First pick
Mont de Varlon
Wood or forest
99 ha0.4 km of path
4 km eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Benoît Prieur · CC080%woodland
Outdoors in Arbent · protected areas, woods and footpaths
80% of Arbent is woodland, more than in 9 in 10 French towns
No protected area reaches Arbent; the nearest, Récif Fossile de Marchon - Christian Gourrat nature reserve, is 1.2 km from the town center. Waymarked hiking routes add up to 3 km in Arbent. Footpaths add up to 39 km across Arbent (1.7 km per km²). France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
0.2%
of the commune’s land
Nearest: Récif Fossile de Marchon - Christian Gourrat nature reserve, 1.2 km
Woodland
80%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
39 km
1.7 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
2.8 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
1
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Mont de Varlon
Throughout this page, the Ain median and the France median are the median of compared communes (those with an overall grade), each figure its own median.
What kind of place
What kind of outdoors place is Arbent?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
A wooded commune80% mapped woodland, more than in 99% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.Protected land nearbyRécif Fossile de Marchon - Christian Gourrat nature reserve is 1.2 km from the town center.
What sets Arbent apart: its woods, then protected land close by.
Against French towns
How Arbent compares with French towns
Each figure against the 3,798 compared French towns (communes with an overall grade): the marked bar is the town’s, the line the median. Described, not graded.
Protected areas0.2%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
52out of 100
Woodland80%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
100out of 100
Footpaths1.7 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
50out of 100
Hiking routes0.1 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
32out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Arbent has the 15th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (3,535 to 3,573 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Deauville (5.5 km per km²) to Réalmont (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Deauville Calvados | 5.5 | 1.1% | 0% | On it |
| 2 | Saint-Brice-Courcelles Marne | 3.7 | 15% | 0% | 195 km |
| 3 | Tosse Landes | 3.3 | 56% | 6.7% | 8.7 km |
| 4 | Sainte-Tulle Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 2.8 | 24% | 100% | 60 km |
| 5 | Longeville-lès-Saint-Avold Moselle | 2.5 | 52% | 4.6% | 351 km |
| 6 | Allennes-les-Marais Nord | 2.2 | 7.5% | 0% | 68 km |
| 7 | Servon Seine-et-Marne | 2.2 | 12% | 0% | 172 km |
| 8 | Fontvieille Bouches-du-Rhône | 2.2 | 35% | 100% | 33 km |
| 9 | La Bernerie-en-Retz Loire-Atlantique | 2.1 | 2.2% | 0.8% | On it |
| 10 | Montréal-la-Cluse Ain | 2.1 | 67% | 0% | 306 km |
| 11 | Rubelles Seine-et-Marne | 2 | 19% | 0% | 190 km |
| 12 | Saint-Julien-lès-Metz Moselle | 1.9 | 36% | 0% | 328 km |
| 13 | Crémieu Isère | 1.9 | 36% | 24% | 254 km |
| 14 | Olemps Aveyron | 1.8 | 17% | 0% | 135 km |
| 15 | Arbent Ain | 1.7 | 80% | 0.2% | 313 km |
| 16 | Laragne-Montéglin Hautes-Alpes | 1.5 | 37% | 77% | 114 km |
| 17 | Fargues-Saint-Hilaire Gironde | 1.4 | 23% | 1.7% | 24 km |
| 18 | Châteauneuf-sur-Charente Charente | 1.1 | 12% | 21% | 58 km |
| 19 | Messimy Rhône | 1.1 | 13% | 0% | 242 km |
| 20 | La Roche-de-Glun Drôme | 1.1 | 0% | 0% | 173 km |
| 21 | Plan-d'Orgon Bouches-du-Rhône | 1 | 5.9% | 12% | 41 km |
| 22 | Pleumeleuc Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.9 | 1.9% | 0% | 35 km |
| 23 | Saint-Georges-d'Espéranche Isère | 0.9 | 18% | 0% | 234 km |
| 24 | Béligneux Ain | 0.9 | 14% | 6.3% | 268 km |
| 25 | Échiré Deux-Sèvres | 0.8 | 2.6% | 0% | 56 km |
| 26 | Carcès Var | 0.7 | 51% | 25% | 39 km |
| 27 | Varangéville Meurthe-et-Moselle | 0.7 | 12% | 0% | 377 km |
| 28 | Saint-Soupplets Seine-et-Marne | 0.7 | 9.4% | 0% | 151 km |
| 29 | Le Breuil Saône-et-Loire | 0.6 | 17% | 0% | 362 km |
| 30 | Bellac Haute-Vienne | 0.6 | 20% | 0.4% | 158 km |
| 31 | Corps-Nuds Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.6 | 2.7% | 0% | 65 km |
| 32 | Avesnes-les-Aubert Nord | 0.6 | 0.8% | 0% | 116 km |
| 33 | Loyettes Ain | 0.5 | 5.9% | 12% | 260 km |
| 34 | Saint-Maur Indre | 0.5 | 33% | 2.1% | 220 km |
| 35 | Clamecy Nièvre | 0.5 | 34% | 3% | 321 km |
| 36 | Puygouzon Tarn | 0.5 | 1.3% | 0% | 115 km |
| 37 | Montmirail Marne | 0.4 | 27% | 0% | 198 km |
| 38 | Nogent Haute-Marne | 0.4 | 38% | 36% | 359 km |
| 39 | Varennes-sur-Allier Allier | 0.3 | 6.2% | 39% | 311 km |
| 40 | Isigny-sur-Mer Calvados | 0.2 | 1.4% | 75% | 5 km |
| 41 | Réalmont Tarn | 0.1 | 5.9% | 0% | 105 km |
The map
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park or wood. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is the commune’s boundary.
