First pick
Bois de Païolive
Wood or forest
1,257 ha51.4 km of path
11 h 25 minto walk all 51.4 km of path
3.4 km south-eastfrom the center
La Presqu'ÎleCircuit Vert de la ViergeLes Capitelles+5 paths
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Nicolas Van Leekwijck fabrikgrafik · CC078%of the land protected
Outdoors in Les Vans · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Les Vans lies inside Monts d’Ardèche Regional Nature Park
Protected areas cover 78% of Les Vans’ land. Mapped woodland covers 46% of Les Vans. Les Vans has 31 km of waymarked hiking routes. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
78%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
46%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
57 km
1.8 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
31 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Green space nearby
92%
of residents within 800 m of a park or wood
Compared town: 100%
Throughout this page, the Ardèche 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 Les Vans?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Inside Monts d’Ardèche Regional Nature Park69% of the commune is in the regional nature park.A wooded commune46% mapped woodland, more than in 89% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.On waymarked routes31 km of GR and other hiking routes cross the commune.
What sets Les Vans apart: the regional nature park around it, then its woods.
Against French towns
How Les Vans 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 areas78%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
90out of 100
Woodland46%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
89out of 100
Footpaths1.8 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
54out of 100
Hiking routes1 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
84out of 100
Green space nearby92%Share of residents within 800 m of a mapped park or wood
10out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Les Vans has the 8th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (2,631 to 2,693 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Guilvinec (6.2 km per km²) to Richebourg (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guilvinec Finistère | 6.2 | 0.8% | 2.7% | On it |
| 2 | Étrembières Haute-Savoie | 4.1 | 32% | 22% | 284 km |
| 3 | Gassin Var | 3.5 | 46% | 0% | On it |
| 4 | La Richardais Ille-et-Vilaine | 3.4 | 9.9% | 100% | On it |
| 5 | Morzine Haute-Savoie | 2.4 | 33% | 36% | 274 km |
| 6 | Roissy-en-France Val-d'Oise | 2.1 | 4.3% | 0% | 144 km |
| 7 | Dorlisheim Bas-Rhin | 2.1 | 12% | 0% | 442 km |
| 8 | Les Vans Ardèche | 1.8 | 46% | 78% | 94 km |
| 9 | Coquelles Pas-de-Calais | 1.8 | 1.7% | 0.7% | 2.8 km |
| 10 | Vinassan Aude | 1.7 | 20% | 65% | 9.2 km |
| 11 | Souchez Pas-de-Calais | 1.7 | 9% | 0% | 75 km |
| 12 | Piriac-sur-Mer Loire-Atlantique | 1.5 | 9.1% | 0.8% | On it |
| 13 | Râches Nord | 1.5 | 25% | 99% | 86 km |
| 14 | Saint-Yorre Allier | 1.4 | 23% | 15% | 283 km |
| 15 | Auboué Meurthe-et-Moselle | 1.2 | 21% | 0% | 311 km |
| 16 | Cauffry Oise | 1.2 | 17% | 0% | 110 km |
| 17 | Châteauneuf-en-Thymerais Eure-et-Loir | 1.2 | 57% | 62% | 115 km |
| 18 | Verlinghem Nord | 1.1 | 6.3% | 0% | 55 km |
| 19 | Taden Côtes-d'Armor | 1.1 | 19% | 100% | 3.6 km |
| 20 | Villaines-la-Juhel Mayenne | 1 | 0.4% | 0% | 85 km |
| 21 | Masnières Nord | 1 | 4% | 0% | 109 km |
| 22 | Montréjeau Haute-Garonne | 0.9 | 5.7% | 2.6% | 175 km |
| 23 | Fourques Gard | 0.9 | 1.7% | 4.6% | 28 km |
| 24 | Marpent Nord | 0.7 | 15% | 0% | 133 km |
| 25 | Calenzana Haute-Corse | 0.7 | 12% | 100% | On it |
| 26 | Torcy Saône-et-Loire | 0.7 | 19% | 0% | 359 km |
| 27 | Le Bugue Dordogne | 0.7 | 53% | 5.1% | 120 km |
| 28 | Brienne-le-Château Aube | 0.6 | 40% | 100% | 287 km |
| 29 | Soual Tarn | 0.6 | 1.4% | 0% | 95 km |
| 30 | Carignan Ardennes | 0.6 | 4% | 27% | 237 km |
| 31 | Rieux-Volvestre Haute-Garonne | 0.6 | 6.6% | 7% | 154 km |
| 32 | Toury Eure-et-Loir | 0.5 | 0.8% | 0% | 180 km |
| 33 | Montayral Lot-et-Garonne | 0.4 | 10% | 8.3% | 137 km |
| 34 | Cubzac-les-Ponts Gironde | 0.4 | 5.8% | 10% | 12 km |
| 35 | Cadillac-sur-Garonne Gironde | 0.3 | 7.2% | 5.4% | 47 km |
| 36 | Noyers-sur-Cher Loir-et-Cher | 0.3 | 34% | 0.6% | 221 km |
| 37 | Criquetot-l'Esneval Seine-Maritime | 0.3 | 1.2% | 0% | 8.3 km |
| 38 | Villefranche-sur-Cher Loir-et-Cher | 0.2 | 60% | 45% | 247 km |
| 39 | Ailly-sur-Noye Somme | 0.2 | 22% | 0% | 68 km |
| 40 | Essômes-sur-Marne Aisne | 0.2 | 31% | 0% | 176 km |
| 41 | Richebourg Pas-de-Calais | 0.1 | 0.9% | 0% | 57 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 Les Vans
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Bois de Païolive leads, at 1,257 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Close to home
9 in 10 residents of Les Vans live within 800 m of a park or wood
Each square is 1 resident in 100: in green, those within 800 m, as the crow flies, of a mapped park, garden or woodland edge (INSEE’s 200 m population grid against OpenStreetMap).
