First pick
Halte de la Rivière aux Cerises
Park or garden
1.8 ha0.5 km of path
5 minto walk all 0.5 km of path
2.7 km southfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Mario Hains · CC BY-SA 3.09.3%protected within 10 km
Outdoors in Orford · parks, protected land & trails
39% of the ground inside Orford is protected
Swimmers have 15 beaches within 5 km, Plage du Lac Fraser the nearest. Of the country within 10 km, 9.3% lies in protected areas; the median Canadian town has 2.3%. Named trails close by number 4, the Sentier de l'Estrie, Zone Orford and Sentier de l'Estrie Zone Brompton among them.
Protected land
9.3%
of the land within 10 km
Typical Canadian town: 2.3%
Protected areas
44
within 10 km, 3 public
Typical Canadian town: 14
Nearest provincial park
At the edge
Mont-Orford National Park (Québec)
Walking routes
4
named, within 2 km (OpenStreetMap)
Beaches
15
within 5 km (OpenStreetMap)
Character
What sets Orford apart outdoors
Each figure against Canadian towns of 2,500+; tap a tile for the detail.
Protected land in town39% of Orford itself lies in protected areasProtected land all round9.3% of the land within 10 km, more than 84% of Canadian townsWalking routes4 named routes within 2 kmOn a national routeThe Sentier de l'Estrie, Zone Orford passes within 2 km
Above all, Orford offers protected land inside its own boundary, with protected land around it close behind.
Against other towns
Each figure for Orford, set against Canadian towns
Each figure against the 2,611 Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ (not city hubs or reserves), with the town marked and the typical one’s line. Canada’s grades don’t include the outdoors, so this page compares the figures rather than grading them.
Protected within 10 km9.3%Share of the land and water within 10 km of the town’s edge in a protected or conserved area
Protected in town39%Share of the town’s own area in a protected or conserved area
Public protected areas3Areas within 10 km held by a government or an Indigenous nation
Walking routes4Named OpenStreetMap walking and hiking routes with 300 m+ within 2 km
Beaches15Beaches mapped on OpenStreetMap within 5 km
CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC, 2026), OpenStreetMap (November 2026). Distances from the town’s outline.
Towns its size
Orford comes 8th of 40 towns its size for protected land around it
The 40 Canadian towns nearest in population (5,610 to 5,795 residents), by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected. Hover for each one’s figures; click for its page.
Protected within 10 km
Orford9.3%
Towns its size3.6%
Towns in Quebec4.9%
Typical Canadian town2.3%
Public protected areas
Orford3
Towns its size5
Towns in Quebec10
Typical Canadian town4
Walking routes
Orford4
Towns its size0
Towns in Quebec0
Typical Canadian town0
Among its peers, Orford’s strong point is protected land nearby, where 7 of 39 top it. On public protected areas it is behind: 21 of 39 have more.
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Protected within 10 km | In town | Areas | Routes | Beaches | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shediac NB | 14% | 0.9% | 20 | 0 | 6 |
| 2 | Dunrobin ON | 14% | 0.1% | 50 | 1 | 15 |
| 3 | Osoyoos BC | 14% | 0.8% | 22 | 0 | 9 |
| 4 | Saint Marys NB | 13% | 15% | 44 | 1 | 5 |
| 5 | Iris ON | 12% | 0% | 26 | 4 | 6 |
| 6 | New Edinburgh ON | 11% | 0.1% | 37 | 4 | 3 |
| 7 | Seguin ON | 10% | 1.2% | 20 | 0 | 10 |
| 8 | Orford QC | 9.3% | 39% | 44 | 4 | 15 |
| 9 | Lanoraie QC | 9% | 7.8% | 35 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | Armstrong BC | 8% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | Emerald Woods - Sawmill Creek ON | 6.9% | 21% | 16 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | Lampman ON | 6.9% | 13% | 17 | 1 | 0 |
| 13 | Chertsey QC | 6.5% | 7.2% | 16 | 0 | 7 |
| 14 | Annapolis County, Subdivision C NS | 6.3% | 0.1% | 11 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 | Havelock ON | 5.7% | 0% | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | Smithers BC | 5.5% | 0% | 5 | 0 | 4 |
| 17 | Vieux-Québec—Cap-Blanc—Colline parlementaire QC | 5% | 0% | 18 | 1 | 5 |
| 18 | Rosedale Village ON | 4.5% | 0% | 7 | 1 | 1 |
