plus smaller communes famous enough to be household names, 1,131 in all. It is not the full list of 35,000 French communes, so a village can sit outside a ranking whose extreme it would otherwise hold. This particular ranking is metropolitan only: the distance to the coast is measured against the coastlines of the Hexagon and Corsica, which would put an overseas port thousands of kilometres from a sea it sits on, so no value is published for overseas France rather than a wrong one.

Method and sources: populations are the INSEE legal populations, boundaries and coordinates come from the IGN commune registry, both served by geo.api.gouv.fr. Density is the population divided by the commune's area; distances are measured as the crow flies from the commune's centre. Data read on August 28, 2026.

14 questions about this ranking

What are the 10 French cities farthest from the sea?: In order: Colmar, Erstein, Sélestat, Illkirch-Graffenstaden, Riquewihr, Strasbourg, Ostwald, Lingolsheim, Schiltigheim and Bischheim.
What is the top 5 of French cities farthest from the sea?: Colmar (480 km), Erstein (480 km), Sélestat (479 km), Illkirch-Graffenstaden (475 km) and Riquewihr (474 km).
Which city is 2nd in the ranking of French cities farthest from the sea?: Erstein, at 480 km, just behind Colmar (480 km).
Is Colmar really the French city farthest from the sea?: Yes, at 480 km, ahead of Erstein (480 km) and Sélestat (479 km).
In which département is Colmar?: Colmar is in département 68, in the Grand Est region.
Which city is 10th in the ranking of French cities farthest from the sea?: Bischheim, at 469 km.
How many French cities does this ranking compare?: 1,052, with the top 50 listed in full in the table below.
What are the French cities farthest from the sea in 2026?: This ranking uses the most recent official figures published as of 2026: Colmar leads with 480 km.
Is there a complete ranking of French cities farthest from the sea?: Yes, the table below: the top 50 of 1,052, each with its département and its region, and the exact method and scope stated underneath it.
Which is the most landlocked city in France?: Colmar, at 480 km from the nearest coast. The common answer of Dijon is wrong: eastern France, around Alsace and the Vosges, is markedly farther inland.
How far is France's farthest point from the sea?: No city in this dataset is more than about 480 km from a coast, which is what makes France unusual: nowhere in the Hexagon is truly far from the sea.
Which sea or ocean counts as the nearest coast?: Whichever is closest: the Channel, the Atlantic or the Mediterranean, measured against metropolitan coastlines including Corsica. Overseas cities have no value here rather than a made-up one.
What are the top 10?: In order: Colmar (480 km), Erstein (480 km), Sélestat (479 km), Illkirch-Graffenstaden (475 km), Riquewihr (474 km), Strasbourg (473 km), Ostwald (472 km), Lingolsheim (470 km), Schiltigheim (469 km), Bischheim (469 km).
Isn't Dijon the usual answer?: Dijon is the answer people repeat, and it is not the one the coordinates give. Measured as the crow flies to the nearest coastline, the most landlocked cities in France are in Alsace, penned in between the Vosges and the Rhine: Dijon is genuinely far from the sea, but roughly a hundred kilometres less far than the Alsatian plain.

The table below ranks the top 50 of the 1,052 cities in the dataset, each with its département, its region and the figure it is ranked on (distance to the sea), so you can see not just the order but how far apart the places are. The numbers are official public data: INSEE legal populations and the IGN commune registry, with the exact method and the exact scope stated under the table rather than left to be guessed at.

The same data answers neighbouring questions too: see The highest cities in France and The northernmost cities in France, or all rankings for the full list. All of it comes from Le Bon Rang, a free daily game that gives you five French cities and one of these statistics and asks you for the order.