First pick
Parc Claude Decaen
Park or garden · 330 m outside the commune
2.3 ha1.2 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.2 km of path
2.2 km northfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: JP Hamon · CC BY-SA 3.03.9%woodland
Outdoors in Ifs · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Ifs has more footpaths per km² than 8 in 10 French towns
42 km of footpaths cross Ifs (4.6 km per km²). 3.9% of Ifs is mapped woodland. No protected area reaches Ifs; the nearest, Vallée de l’Orne et ses affluents (Natura 2000), is 8.7 km from the town center. 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: Vallée de l’Orne et ses affluents, 8.7 km
Woodland
3.9%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
42 km
4.6 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
3
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Parc Claude Decaen
The sea
17 km
from the town center to the coast
Throughout this page, the Calvados 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 Ifs?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
A place of footpaths4.6 km per km² of mapped footpath, against 1.7 km per km² for the median compared town.Protected land nearbyVallée de l’Orne et ses affluents (Natura 2000) is 8.7 km from the town center.Little mapped woodland3.9% of the land, against 13% for the median compared town.
What sets Ifs apart: its footpaths, then protected land close by. It is shorter on woodland.
Against French towns
How Ifs 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
Woodland3.9%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
18out of 100
Footpaths4.6 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
88out of 100
Hiking routes0 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
12out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Ifs has the 9th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (11,644 to 12,241 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Talant (8 km per km²) to Saint-Gaudens (0.4 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Talant Côte-d'Or | 8 | 5.6% | 0% | 399 km |
| 2 | Seyssinet-Pariset Isère | 6.6 | 60% | 57% | 203 km |
| 3 | Villecresnes Val-de-Marne | 6.5 | 27% | 0% | 170 km |
| 4 | Valbonne Alpes-Maritimes | 6.4 | 53% | 0% | 8.4 km |
| 5 | La Queue-en-Brie Val-de-Marne | 6.3 | 47% | 0% | 165 km |
| 6 | Saint-Cyprien Pyrénées-Orientales | 6.1 | 0.4% | 3% | On it |
| 7 | Ferney-Voltaire Ain | 5.2 | 20% | 0% | 296 km |
| 8 | Le Relecq-Kerhuon Finistère | 4.8 | 7.6% | 0% | On it |
| 9 | Ifs Calvados | 4.6 | 3.9% | 0% | 17 km |
| 10 | Sassenage Isère | 4.6 | 48% | 50% | 205 km |
| 11 | Riedisheim Haut-Rhin | 4.4 | 29% | 0% | 440 km |
| 12 | Roquebrune-Cap-Martin Alpes-Maritimes | 4.3 | 23% | 36% | On it |
| 13 | Saint-Pierre-du-Perray Essonne | 4.2 | 25% | 0% | 178 km |
| 14 | Hœnheim Bas-Rhin | 3.7 | 0.5% | 0% | 448 km |
| 15 | Beausoleil Alpes-Maritimes | 3.6 | 11% | 2.9% | 0.7 km |
| 16 | Dugny Seine-Saint-Denis | 3.5 | 6.8% | 9.5% | 144 km |
| 17 | Bully-les-Mines Pas-de-Calais | 3.4 | 3.1% | 0% | 71 km |
| 18 | Arpajon Essonne | 3.3 | 2.4% | 0% | 167 km |
| 19 | Raismes Nord | 3.2 | 71% | 100% | 100 km |
| 20 | Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer Var | 2.9 | 30% | 25% | On it |
| 21 | Triel-sur-Seine Yvelines | 2.8 | 34% | 0% | 124 km |
| 22 | Craponne Rhône | 2.7 | 12% | 0% | 248 km |
| 23 | Septèmes-les-Vallons Bouches-du-Rhône | 2.5 | 49% | 20% | 5.5 km |
| 24 | Villepreux Yvelines | 2.5 | 8.4% | 0% | 137 km |
| 25 | Vedène Vaucluse | 2.4 | 4% | 0% | 58 km |
| 26 | Marly Nord | 2.3 | 1.5% | 0% | 107 km |
| 27 | Sarrebourg Moselle | 2.3 | 17% | 0% | 403 km |
| 28 | Barentin Seine-Maritime | 2.2 | 11% | 0% | 38 km |
| 29 | Pacé Ille-et-Vilaine | 2.2 | 3.6% | 0% | 41 km |
| 30 | La Motte-Servolex Savoie | 2.1 | 41% | 0% | 238 km |
| 31 | Bruay-sur-l'Escaut Nord | 2.1 | 14% | 98% | 102 km |
| 32 | Onet-le-Château Aveyron | 1.7 | 2.3% | 1.4% | 137 km |