| 19 | Braeside AB | 4% | 0% | 3 | 0 | 5 |
| 20 | Carp ON | 3.8% | 2.9% | 10 | 1 | 0 |
| 21 | Waterloo QC | 3.4% | 0% | 23 | 0 | 2 |
| 22 | Oakridge AB | 2.9% | 0% | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | Sherwood/McCarthy SK | 2.7% | 0% | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Memramcook NB | 2% | 0% | 55 | 0 | 2 |
| 25 | County Court ON | 2% | 0% | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| 26 | The Pas MB | 1.9% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | Duncan BC | 1.9% | 0% | 31 | 2 | 1 |
| 28 | Montcalm MB | 1.8% | 0% | 19 | 0 | 1 |
| 29 | Forest Hill ON | 1.7% | 0% | 21 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | Buena Vista SK | 1.7% | 1.6% | 17 | 0 | 2 |
| 31 | St. Matthews MB | 1.6% | 0% | 22 | 4 | 0 |
| 32 | Confederation Park SK | 1.2% | 0% | 14 | 0 | 1 |
| 33 | Parkview AB | 1.2% | 0% | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| 34 | Westwood MB | 1% | 0% | 10 | 1 | 37 |
| 35 | Meadow Lake SK | 0.7% | 0.7% | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | Bankview AB | 0.6% | 0% | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 37 | Saint-Roch-de-l'Achigan QC | 0.3% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | Charleswood AB | 0.3% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 39 | Remington Park ON | 0.1% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 40 | Casselman AB | 0.1% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 0 |
The map
Orford on the map: green space, protected land and paths
The town’s parks, woods, protected land and paths, with its named places numbered.
Green: OpenStreetMap parks, gardens, playing fields and woods. Hatched: CPCAD protected areas.© OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); CPCAD (OGL-Canada)
Places to walk
4 parks and woods to walk in, in or near Orford
The biggest is Halte de la Rivière aux Cerises, 1.8 ha. Biggest first, numbered as on the map.
4 named parks and woods, 12 ha in all
Parks & gardens 3.9 haWoods 8.4 ha
83% of the area is in just two places: Île Miner and Halte de la Rivière aux Cerises.
Source: OpenStreetMap parks, gardens, commons and woods with a name, in the town or within 400 m, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Sizes are the mapped outline’s.
Close to home
In Orford, parks are rarely a short walk away
Residents of each 2021 dissemination area, at a point inside it, within 400 m (about a 5-minute walk) of a park or playing field mapped on OpenStreetMap.
Within 400 m (0%)Further (100%)
Orford0%
Towns in Quebec52%
Typical Canadian town83%
For about 5,700 people, the nearest park is over 400 m away. The typical Canadian town reaches 83%.
Protected areas
9.3% of the country within 10 km of Orford is protected
Every protected and conserved area in CPCAD within 10 km of the town’s edge: parks, reserves, wildlife areas and conservation land.
Inside Orford39%
Within 10 km9.3%
Towns in Quebec4.9%
Typical Canadian town2.3%
Public bodies own 3 of the 44; land trusts and private owners hold the others. The largest named one is Mont-Orford National Park (Québec), at 5,944 ha. 37 areas belong to private owners or land trusts and aren’t named here.
Mont-Orford National Park (Québec)Québec national park (provincial) · 5,944 ha · reaches Orford
Rivière aux Cerises White-Tailed Deer YardProtected area · 1,636 ha · reaches Orford
Land set aside Rivière-au-SaumonProtected area · 1,366 ha · 4.5 km from the edge of town
Source: Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD) 2.9.0, Environment and Climate Change Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
National & provincial parks
Mont-Orford National Park (Québec) starts at the edge of Orford
National parks (Parks Canada) and provincial or territorial parks by direction and distance from the town’s edge: every one within 10 km, and the nearest of each within 100 km.
National parkProvincial park
Québec national park (provincial)
Mont-Orford National Park (Québec)
At the edge59 km²since 1979
No national park lies within 100 km of Orford; the provincial parks are the big protected land within reach. In Québec, a parc national is a provincial park (Sépaq), not one of Parks Canada’s.
