The Route nationale 23 (N23) is a trunk road ( nationale) in western

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Reclassification

Since the re-classification of roads in 2006 much of the old N23 has been downgraded as follows: In Eure-et-Loir as the RD 923, in Orne as the RD 923, Sarthe as the RD 323, in Maine-et-Loire as the RD 323 between Sarthe and Angers, after Angers is numbered the RD 723 to the department Loire-Atlantique where it is also the RD 723.

Route

Chartres -

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...

- Nantes

Chartres to Angers (0 km to 210 km)

The road starts in the cathedral city of Chartres with a junction with the

Route nationale 10 Route nationale 10, or RN 10, is a trunk (route nationale) in France between Paris and the border with Spain via Bordeaux. Reclassification Unlike many other ''routes nationales'', the road retains its status along the majority of its route. How ...

. The road heads west crossing the city's ring road the N123 and N154 to Rouen. The road passes the town of Courville-sur-Eure. The road then skirts the south of ''Foret de Champrond'' entering the Parc Nationale du Perche. The road has a junction with the RD928 and heads south west to

Nogent-le-Rotrou Nogent-le-Rotrou () is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture and is located on the river Huisne, 56 kilometres west of Chartres on the RN23 and 150 kilometres south west of Paris, to which it is l ...

. The road by-passes the town to the west and thereafter is now numbered the RD923. The road follows the valley of the River

Huisne The Huisne () is a long river in France. It is a left tributary of the river Sarthe, which it meets in Le Mans. Its source is near the town of Pervenchères, in the Orne department. The Huisne flows through the following departments and towns: ...

. The road comes to the town of

La Ferté-Bernard La Ferté-Bernard () is a commune in the Sarthe department in the Pays de la Loire region in north-western France. History La Ferté-Bernard owes its origin and name to a stronghold (''fermeté'') built about the 11th century and afterwards hel ...

. Continuing south west the road crosses the

A11 autoroute The A 11 autoroute is a motorway which connects Paris with Nantes via Le Mans and Angers. It is called L'Océane. The road is long. Regions crossed The following list indexes the sites worth visiting within 14 km of the road. * Paris * C ...

. The road passes the town of Connerre. The road then comes to a junction with the N157 (to Orleans) and A28 autoroute. The road then skirts the south east of Le Mans crossing the River

Sarthe Sarthe () is a department of the French region of Pays de la Loire, and the province of Maine, situated in the '' Grand-Ouest'' of the country. It is named after the river Sarthe, which flows from east of Le Mans to just north of Angers. It ha ...

. The road passes through wooded countryside to the town of

La Flèche La Flèche () is a town and commune in the French department of Sarthe, in the Pays de la Loire region in the Loire Valley. It is the sub-prefecture of the South-Sarthe, the chief district and the chief city of a canton, and the second most po ...

. The road then crosses the A11 again. The N23 joins the A11 again just east of

Angers to Nantes (210 km to 298 km)

The road crosses the River Maine and heads west. The road now follows the north bank of the River

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...

. The road passes through the town of

Ancenis Ancenis (; ) is a former commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Ancenis-Saint-Géréon. It is a former sub-prefecture of the department, and was the seat of the former a ...

. An Ancenis bypass is under construction. The road continues to the town of Nantes. 023 {{france-road-stub