First pick
Foret Noire
Wood or forest
506 ha7 km of path
1 h 35 minto walk all 7 km of path
3 km southfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Jinemon · CC BY-SA 4.059%woodland
Outdoors in Oyonnax · protected areas, woods and footpaths
59% of Oyonnax is woodland, more than in 9 in 10 French towns
No protected area reaches Oyonnax; the nearest, Récif Fossile de Marchon - Christian Gourrat nature reserve, is 2.7 km from the town center. Footpaths add up to 86 km across Oyonnax (2.4 km per km²). Waymarked hiking routes add up to 18 km in Oyonnax. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
0%
of the commune’s land
Nearest: Récif Fossile de Marchon - Christian Gourrat nature reserve, 2.7 km
Woodland
59%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
86 km
2.4 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
18 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
10
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Foret Noire
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 Oyonnax?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
A wooded commune59% mapped woodland, more than in 95% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.Protected land nearbyRécif Fossile de Marchon - Christian Gourrat nature reserve is 2.7 km from the town center.
What sets Oyonnax apart: its woods, then protected land close by.
Against French towns
How Oyonnax 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%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
46out of 100
Woodland59%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
95out of 100
Footpaths2.4 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
64out of 100
Hiking routes0.5 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
63out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Oyonnax has the 14th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (21,763 to 23,263 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Torcy (11 km per km²) to Chemillé-en-Anjou (0.4 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Torcy Seine-et-Marne | 11 | 17% | 0% | 163 km |
| 2 | Sèvres Hauts-de-Seine | 8.9 | 24% | 0% | 147 km |
| 3 | Arcueil Val-de-Marne | 8.8 | 3.2% | 0% | 153 km |
| 4 | La Madeleine Nord | 8.6 | 0.6% | 0% | 61 km |
| 5 | Fontaine Isère | 8.1 | 37% | 39% | 204 km |
| 6 | Gif-sur-Yvette Essonne | 7.8 | 28% | 60% | 153 km |
| 7 | Vélizy-Villacoublay Yvelines | 7.6 | 33% | 0% | 150 km |
| 8 | Montigny-lès-Cormeilles Val-d'Oise | 7 | 17% | 0% | 130 km |
| 9 | Longjumeau Essonne | 5.9 | 4.2% | 0% | 163 km |
| 10 | Roissy-en-Brie Seine-et-Marne | 5.9 | 46% | 0% | 168 km |
| 11 | Saint-Michel-sur-Orge Essonne | 5.3 | 6.7% | 0% | 168 km |
| 12 | Lanester Morbihan | 5.2 | 13% | 0.1% | On it |
| 13 | Loos Nord | 5 | 4.6% | 0% | 63 km |
| 14 | Saint-Jean-de-Braye Loiret | 5 | 16% | 4.3% | 207 km |
| 15 | Fleury-les-Aubrais Loiret | 4.9 | 16% | 0% | 203 km |
| 16 | Deuil-la-Barre Val-d'Oise | 4.6 | 6.1% | 0% | 138 km |
| 17 | Montmorency Val-d'Oise | 3.8 | 20% | 0% | 136 km |
| 18 | Achères Yvelines | 3.7 | 3.4% | 0% | 129 km |
| 19 | Neuilly-Plaisance Seine-Saint-Denis | 3.6 | 14% | 14% | 156 km |
| 20 | Le Petit-Quevilly Seine-Maritime | 3.3 | 0% | 0% | 51 km |
| 21 | Nogent-sur-Oise Oise | 3.3 | 19% | 0% | 115 km |
| 22 | Voiron Isère | 3.3 | 28% | 0% | 220 km |
| 23 | Tassin-la-Demi-Lune Rhône | 3.2 | 18% | 0% | 250 km |
| 24 | Saint-Louis Haut-Rhin | 2.9 | 8.5% | 18% | 423 km |
| 25 | Maisons-Laffitte Yvelines | 2.6 | 6.5% | 0% | 133 km |
| 26 | Dax Landes | 2.5 | 21% | 37% | 30 km |
| 27 | Mantes-la-Ville Yvelines | 2.5 | 7.2% | 0% | 111 km |
| 28 | Oyonnax Ain | 2.4 | 59% | 0% | 312 km |
| 29 | Les Pennes-Mirabeau Bouches-du-Rhône | 2.4 | 11% | 0% | 4.3 km |
| 30 | Manosque Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 2.2 | 26% | 100% | 64 km |
| 31 | Montereau-Fault-Yonne Seine-et-Marne | 2.2 | 4.3% | 8.8% | 217 km |
| 32 | Saint-Dizier Haute-Marne | 2.1 | 47% | 0% | 293 km |
| 33 | Millau Aveyron | 2 | 35% | 100% | 91 km |
| 34 | Hazebrouck Nord | 1.7 | 0.7% | 0% | 37 km |
| 35 | Épernay Marne | 1.7 | 44% | 7.2% | 208 km |
| 36 | Auch Gers | 1.6 | 18% | 0% | 161 km |
| 37 | Gujan-Mestras Gironde | 1.4 | 48% | 0.3% | On it |
| 38 | Abbeville Somme | 1.3 | 11% | 100% | 14 km |
| 39 | Challans Vendée | 0.9 | 10% | 0.9% | 15 km |
| 40 | Villeneuve-sur-Lot Lot-et-Garonne | 0.5 | 11% | 0.9% | 123 km |
| 41 | Chemillé-en-Anjou Maine-et-Loire | 0.4 | 4.3% | 0% | 98 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 Oyonnax