Source: CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC): areas and outlines, distances outline to outline; directions from the town’s centre point.
Footpaths and woods
Orford has 236 km of footpaths in and around it
OpenStreetMap footpaths, paths, bridleways and steps, and tracks open on foot, in the town and 1 km around it; woods as mapped (landuse=forest, natural=wood).
Footpaths
236 km
in and around the town (210.3 km²)
Woodland
78%
about 164.7 km² of mapped woods
Footpaths · km per km²
OrfordTowns in QuebecTypical Canadian town
Footpaths1.1
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
OrfordTowns in QuebecTypical Canadian town
Woodland78%
0%50%100%
Paths are thinner on the ground than in 57% of Canadian towns. For woods, it beats 95% of Canadian towns.
Source: OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Mapping varies by place: a dense figure can mean keen local mappers as much as many paths.
Walking routes
The Sentier de l'Estrie, Zone Orford passes Orford
Named walking and hiking routes on OpenStreetMap with at least 300 m within 2 km of the town, longest first; national routes lead.
NationalRegional
Sentier de l'Estrie, Zone Orford37.6 km
Sentier de l'Estrie Zone Brompton16.4 km
Sentier de l'Estrie, Zone Orford, Accès8.1 km
Sentier de l'Estrie Zone Brompton, accès2.2 km
32.1 km of the Sentier de l'Estrie, Zone Orford runs within 2 km of town; mapped end to end, it is 38 km.
Source: OpenStreetMap (route relations hiking, foot and walking), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Trans Canada Trail sections as OSM maps them.
When to get out
May is the best month for walking in Orford
Daylight at the town’s latitude and ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals (Lennoxville, 28 km away). Good months: long days, highs of 15–30 °C, light rain.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.1 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.9 | 15.6 | 15.3 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.4 | 8.7 |
| High (°C) | -4 | -2 | 3 | 11 | 19 | 23 | 26 | 25 | 21 | 13 | 6 | -1 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 76 | 66 | 68 | 82 | 85 | 102 | 99 | 104 | 96 | 91 | 70 | 75 |
August is the wettest month (104 mm) and February the driest (66 mm). July is the warmest month, with highs around 26 °C; January the coldest, at -4 °C. Expect around 269 cm of snow over a winter. The climate in Orford →
Beaches
15 beaches within 5 km of Orford
Beaches on OpenStreetMap within 5 km of the town’s edge, nearest first, with directions.
Plage du Lac Frasersand · in town
DirectionsPlage du Lac Frasersand · in town
DirectionsPlage du Lac-Stukelysand · in town
DirectionsPlage des cantonssand · 3.8 km from town
DirectionsPlage de la Baie-de-Magogsand · 3.8 km from town
DirectionsSandy ones: 5. The map adds 10 unnamed stretches of beach. This page can’t show water quality: no open, Canada-wide record of beach testing exists. Check local advisories first.
Source: OpenStreetMap (natural=beach), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Things to do
Orford has 69 viewpoints and 1 waterfalls nearby
Viewpoints, peaks, waterfalls, picnic sites, nature reserves, playgrounds, dog parks, campsites and boat launches mapped within 2 km of the town.
69Viewpoints22Hills and peaks1Waterfalls3Nature reserves12Picnic sites11Playgrounds1Dog parks7Campsites3Slipways
For a climb, Mont Orford rises to 853 m. The most common are viewpoints: 69 on the map.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 69
Alfred-DesRochersin town
DirectionsBelvédèrein town
DirectionsBelvédère Bonsecoursin town
DirectionsBelvédère Memphrémagogin town
DirectionsBelvédère Mont-Méganticin town
DirectionsBelvédère Stukelyin town
DirectionsCrête 1in town
DirectionsCrête 2in town
DirectionsPlus 61 viewpoints without a name on the map.
Hills and peaks 22
Colline de la Serpentine365 m · in town
DirectionsColline des Busesin town
DirectionsColline des Pins325 m · in town
DirectionsColline des Sorbiers565 m · in town
DirectionsColline du Campeur345 m · in town
DirectionsColline du Lac405 m · in town
DirectionsL'Escalier du Nord521 m · in town
DirectionsMassif des Chênes525 m · in town
DirectionsPlus 14 hills and peaks without a name on the map.