92% within 800 m7.7% further
Residents within 800 m of green space · share of residents
Les VansArdèche medianFrance median
Within 800 m92%
0%50%100%
About 200 residents live further away. The distance is a straight line to the edge of a mapped park or wood, not a walk to a gate, and a wood can be private.
Protected areas
Protected land in and around Les Vans
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Regional nature park
Monts d’Ardèche Regional Nature Park
69% of the commune
National park, outer area
Cévennes National Park
2 km from the town center
Nature reserve
Grads de Naves nature reserve
0.6 km from the town center
Natura 2000 site
Landes et forêts du bois des Bartres
47% of the commune1.5 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Bois de Païolive et Basse Vallée du Chassezac
8.2% of the commune1.9 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Hautes vallées de la Cèze et du Luech
6.9 km from the town center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area78%
National park, outer area0.1%
Regional nature park69%
Nature reserve0.4%
Natura 2000 site56%
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.
78% of Les Vans’ land is protected, more than in 90% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Ardèche has 8.6%. A national park’s outer area (aire d’adhésion) is made of the communes that signed the park’s charter: it guides how they grow, but it isn’t strict protection like the core. 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
57 km of footpaths and 31 km of hiking routes cross Les Vans
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
57 km
1.8 km per km²
Hiking routes
31 km
waymarked: 1 km per km²
Woodland
46%
about 14.4 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Les VansArdèche medianFrance median
Footpaths1.8
Hiking routes1
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Les VansArdèche medianFrance median
Woodland46%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 54% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 89% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them.
29 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)PR (local walk)Other named walk
GR 44B6.9 km
PR 38.8 km
PR 541.1 km
SPHC, étape 0913 km
Les Vans - Brahic11 km
SPHC, étape 108.5 km
Brahic - Villefort8.2 km
Ancienne Route de Villefort aux Vans8 km
Circuit bleu de St. Eugéne4.1 km
Circuit jaune de la Corniche3.2 km
Malandès - ?2.8 km
La Ribeyre - ?1.5 km
+17 more
GR 44B passes within 2 km of Les Vans.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Les Vans: April to June
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Grospierres, 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) | 9.2 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.8 | 15.5 | 15.2 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.5 | 8.9 |
| High (°C) | 10 | 13 | 17 | 20 | 24 | 29 | 32 | 32 | 26 | 20 | 14 | 11 |
| Rain (mm) | 90 | 58 | 64 | 84 | 89 | 59 | 50 | 65 | 141 | 153 | 150 | 93 |
July is the driest month (50 mm) and the warmest (highs of 32 °C). 153 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 59 nights a year. Summer highs reach 32 °C, too hot for the outline. The climate in Les Vans →
Neighbors
Next to Les Vans
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
BessègesSaint-AmbroixLa Grand-CombeRoussonSaint-Julien-les-RosiersSalindresLes Vans
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Les Vans | 78% | 46% | 1.8 |
| Bessèges 2,606 · 13 km | 100% | 66% | 1.3 |
| Saint-Ambroix 3,445 · 17 km | 100% | 30% | 1 |
| La Grand-Combe 4,783 · 23 km | 0% | 71% | 1.7 |
| Rousson 4,456 · 24 km | 0% | 28% | 1.8 |
| Saint-Julien-les-Rosiers 3,533 · 25 km | 0% | 55% | 1.8 |
| Salindres 3,648 · 26 km | 0% | 4.3% | 0.8 |
La Grand-Combe 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 Les Vans
Is Les Vans in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Les Vans lies in Monts d’Ardèche Regional Nature Park (69% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Les Vans?
OpenStreetMap maps 57 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.8 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 31 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Les Vans is woodland?
46% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Les Vans near the sea?
No: the coast is 94 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Les Vans?
April to June: 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 8, 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.