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Foret Noire leads, at 506 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
La Grande Montagne
Wood or forest · 370 m outside the commune
191 ha7.6 km of path
1 h 40 minto walk all 7.6 km of path
5.9 km south-eastfrom the center
sentier de crête les OrdièresChemin du Pachou
Directionsto a point inside
Foret de Niermes
Wood or forest
67 ha2.1 km of path
30 minto walk all 2.1 km of path
1.9 km southfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Sous la Montagne
Wood or forest · 160 m outside the commune
36 ha0.4 km of path
6.4 km south-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Parc René Nicod
Park or garden
1.7 ha0.7 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.7 km of path
0.9 km eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Parc de La Peupleraie
Park or garden
1.9 ha0.3 km of path
Centralin the middle of Oyonnax
Directionsto a point inside
Parc de l'Oyonnalite
Park or garden
0.7 ha0.3 km of path
1 km eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
All 10 named parks, gardens and woods
Foret NoireWood or forest · 506 ha · 7 km of path
DirectionsLa Grande MontagneWood or forest · 191 ha · 7.6 km of path · just outside
DirectionsForet de NiermesWood or forest · 67 ha · 2.1 km of path
DirectionsSous la MontagneWood or forest · 36 ha · 0.4 km of path · just outside
DirectionsSous MuseWood or forest · 12 ha
DirectionsParc René NicodPark or garden · 1.7 ha · 0.7 km of path
DirectionsParc de La PeupleraiePark or garden · 1.9 ha · 0.3 km of path
DirectionsParc de l'OyonnalitePark or garden · 0.7 ha · 0.3 km of path
DirectionsParc PINARDPark or garden · 0.3 ha · 0.1 km of path
DirectionsParc GougeonPark or garden · 0.2 ha · 0.2 km of path
DirectionsSource: © 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, 3.8 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
3.8 km from the town center
Nature reserve
Récif Fossile de Marchon - Christian Gourrat nature reserve
2.7 km from the town center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area0%
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
86 km of footpaths and 18 km of hiking routes cross Oyonnax
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
86 km
2.4 km per km²
Hiking routes
18 km
waymarked: 0.5 km per km²
Woodland
59%
about 21.4 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
OyonnaxAin medianFrance median
Footpaths2.4
Hiking routes0.5
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
OyonnaxAin medianFrance median
Woodland59%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 64% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 95% 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 Oyonnax is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
8 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
Les Grottes de Lordon9.4 km
Randonnée la Vierge de Diesse8.4 km
Sentier de la Foret Noir6.1 km
Circuit des Dinausaures5.7 km
Les 2 Vallées4.9 km
Tour de Saint-Amand2.6 km
Le Tour de l'Oignin1.3 km
La Pierre qui vire1.1 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Oyonnax: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Cernon, 16 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 Oyonnax →
Neighbors
Next to Oyonnax
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
BellignatArbentMontréal-la-CluseNantuaValserhôneSaint-ClaudeOyonnax
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oyonnax | 0% | 59% | 2.4 |
| Bellignat 3,525 · 1.6 km | 0% | 65% | 2.5 |
| Arbent 3,555 · 3.7 km | 0.2% | 80% | 1.7 |
| Montréal-la-Cluse 3,568 · 10 km | 0% | 67% | 2.1 |
| Nantua 3,416 · 12 km | 0% | 71% | 3 |
| Valserhône 16,712 · 20 km | 19% | 59% | 1.7 |
| Saint-Claude 8,386 · 22 km | 100% | 78% | 1.7 |
Valserhône and Saint-Claude 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 Oyonnax
Is Oyonnax in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Récif Fossile de Marchon - Christian Gourrat nature reserve, 2.7 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Oyonnax?
OpenStreetMap maps 86 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 2.4 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 18 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Oyonnax is woodland?
59% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Oyonnax near the sea?
No: the coast is 312 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Oyonnax?
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 9, 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.