Photo: Stanisom · CC BY-SA 3.0Gex lies inside Haut-Jura Regional Nature Park
Protected areas cover 72% of Gex’s land. 63% of Gex is mapped woodland. Footpaths add up to 133 km across Gex (4.2 km per km²). France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
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 outdoors place is Gex?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
What sets Gex apart: the regional nature park around it, then its woods.
How Gex 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.
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Gex has the 7th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (13,227 to 14,024 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Lieusaint (8.8 km per km²) to Gien (0.3 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lieusaint Seine-et-Marne | 8.8 | 6.3% | 0% | 178 km |
| 2 | Saint-André-lez-Lille Nord | 8.6 | 2.7% | 0% | 59 km |
| 3 | Vaires-sur-Marne Seine-et-Marne | 7.7 | 21% | 11% | 161 km |
| 4 | Avon Seine-et-Marne | 6.4 | 30% | 27% | 206 km |
| 5 | Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande Ille-et-Vilaine | 5.9 | 8.1% | 0% | 50 km |
| 6 | Fleury-Mérogis Essonne | 4.2 | 35% | 0% | 170 km |
| 7 | Gex Ain | 4.2 | 63% | 72% | 306 km |
| 8 | Lons Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 4.2 | 7.7% | 9% | 92 km |
| 9 | Freyming-Merlebach Moselle | 4.1 | 19% | 0% | 358 km |
| 10 | Ostwald Bas-Rhin | 4 | 10% | 0% | 452 km |
| 11 | Andrésy Yvelines | 3.8 | 23% | 0% | 126 km |
| 12 | Saint-Jean-de-Védas Hérault | 3.7 | 4.5% | 0% | 9 km |
| 13 | Fontenay-le-Fleury Yvelines | 3.3 | 8% | 0% | 141 km |
| 14 | Val-de-Reuil Eure | 3.1 | 16% | 24% | 64 km |
| 15 | Mouvaux Nord | 3 | 3.2% | 0% | 58 km |
| 16 | Caudry Nord | 2.8 | 1.8% | 0% | 123 km |
| 17 | Lourdes Hautes-Pyrénées | 2.8 | 52% | 6.8% | 129 km |
| 18 | Kingersheim Haut-Rhin | 2.7 | 13% | 0% | 445 km |
| 19 | Plougastel-Daoulas Finistère | 2.6 | 28% | 6.5% | On it |
| 20 | Canet-en-Roussillon Pyrénées-Orientales | 2.6 | 1.1% | 50% | On it |
| 21 | Carros Alpes-Maritimes | 2.3 | 25% | 64% | 11 km |
| 22 | Claye-Souilly Seine-et-Marne | 2.3 | 30% | 0% | 155 km |
| 23 | Bollène Vaucluse | 2.2 | 28% | 9.5% | 93 km |
| 24 | Plouzané Finistère | 2.2 | 8% | 0% | On it |
| 25 | Bonneville Haute-Savoie | 1.8 | 47% | 5.2% | 269 km |
| 26 | Seclin Nord | 1.8 | 3.3% | 0% | 69 km |
| 27 | Argentan Orne | 1.7 | 2.2% | 11% | 62 km |
| 28 | Cuers Var | 1.5 | 32% | 0% | 16 km |
| 29 | Mions Rhône | 1.5 | 1.3% | 0% | 244 km |
| 30 | Berre-l'Étang Bouches-du-Rhône | 1.3 | 1.1% | 15% | 16 km |
| 31 | Genas Rhône | 1.3 | 2.3% | 0% | 252 km |
| 32 | Amilly Loiret | 1.2 | 33% | 0% | 240 km |
| 33 | Belleville-en-Beaujolais Rhône | 1.1 | 5.4% | 7.1% | 288 km |
| 34 | Moissac Tarn-et-Garonne | 1 | 27% | 2.5% | 167 km |
| 35 | Tulle Corrèze | 1 | 34% | 0% | 187 km |
| 36 | Cusset Allier | 0.9 | 18% | 1.4% | 290 km |
| 37 | Méru Oise | 0.8 | 16% | 0% | 106 km |
| 38 | Pierrelatte Drôme | 0.7 | 2.8% | 4.4% | 103 km |
| 39 | Monteux Vaucluse | 0.7 | 2.6% | 26% | 65 km |
| 40 | Thouars Deux-Sèvres | 0.3 | 12% | 0.4% | 102 km |
| 41 | Gien Loiret | 0.3 | 35% | 1.8% | 256 km |
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is the commune’s boundary.
Protected land in and around Gex
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Haut-Jura Regional Nature Park
Haute Chaîne du Jura nature reserve
Crêts du haut-Jura
Crêts du Haut-Jura
Share of the commune’s land
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.
72% of Gex’s land is protected, more than in 90% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Ain has 1.2%. 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.
133 km of footpaths and 46 km of hiking routes cross Gex
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.
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
That is more than in 86% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 96% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 98% of Gex’s residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
4 named hiking routes within 2 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
The best walking months in Gex: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at St Claude, 19 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 | 8 | 13 | 16 | 20 | 25 | 27 | 26 | 22 | 17 | 10 | 6 |
| Rain (mm) | 168 | 141 | 140 | 142 | 162 | 140 | 136 | 142 | 145 | 165 | 184 | 205 |
July is the driest month (136 mm) and the warmest (highs of 27 °C). 205 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 99 nights a year. The climate in Gex →
Next to Gex
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gex | 72% | 63% | 4.2 |
| Cessy 5,832 · 1.8 km | 0.2% | 5.4% | 1.5 |
| Ségny 2,941 · 4.3 km | 0.5% | 17% | 1.8 |
| Divonne-les-Bains 10,464 · 6.4 km | 57% | 52% | 2.1 |
| Ornex 5,082 · 6.8 km | 0% | 22% | 3.2 |
| Prévessin-Moëns 9,153 · 8.7 km | 0% | 17% | 2.9 |
| Ferney-Voltaire 12,094 · 9.4 km | 0% | 20% | 5.2 |
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 Gex
Is Gex in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Gex lies in Haut-Jura Regional Nature Park (72% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Gex?
OpenStreetMap maps 133 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 4.2 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 46 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Gex is woodland?
63% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Gex near the sea?
No: the coast is 306 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Gex?
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 October 30, 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.