Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Gabriel Picard · CC BY-SA 4.0One named trail is close: the Sentier de l'escarpement. For a swim, Plage Samuel de Champlain is the nearest of 3 beaches within 5 km. 7.2 km out lies the largest, Île d'Orléans (ouest du pont) Water Fowl Gathering Area, at 325 ha.
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. There is no Outdoors grade for Canadian towns; the figures stand beside the country’s towns of 2,500+ without a letter.
CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC, 2026), OpenStreetMap (November 2026). Distances from the town’s outline.
The 40 Canadian towns nearest in population (13,184 to 13,803 residents), by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected. Hover for each one’s figures; click for its page.
Among its peers, Vanier’s strong point is public protected areas, where 10 of 39 top it.
| Town | Protected within 10 km | In town | Areas | Routes | Beaches | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Semiahmoo Town Centre BC | 21% | 0.8% | 103 | 2 | 4 |
| 2 | Bathurst NB | 20% | 2.6% | 13 | 1 | 17 |
| 3 | West Point Grey BC | 14% | 0.5% | 11 | 1 | 65 |
| 4 | Glebe-Dows Lake ON | 12% | 11% | 36 | 5 | 5 |
| 5 | Beaurivage QC | 8.1% | 0% | 30 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | Sidney BC | 7% | 0.6% | 22 | 0 | 7 |
| 7 | Terrace BC | 6.7% | 0% | 9 | 0 | 4 |
| 8 | Durand ON | 6.3% | 0% | 24 | 1 | 3 |
| 9 | Pine Grove ON | 6.2% | 37% | 16 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Cloverdale BC | 6% | 0.4% | 160 | 5 | 0 |
| 11 | Bonnyville No. 87 AB | 5.5% | 1% | 13 | 0 | 20 |
| 12 | Dolbeau-Mistassini QC | 5.4% | 6.6% | 19 | 0 | 12 |
| 13 | E-F-K-Section (bramalea) ON | 5% | 0% | 7 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | Springdale ON | 4.9% | 0% | 7 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 | Montcalm QC | 4.7% | 0% | 17 | 1 | 3 |
| 16 | Aloha Estates BC | 4.3% | 2% | 111 | 2 | 0 |
| 17 | Vanier QC | 4.2% | 0% | 15 | 1 | 3 |
| 18 | L'Aéroport QC | 4% | 0% | 33 | 1 | 3 |
| 19 | Strathcona BC | 3.8% | 0% | 13 | 4 | 76 |
| 20 | Stittsville North ON | 3.7% | 0% | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | Thornhill Woods ON | 3.5% | 2% | 29 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | Centennial Scarborough ON | 3.5% | 8.1% | 14 | 0 | 7 |
| 23 | Ionview ON | 2.6% | 0% | 16 | 0 | 5 |
| 24 | Douglasdale/Glen AB | 2.2% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 19 |
| 25 | West Queen West ON | 2.1% | 0% | 11 | 6 | 24 |
| 26 | Avondale ON | 1.5% | 0% | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | Corso Italia-Davenport ON | 1.4% | 0% | 11 | 2 | 8 |
| 28 | Dawson Creek BC | 1% | 0% | 16 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | Signal Hill AB | 0.9% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | Beaverton ON | 0.8% | 1.1% | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 | Streetsville ON | 0.7% | 0% | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | Perth East ON | 0.5% | 1.7% | 6 | 2 | 1 |
| 33 | The Maples MB | 0.4% | 0% | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | Mount Dennis ON | 0.2% | 0% | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 35 | Rossmere-A MB | 0.2% | 0% | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | Huntington Hills AB | 0.2% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | Wetaskiwin AB | 0.1% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | Walker AB | 0.1% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 39 | Lorette MB | 0% | 0% | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 | Redstone AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The neighbourhood’s parks, woods, protected land and paths, with its named places numbered.
Largest first: Parc linéaire de la rivière Saint-Charles leads with 91 ha. Numbers match the map.
76% of the area is in just two places: Parc linéaire de la rivière Saint-Charles and Parc Victoria.
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.
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.
About 1,500 residents live further than 400 m from one. It is above the typical Canadian town (83%).
