Photo: Groupe de recherche en art du Québec · CC BY-SA 4.0Beaches near Stanstead: 6 within 5 km
A provincial park, Mont-Orford National Park (Québec), lies 15 km away. Count 31 protected areas within 10 km of town. National parks are all over 100 km off.
Stanstead beside other Canadian towns, figure by figure
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. Outdoors isn’t graded in Canada. The page compares each figure with other towns and leaves it there.
CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC, 2026), OpenStreetMap (November 2026). Distances from the town’s outline.
Stanstead sits 19th from last of 40 towns its size for protected land around it
The 40 Canadian towns nearest in population (1,171 to 2,587 residents), by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected. Hover for each one’s figures; click for its page.
Against towns its size, Stanstead is weakest for public protected areas: 28 of 39 have more.
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Protected within 10 km | In town | Areas | Routes | Beaches | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anmore BC | 22% | 47% | 16 | 5 | 98 |
| 2 | Saint-Alexandre-de-Kamouraska QC | 19% | 0% | 28 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Gracefield QC | 19% | 19% | 34 | 0 | 6 |
| 4 | East Preston NS | 16% | 6.3% | 20 | 1 | 5 |
| 5 | Clearwater BC | 7.7% | 4.1% | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | Roberval QC | 6.1% | 1.2% | 22 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague QC | 5.8% | 0% | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | North Frontenac ON | 5.7% | 5.2% | 13 | 6 | 4 |
| 9 | Cap-Chat QC | 5.3% | 0.4% | 13 | 0 | 10 |
| 10 | Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards ON | 4.4% | 1.5% | 9 | 0 | 4 |
| 11 | Saint-Polycarpe QC | 4.2% | 0% | 11 | 0 | 2 |
| 12 | Macassa ON | 4.1% | 0% | 18 | 1 | 0 |
| 13 | Saint-Damien QC | 4% | 3.2% | 22 | 1 | 9 |
| 14 | Unity SK | 3.4% | 0% | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | Sherwood ON | 3.4% | 0% | 19 | 2 | 0 |
| 16 | McNab SK | 2.6% | 0% | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | Mandeville QC | 2.5% | 1.8% | 19 | 4 | 7 |
| 18 | Esterhazy SK | 1.8% | 0% | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | City Commercial Core ON | 1.8% | 0% | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | Caswell Hill SK | 1.4% | 0% | 16 | 0 | 3 |
| 21 | Fossambault-sur-le-Lac QC | 1.3% | 7.8% | 15 | 0 | 14 |
| 22 | Stanstead QC | 1.3% | 0.7% | 31 | 0 | 6 |
| 23 | Pembina MB | 1.1% | 1.8% | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Burrows-Keewatin MB | 1% | 0% | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | Elmwood AB | 0.8% | 0% | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| 26 | Hatley QC | 0.7% | 0% | 9 | 0 | 5 |
| 27 | Munroe West MB | 0.4% | 0% | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | Brooke-Alvinston ON | 0.3% | 0.2% | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | Rosedale AB | 0.3% | 0% | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 30 | Minchau AB | 0.3% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 31 | Lunenburg NS | 0.1% | 0% | 19 | 0 | 5 |
| 32 | Salisbury NB | 0.1% | 2.1% | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | Dufferin MB | 0.1% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | Ekota AB | 0.1% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 35 | Satoo AB | 0.1% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 36 | Saint-Éphrem-de-Beauce QC | 0% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 37 | Magrath AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | Nanton AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | Rimbey AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 | Sexsmith AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Stanstead on the map: green space, protected land and paths
Green space, woods, protected areas and footpaths in and around the town; tap a number for its park or wood.
3 parks and woods to walk in, in or near Stanstead
Île Molson is the largest, at 28 ha; the rest follow by size, numbered as on the map.
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.
In Stanstead, 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.
Most towns do better: the typical Canadian town is at 83%. That leaves about 1,200 people more than a short walk away.
Around Stanstead, protected areas make up 1.3%
Every protected and conserved area in CPCAD within 10 km of the town’s edge: parks, reserves, wildlife areas and conservation land.
1 of the 31 belong to a government or an Indigenous nation. The figures include 30 private conservation areas, left unnamed.
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.