Waterfalls 1
Plus 1 waterfall without a name on the map.
Nature reserves 3
Jouvencein town
DirectionsRéserve naturelle Maurice-Bessettein town
DirectionsBoisjoli1.2 km from town
DirectionsPlaygrounds 11
Plus 11 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Dog parks 1
Plus 1 dog park without a name on the map.
Campsites 7
Camping du Lac Stukeleyin town
DirectionsCamping du lac Stukelyin town
DirectionsCamping Magog Orfordin town
DirectionsCamping Mailhotin town
DirectionsCamping rustique le Vallonnierin town
DirectionsCamping Rustique Orfordin town
DirectionsMont Orford - Le Frêne no8.in town
DirectionsSlipways 3
Plus 3 slipways without a name on the map.
Source: OpenStreetMap (tourism, natural, waterway and leisure tags), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Next door
Next to Orford
The nearest places, coloured by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected; tap one for its outdoors page.
MagogEastmanAustinSainte-Catherine-de-HatleySaint-Denis-de-BromptonRacineOrford
Under 1%1–5%5–15%15–40%40%+
| Town | Protected within 10 km | Areas | Routes | Beaches |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orford | 9.3% | 44 | 4 | 15 |
| Magog 7.8 km | 7.5% | 53 | 1 | 16 |
| Eastman 8.3 km | 11% | 49 | 5 | 7 |
| Austin 9.8 km | 12% | 62 | 3 | 12 |
| Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley 14 km | 1.3% | 11 | 0 | 7 |
| Saint-Denis-de-Brompton 15 km | 9.4% | 19 | 2 | 3 |
| Racine 15 km | 6.4% | 15 | 4 | 3 |
Orford holds its own on protected land: no neighbour has twice its share.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- National and provincial parks. Distances run from the town’s edge to the park’s, so 0 km means they touch.
- Private land. CPCAD includes conservation land held privately; the page counts it and leaves the names out.
- Beaches. Beaches are OpenStreetMap’s, named or not; in the north many are unnamed shoreline imports.
- Walking routes. The list is OpenStreetMap’s, so a missing trail may just be unmapped. The Trans Canada Trail appears where OSM maps it.
- Protected land. The share is of the land and water within 10 km of the town’s outline, from CPCAD’s mapped areas; marine areas count, so a coastal town can score high on water.
Questions about the outdoors in Orford
What is the best season to get outdoors in Orford?
On the normals, May: that is when days are long, highs reach 15 °C and rain is light.
How far is the nearest provincial park from Orford?
Mont-Orford National Park (Québec) begins at the town’s edge.
What is the nearest national park to Orford?
The nearest national park is more than 100 km from Orford.
Are there protected areas near Orford?
Yes: 9.3% of the land within 10 km is protected.
What is the nearest beach to Orford?
Try Plage du Lac Fraser, in town, first of several.
Are there hiking trails near Orford?
The Sentier de l'Estrie, Zone Orford, Sentier de l'Estrie Zone Brompton and Sentier de l'Estrie, Zone Orford, Accès, among the routes mapped within 2 km.
What is the largest protected area near Orford?
Mont-Orford National Park (Québec), a québec national park (provincial) of 5,944 ha.
Sources
The sources behind Orford’s outdoors figures
Protected areas: Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD) 2.9.0, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2026: every area within 10 km and the nearest national and provincial parks, measured outline to outline.
Walking routes and beaches: OpenStreetMap, November 2026: named hiking, foot and walking route relations within 2 km and beaches within 5 km.
Towns: Statistics Canada 2021 Census boundaries and populations; the comparison is the Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+, not city hubs or reserves.
When to go: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020, from the nearest station that publishes them.
Green space, paths, woods, things to do: OpenStreetMap (Geofabrik’s Canada extract), November 2026: parks, gardens, playing fields, woods, footpaths, the coastline and things to do in and around each town.
Residents: Statistics Canada 2021 Census dissemination areas (population, boundaries), each at a point inside it.
Walking routes and beaches © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence (ODbL).
Not on this page: trailheads and trail grades, and beach water quality. No open Canadian dataset gives these for every town yet.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).