Every protected and conserved area in CPCAD within 10 km of the town’s edge: parks, reserves, wildlife areas and conservation land.
Of those 15, 10 are public and the remainder private. At 325 ha, Île d'Orléans (ouest du pont) Water Fowl Gathering Area is the largest. 5 areas belong to private owners or land trusts and aren’t named here.
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 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.
For a national park, people in Vanier travel more than 100 km. Sépaq runs Québec’s parcs nationaux, which are provincial parks under another name.
Source: CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC): areas and outlines, distances outline to outline; directions from the town’s centre point.
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).
It has more footpath per km² than 69% of Canadian towns. It is less wooded than 69% 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.
Named walking and hiking routes on OpenStreetMap with at least 300 m within 2 km of the town, longest first; national routes lead.
Source: OpenStreetMap (route relations hiking, foot and walking), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Trans Canada Trail sections as OSM maps them.
Daylight at the town’s latitude and ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals (Quebec Jean Lesage (Airport), 9.5 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) | 8.9 | 10.2 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 15.0 | 15.8 | 15.5 | 14.2 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.3 | 8.5 |
| High (°C) | -7 | -5 | 1 | 8 | 18 | 23 | 25 | 24 | 19 | 11 | 4 | -3 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 87 | 66 | 78 | 94 | 92 | 115 | 119 | 109 | 111 | 116 | 91 | 96 |
July is the warmest month, with highs around 25 °C; January the coldest, at -7 °C. July is warm and wet, 119 mm; the driest month, February, has 66 mm. Expect around 299 cm of snow over a winter. The climate in Vanier →
Beaches on OpenStreetMap within 5 km of the town’s edge, nearest first, with directions.
The map adds 2 unnamed stretches of beach. No national or provincial register of beach water quality is published as open data, so check the local health unit before swimming.
Source: OpenStreetMap (natural=beach), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Viewpoints, peaks, waterfalls, picnic sites, nature reserves, playgrounds, dog parks, campsites and boat launches mapped within 2 km of the town.
The most common are playgrounds: 106 on the map.
Plus 6 viewpoints without a name on the map.
Plus 10 picnic sites without a name on the map.
Plus 104 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Plus 1 dog park without a name on the map.
Source: OpenStreetMap (tourism, natural, waterway and leisure tags), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Gardens and arboretums within 15 km of the town’s edge, and the historic gardens, parks and estates in the town itself, nearest first.
Sources: OpenStreetMap (leisure=garden), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL, and Wikidata (CC0), as gathered in TownRatings’ Canadian attractions set; historic places from Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations, the Canadian Register of Historic Places and Québec’s Répertoire du patrimoine culturel.
The nearest places, coloured by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected; tap one for its outdoors page.
| Town | Protected within 10 km | Areas | Routes | Beaches |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanier | 4.2% | 15 | 1 | 3 |
| Saint-Sauveur 1.7 km | 4.9% | 19 | 1 | 4 |
| Saint-Roch 2.2 km | 5.1% | 17 | 1 | 3 |
| Lairet 2.2 km | 5% | 15 | 0 | 4 |
| Vieux-Limoilou 2.2 km | 4.9% | 17 | 1 | 7 |
| Saint-Sacrement 2.6 km | 4% | 19 | 1 | 2 |
| Montcalm 2.7 km | 4.7% | 17 | 1 | 3 |
None of the places nearby has twice as much protected land around it as Vanier.
Protected areas cover 4.2% of the land within 10 km.
The Sentier de l'escarpement, mapped within 2 km.
The nearest is Plage Samuel de Champlain, 3.6 km from town.
The nearest national park is more than 100 km from Vanier.
May and August, on the 1991–2020 normals and the daylight: long days, highs of 15 °C or more, light rain for the place.
Jacques-Cartier National Park (Québec), 31 km from the edge of town.
Île d'Orléans (ouest du pont) Water Fowl Gathering Area, a wildlife area of 325 ha.
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.
Gardens: OpenStreetMap (leisure=garden) and Wikidata gardens within 15 km, as gathered in TownRatings’ Canadian attractions set; historic gardens and parks from Canada’s heritage registers (Parks Canada DFHD, the Canadian Register of Historic Places, Québec’s Répertoire du patrimoine culturel).
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).