Mont-Orford National Park (Québec) is 15 km away
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.
Mont-Orford National Park (Québec)
There is no national park within 100 km; for big parks, Stanstead has its province’s. Despite the name, a Québec parc national is a provincial park.
Source: CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC): areas and outlines, distances outline to outline; directions from the town’s centre point.
Paths to walk: 25 km in and around Stanstead
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 · km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
It has fewer paths per km² than 82% of Canadian towns. For woods, it beats 88% 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.
OpenStreetMap shows no walking route near Stanstead
Named walking and hiking routes on OpenStreetMap with at least 300 m within 2 km of the town, longest first; national routes lead.
No walking route is mapped within 2 km of the town. Mapping of trails as routes varies a great deal across Canada.
Source: OpenStreetMap (route relations hiking, foot and walking), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Trans Canada Trail sections as OSM maps them.
The best months for walking in Stanstead: May and July to September
Daylight at the town’s latitude and ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals (Coaticook, 29 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 | 14.8 | 15.6 | 15.3 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.9 | 9.5 | 8.8 |
| High (°C) | -5 | -3 | 2 | 10 | 18 | 22 | 25 | 24 | 20 | 12 | 5 | -2 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 85 | 74 | 80 | 90 | 108 | 130 | 120 | 120 | 104 | 110 | 91 | 106 |
Snow totals about 291 cm a year. February is the driest month at 74 mm; June the wettest at 130 mm. Highs peak near 25 °C in July and fall to -5 °C in January. The climate in Stanstead →
Beaches near Stanstead
Beaches on OpenStreetMap within 5 km of the town’s edge, nearest first, with directions.
Another 2 have no name on the map. For water quality, look to the local health unit: no open beach-testing data covers Canada.
Source: OpenStreetMap (natural=beach), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Near Stanstead: 22 outdoor spots on the map
Viewpoints, peaks, waterfalls, picnic sites, nature reserves, playgrounds, dog parks, campsites and boat launches mapped within 2 km of the town.
Highest of the named peaks: Colline du Porc-Épic, 432 m. Top of the list: hills and peaks, 9 of them.
Every named place, with directions
Hills and peaks 9
Plus 5 hills and peaks without a name on the map.
Picnic sites 2
Plus 2 picnic sites without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 3
Plus 3 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Slipways 8
Plus 8 slipways without a name on the map.
Source: OpenStreetMap (tourism, natural, waterway and leisure tags), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
A garden to visit near Stanstead
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.
Next to Stanstead
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stanstead | 1.3% | 31 | 0 | 6 |
| Ayer's Cliff 11 km | 0.2% | 5 | 0 | 3 |
| Stanstead 14 km | 0.3% | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| Magog 16 km | 7.5% | 53 | 1 | 16 |
| Bolton-Est 16 km | 13% | 71 | 9 | 4 |
| Austin 18 km | 12% | 62 | 3 | 12 |
| Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley 18 km | 1.3% | 11 | 0 | 7 |
For walking routes, Bolton-Est leads the area with 9. For protected land, Magog, Bolton-Est and Austin have twice as much or more.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Walking routes. Only named route relations count; a park’s own path network may not show unless it is mapped as a route.
- Protected land. The 10 km band starts at the town’s outline, not its centre, so a large municipality reaches further than a small town.
- Beaches. Beaches are OpenStreetMap’s, named or not; in the north many are unnamed shoreline imports.
- Private land. Areas held by land trusts or private owners stay unnamed here, though they count in the shares.
- National and provincial parks. Distances run from the town’s edge to the park’s, so 0 km means they touch.
Questions about the outdoors in Stanstead
Where can you swim near Stanstead?
Try Plage municipale, in town, first of several.
How much land around Stanstead is protected?
Protected areas cover 1.3% of the land within 10 km.
How far is Stanstead from a national park?
No national park lies within 100 km of Stanstead.
What is the best season to get outdoors in Stanstead?
On the normals, May and July to September: that is when days are long, highs reach 15 °C and rain is light.
What is the largest protected area near Stanstead?
Proposed Michael-Dunn Biodiversity Reserve: 118 ha, a nature reserve.
Is there a provincial park near Stanstead?
It is Mont-Orford National Park (Québec), 15 km away.
The sources behind Stanstead’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.
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).