| 33 | Dammartin-en-Goële Seine-et-Marne | 1.4 | 24% | 0% | 144 km |
| 34 | Somain Nord | 1.4 | 5.2% | 1.3% | 96 km |
| 35 | Cernay Haut-Rhin | 1.4 | 26% | 0.1% | 448 km |
| 36 | Florange Moselle | 0.9 | 24% | 0% | 309 km |
| 37 | Mios Gironde | 0.8 | 81% | 100% | 9.9 km |
| 38 | Castelnaudary Aude | 0.4 | 2% | 0% | 96 km |
| 39 | Vauvert Gard | 0.4 | 3.1% | 71% | 20 km |
| 40 | Baugé-en-Anjou Maine-et-Loire | 0.4 | 31% | 0.5% | 151 km |
| 41 | Saint-Gaudens Haute-Garonne | 0.4 | 9.3% | 3.9% | 186 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 Ifs
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc Claude Decaen leads, at 2.3 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Le Parc Archéo
Park or garden
1.3 ha0.4 km of path
0.8 km northfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Parc de la Grâce-de-Dieu
Park or garden · 280 m outside the commune
0.8 ha0.4 km of path
1.8 km north-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Vallée de l’Orne et ses affluents is the nearest protected area, 8.7 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
Vallée de l’Orne et ses affluents
8.7 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
Footpaths and woods in Ifs
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
42 km
4.6 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked: 0 km per km²
Woodland
3.9%
about 0.3 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
IfsCalvados medianFrance median
Footpaths4.6
Hiking routes0
036 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
IfsCalvados medianFrance median
Woodland3.9%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 88% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 82% 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 Ifs is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
5 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 369.5 km
GR 221C1.5 km
Le Sentier Grand-Ouest3 km
Chemin de Caen2.4 km
Parcours dans Caen, version longue1.5 km
2 GR routes pass within 2 km of Ifs: GR 36 and GR 221C.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Ifs: May to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Caen-Carpiquet, 8.5 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) | 8.6 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.6 | 15.3 | 16.2 | 15.8 | 14.4 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.0 | 8.2 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 9 | 12 | 14 | 17 | 21 | 23 | 23 | 20 | 16 | 12 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 63 | 53 | 50 | 53 | 59 | 58 | 51 | 60 | 54 | 79 | 79 | 81 |
March is the driest month (50 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 23 °C). 81 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 29 nights a year. The climate in Ifs →
Neighbors
Next to Ifs
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Fleury-sur-OrneCormelles-le-RoyalLouvignyMondevilleCaenBourguébusIfs
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ifs | 0% | 3.9% | 4.6 | 17 km |
| Fleury-sur-Orne 5,941 · 1.7 km | 0% | 3.3% | 3.6 | 17 km |
| Cormelles-le-Royal 5,377 · 1.7 km | 0% | 2.2% | 7.2 | 15 km |
| Louvigny 2,612 · 3.6 km | 0% | 5.4% | 2.9 | 17 km |
| Mondeville 10,331 · 3.8 km | 0% | 5.4% | 5.2 | 13 km |
| Caen 109,400 · 4.3 km | 0% | 2.4% | 8.1 | 14 km |
| Bourguébus 2,613 · 4.7 km | 0% | 1.1% | 1.5 | 18 km |
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 Ifs
Is Ifs in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Vallée de l’Orne et ses affluents, 8.7 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Ifs?
OpenStreetMap maps 42 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 4.6 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²).
How much of Ifs is woodland?
3.9% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Ifs near the sea?
No: the coast is 17 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Ifs?
May 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.