Green: parks, gardens and woods mapped on OpenStreetMap, named or not.© OpenStreetMap contributors · INPN / PatriNat · IGN
Places to walk
Parks and woods to walk in, in and around Arbent
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Mont de Varlon leads, at 99 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Haut-Jura Regional Nature Park is the nearest protected area, 1.9 km away
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Regional nature park
Haut-Jura Regional Nature Park
1.9 km from the town center
Nature reserve
Récif Fossile de Marchon - Christian Gourrat nature reserve
1.2 km from the town center
Natura 2000 site
Forêts, corniches calcaires, ruisseaux et marais de Vulvoz à Viry
2.7 km from the town center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area0.2%
Regional nature park0.1%
Designations overlap (a regional park can hold a Natura 2000 site), so the rows don’t add up; the first counts each piece of land once.
A regional nature park is a charter between communes to look after a landscape: farming, building and hunting go on inside it.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
39 km of footpaths cross Arbent
Paths, bridleways, steps and tracks open on foot, and waymarked hiking routes, mapped on OpenStreetMap inside the commune; woods are mapped forest and woodland, private woods included.
Footpaths
39 km
1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
2.8 km
waymarked: 0.1 km per km²
Woodland
80%
about 18.9 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
ArbentAin medianFrance median
Footpaths1.7
Hiking routes0.1
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
ArbentAin medianFrance median
Woodland80%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 50% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 99% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. Every home in Arbent is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
2 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
Les Grottes de Lordon9.4 km
La Pierre qui vire0.8 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Arbent: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Cernon, 13 km away, and the daylight at the town’s latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 15 to 30 °C and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.0 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 15.0 | 15.8 | 15.4 | 14.2 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.3 | 8.6 |
| High (°C) | 6 | 7 | 12 | 16 | 19 | 23 | 25 | 25 | 21 | 16 | 10 | 6 |
| Rain (mm) | 136 | 119 | 120 | 122 | 138 | 113 | 112 | 115 | 116 | 149 | 162 | 165 |
July is the driest month (112 mm) and the warmest (highs of 25 °C). 165 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 86 nights a year. The climate in Arbent →
Neighbors
Next to Arbent
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
OyonnaxBellignatMontréal-la-CluseNantuaSaint-ClaudePéronArbent
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arbent | 0.2% | 80% | 1.7 |
| Oyonnax 22,480 · 3.7 km | 0% | 59% | 2.4 |
| Bellignat 3,525 · 5.2 km | 0% | 65% | 2.5 |
| Montréal-la-Cluse 3,568 · 14 km | 0% | 67% | 2.1 |
| Nantua 3,416 · 16 km | 0% | 71% | 3 |
| Saint-Claude 8,386 · 18 km | 100% | 78% | 1.7 |
| Péron 2,916 · 21 km | 100% | 56% | 1.3 |
Saint-Claude and Péron have at least twice as much protected land.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Protected areas. National-park cores, national parks’ outer areas, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites, from INPN. A national park’s core is strictly protected; its outer area and a regional park are charters between communes, not bans. Designations overlap, so the total counts each piece of land once.
- Woodland. Forest and woods as OpenStreetMap maps them, private woods included: woods nobody has mapped are missing, and a mapped wood isn’t necessarily open to walkers.
- Footpaths and hiking routes. Footpaths, bridleways, steps and tracks open on foot, then waymarked hiking routes (GR and others) measured apart. A route often follows a path or lane already counted: the two overlap. Paths nobody has mapped are missing.
- Green space nearby. The share of residents (INSEE’s 200 m grid) within 800 m, as the crow flies, of a mapped park, garden or wood edge. It measures nearness, not a way in. Guadeloupe and French Guiana have no grid: their pages say whether the town center is within 800 m.
- The coast. The straight-line distance from the town center to OpenStreetMap’s coastline, which follows the tide line into estuaries. A commune is on the coast when the coastline crosses its boundary.
- No grade yet. U.S. and UK towns have an Outdoors Grade; French towns don’t yet. Each figure is set beside the median of compared communes (those with an overall grade) in the département and in France, each figure its own median.
Questions about the outdoors in Arbent
Is Arbent in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Récif Fossile de Marchon - Christian Gourrat nature reserve, 1.2 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Arbent?
OpenStreetMap maps 39 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.7 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 3 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Arbent is woodland?
80% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Arbent near the sea?
No: the coast is 313 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Arbent?
April to September: long days, mild highs and little rain, from Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at the nearest suitable station.
Why is there no Outdoors Grade for French towns?
TownRatings grades the outdoors in the U.S. and the UK; the French figures are new and not graded yet. This page sets each one beside the median compared French town instead.
Sources: INPN / PatriNat (protected areas 2026, Natura 2000 2024) · © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL (paths, hiking routes, woods, coast, gardens) · INSEE, Filosofi 2021 200 m grid (residents) · IGN Admin Express (boundaries) · Météo-France normals 1991–2020 · Medians and percentiles: TownRatings, over compared French towns, updated November 4, 2026. Under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab).
Contains public sector information under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab): INSEE, DGFiP, the Interior Ministry’s statistics service (SSMSI), the Ministry of Education (DEPP), the Health Ministry’s statistics service (DREES) and the Housing Ministry (Carte des loyers). Commune boundaries: IGN Admin Express.