First pick
Jardin public municipal Delarue
Park or garden
0.8 ha0.6 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.6 km of path
0.6 km northfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Patrick Rouzet · CC BY-SA 4.013%woodland
Outdoors in Gannat · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Gannat is within 800 m of a park or wood
No protected area reaches Gannat; the nearest, Gorges de la Sioule (Natura 2000), is 3.7 km from the town center. Footpaths add up to 29 km across Gannat (0.8 km per km²). 13% of Gannat is mapped woodland. 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: Gorges de la Sioule, 3.7 km
Woodland
13%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
29 km
0.8 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
13 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: Jardin public municipal Delarue
Throughout this page, the Allier median and the France median are the median of compared communes (those with an overall grade), each figure its own median.
Against French towns
How Gannat 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
22out of 100
Woodland13%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
49out of 100
Footpaths0.8 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
25out of 100
Hiking routes0.3 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
50out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Gannat has the 8th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (5,545 to 5,672 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Rungis (6.2 km per km²) to Ludon-Médoc (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rungis Val-de-Marne | 6.2 | 3.6% | 0% | 159 km |
| 2 | Le Port-Marly Yvelines | 5.9 | 13% | 0% | 138 km |
| 3 | Challes-les-Eaux Savoie | 3.9 | 32% | 40% | 229 km |
| 4 | Saint-Martin-d'Uriage Isère | 3.8 | 65% | 9.9% | 197 km |
| 5 | Cancale Ille-et-Vilaine | 3.8 | 10% | 22% | On it |
| 6 | Santes Nord | 3 | 11% | 0% | 62 km |
| 7 | La Ville-aux-Dames Indre-et-Loire | 2.9 | 19% | 13% | 189 km |
| 8 | Ternay Rhône | 2.7 | 18% | 0% | 234 km |
| 9 | Liverdun Meurthe-et-Moselle | 2.6 | 72% | 0.1% | 355 km |
| 10 | Beaurains Pas-de-Calais | 2.5 | 1.1% | 0% | 79 km |
| 11 | Parmain Val-d'Oise | 2.1 | 45% | 100% | 120 km |
| 12 | La Roquette-sur-Siagne Alpes-Maritimes | 2.1 | 22% | 0% | 4.6 km |
| 13 | Delle Territoire de Belfort | 1.8 | 32% | 20% | 416 km |
| 14 | Rocbaron Var | 1.8 | 53% | 0% | 24 km |
| 15 | Baisieux Nord | 1.8 | 2.5% | 0% | 70 km |
| 16 | Saint-Gilles Ille-et-Vilaine | 1.7 | 6.4% | 0% | 40 km |
| 17 | Wormhout Nord | 1.5 | 0.3% | 0% | 19 km |
| 18 | Sainghin-en-Weppes Nord | 1.5 | 4.8% | 0% | 64 km |
| 19 | Caumont-sur-Durance Vaucluse | 1.4 | 16% | 18% | 50 km |
| 20 | Ille-sur-Têt Pyrénées-Orientales | 1.4 | 7.9% | 0.1% | 34 km |
| 21 | Pollestres Pyrénées-Orientales | 1.3 | 0.9% | 0% | 14 km |
| 22 | Genay Rhône | 1.2 | 9% | 0% | 266 km |
| 23 | Ambazac Haute-Vienne | 1.2 | 50% | 8.1% | 177 km |
| 24 | Montrond-les-Bains Loire | 1.2 | 3.1% | 17% | 231 km |
| 25 | Pouzauges Vendée | 1.1 | 8.4% | 0% | 57 km |
| 26 | Viarmes Val-d'Oise | 1.1 | 31% | 100% | 126 km |
| 27 | Quincy-Voisins Seine-et-Marne | 1.1 | 30% | 0% | 166 km |
| 28 | Sauvian Hérault | 1 | 0.4% | 0.3% | 6 km |
| 29 | Sausheim Haut-Rhin | 1 | 30% | 25% | 445 km |
| 30 | Montval-sur-Loir Sarthe | 1 | 5.9% | 0% | 168 km |
| 31 | Sigean Aude | 0.9 | 6.3% | 98% | 7.1 km |
| 32 | La Gorgue Nord | 0.8 | 0.8% | 0% | 51 km |
| 33 | Bohain-en-Vermandois Aisne | 0.8 | 12% | 0% | 129 km |
| 34 | Gannat Allier | 0.8 | 13% | 0% | 290 km |
| 35 | Wallers Nord | 0.8 | 28% | 99% | 99 km |
| 36 | La Crèche Deux-Sèvres | 0.6 | 3.7% | 0% | 63 km |
| 37 | Carbonne Haute-Garonne | 0.6 | 9.8% | 7.6% | 153 km |
| 38 | Cloyes-les-Trois-Rivières Eure-et-Loir | 0.3 | 16% | 1.8% | 173 km |
| 39 | Bédarrides Vaucluse | 0.3 | 5.1% | 6.2% | 65 km |
| 40 | Rives-du-Loir-en-Anjou Maine-et-Loire | 0.3 | 17% | 26% | 131 km |
| 41 | Ludon-Médoc Gironde | 0.2 | 5.6% | 100% | 3.7 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 Gannat
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Jardin public municipal Delarue leads, at 0.8 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Gorges de la Sioule is the nearest protected area, 3.7 km away
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Natura 2000 site
Gorges de la Sioule
3.7 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.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
29 km of footpaths and 13 km of hiking routes cross Gannat
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
29 km
0.8 km per km²
Hiking routes
13 km
waymarked: 0.3 km per km²
Woodland
13%
about 4.8 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
GannatAllier medianFrance median
Footpaths0.8
Hiking routes0.3
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
GannatAllier medianFrance median
Woodland13%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 75% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 51% 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 Gannat is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
3 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
De Néris-les-Bains à Chabanne21 km
De manoirs en chateaux5.1 km
Domaine de Chazoux2.4 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Gannat: April, June and September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Charmes_Sapc, 4.8 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 | 14.9 | 15.7 | 15.4 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.4 | 8.6 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 20 | 24 | 27 | 27 | 22 | 18 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 39 | 25 | 39 | 64 | 79 | 67 | 69 | 73 | 57 | 57 | 61 | 44 |
February is the driest month (25 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 27 °C). 79 mm of rain falls in May, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 50 nights a year. The climate in Gannat →
Neighbors
Next to Gannat
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
AigueperseBellerive-sur-AllierVichyAbrestCreuzier-le-VieuxCussetGannat
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gannat | 0% | 13% | 0.8 |
| Aigueperse 2,665 · 8.2 km | 0% | 0% | 0.4 |
| Bellerive-sur-Allier 8,943 · 16 km | 2.2% | 23% | 2.7 |
| Vichy 25,115 · 18 km | 12% | 1.3% | 8.8 |
| Abrest 2,915 · 19 km | 14% | 19% | 1.4 |
| Creuzier-le-Vieux 3,205 · 19 km | 3% | 10% | 0.8 |
| Cusset 13,316 · 20 km | 1.4% | 18% | 0.9 |
Vichy and Abrest have at least twice as much protected land. Bellerive-sur-Allier is more wooded.
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 Gannat
Is Gannat in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Gorges de la Sioule, 3.7 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Gannat?
OpenStreetMap maps 29 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.8 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 13 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Gannat is woodland?
13% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Gannat near the sea?
No: the coast is 290 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Gannat?
April, June and 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.