First pick
Jardins de l'Hôtel de Ville
Park or garden
0.3 ha0.2 km of path
Centralin the middle of Marans
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Serge Lacotte · CC BY-SA 3.0100%of the land protected
Outdoors in Marans · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Marans lies inside Marais Poitevin Regional Nature Park
100% of Marans’ land lies in protected areas. Footpaths add up to 16 km across Marans (0.2 km per km²). Marans has almost no mapped woodland. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
100%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
0.3%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
16 km
0.2 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
Green space nearby
82%
of residents within 800 m of a park or wood
Compared town: 100%
The sea
11 km
from the town center to the coast
Throughout this page, the Charente-Maritime 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 Marans?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Inside Marais Poitevin Regional Nature Park100% of the commune is in the regional nature park.Little mapped woodland0.3% of the land, against 13% for the median compared town.
What sets Marans apart: the regional nature park around it. It is shorter on woodland.
Against French towns
How Marans 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 areas100%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
99out of 100
Woodland0.3%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
3out of 100
Footpaths0.2 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
3out of 100
Hiking routes0 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
12out of 100
Green space nearby82%Share of residents within 800 m of a mapped park or wood
4out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Marans has the fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (4,444 to 4,512 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Cap-d'Ail (10.8 km per km²) to Marans (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cap-d'Ail Alpes-Maritimes | 10.8 | 7.8% | 0.2% | On it |
| 2 | Jacob-Bellecombette Savoie | 7.4 | 26% | 45% | 232 km |
| 3 | Saint-Nicolas Pas-de-Calais | 4.8 | 2.8% | 0% | 79 km |
| 4 | Royat Puy-de-Dôme | 4.2 | 63% | 0.2% | 257 km |
| 5 | Nozay Essonne | 3.2 | 5.7% | 0% | 162 km |
| 6 | Maurecourt Yvelines | 3.2 | 15% | 0% | 125 km |
| 7 | Bretteville-sur-Odon Calvados | 3.2 | 4.3% | 0% | 17 km |
| 8 | La Chaussée-Saint-Victor Loir-et-Cher | 3 | 11% | 8.1% | 215 km |
| 9 | Montrabé Haute-Garonne | 3 | 6.6% | 0% | 142 km |
| 10 | Thourotte Oise | 2.8 | 8% | 0.8% | 116 km |
| 11 | Montigny-en-Ostrevent Nord | 2.8 | 13% | 0.4% | 92 km |
| 12 | Écrouves Meurthe-et-Moselle | 2.6 | 23% | 100% | 346 km |
| 13 | Saint-Laurent-du-Pont Isère | 2.3 | 67% | 100% | 224 km |
| 14 | Villeneuve-de-la-Raho Pyrénées-Orientales | 2.2 | 0.2% | 0% | 9.8 km |
| 15 | Vinon-sur-Verdon Var | 2.1 | 34% | 100% | 57 km |
| 16 | Saint-Marcel Eure | 1.8 | 24% | 0% | 88 km |
| 17 | Rousson Gard | 1.8 | 28% | 0% | 70 km |
| 18 | Noirmoutier-en-l'Île Vendée | 1.7 | 4% | 38% | On it |
| 19 | Maintenon Eure-et-Loir | 1.6 | 28% | 0.5% | 130 km |
| 20 | Guise Aisne | 1.5 | 4.9% | 0% | 143 km |
| 21 | Marchiennes Nord | 1.4 | 38% | 100% | 91 km |
| 22 | Banyuls-sur-Mer Pyrénées-Orientales | 1.3 | 6.4% | 78% | On it |
| 23 | Plobsheim Bas-Rhin | 1.1 | 10% | 31% | 459 km |
| 24 | Saint-Pair-sur-Mer Manche | 0.9 | 2.5% | 4.5% | 0.9 km |
| 25 | Beaussais-sur-Mer Côtes-d'Armor | 0.9 | 12% | 100% | On it |
| 26 | Hergnies Nord | 0.9 | 8.5% | 100% | 94 km |
| 27 | Guignes Seine-et-Marne | 0.9 | 36% | 0% | 189 km |
| 28 | Hesdin-la-Forêt Pas-de-Calais | 0.9 | 51% | 0% | 28 km |
| 29 | Chancelade Dordogne | 0.7 | 48% | 0% | 100 km |
| 30 | Lamotte-Beuvron Loir-et-Cher | 0.7 | 52% | 100% | 239 km |
| 31 | Villeneuve-lès-Béziers Hérault | 0.6 | 1.8% | 30% | 7.4 km |
| 32 | Mesnil-Roc'h Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.6 | 36% | 100% | 8.2 km |
| 33 | Lunel-Viel Hérault | 0.6 | 4.6% | 0% | 13 km |
| 34 | La Réole Gironde | 0.5 | 7.2% | 6.5% | 64 km |
| 35 | Pineuilh Gironde | 0.5 | 8.5% | 2.2% | 67 km |
| 36 | Jarnac Charente | 0.5 | 6.2% | 23% | 53 km |
| 37 | Gonfaron Var | 0.4 | 42% | 23% | 21 km |
| 38 | Freneuse Yvelines | 0.4 | 34% | 51% | 100 km |
| 39 | Charmes Vosges | 0.4 | 60% | 8% | 391 km |
| 40 | Torigny-les-Villes Manche | 0.3 | 5.4% | 0% | 38 km |
| 41 | Marans Charente-Maritime | 0.2 | 0.3% | 100% | 11 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 Marans
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Jardins de l'Hôtel de Ville leads, at 0.3 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Close to home
8 in 10 residents of Marans 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).
82% within 800 m18% further
Residents within 800 m of green space · share of residents
MaransCharente-Maritime medianFrance median
Within 800 m82%
0%50%100%
About 800 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 Marans
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Regional nature park
Marais Poitevin Regional Nature Park
100% of the commune
Natura 2000 site
Marais poitevin
14% of the commune1.1 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Marais Poitevin
14% of the commune1.1 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Marais Poitevin
2.9 km from the town center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area100%
Regional nature park100%
Natura 2000 site14%
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.
100% of Marans’ land is protected, more than in 99% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Charente-Maritime has 12%. 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
16 km of footpaths cross Marans
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
16 km
0.2 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked: 0 km per km²
Woodland
0.3%
about 0.2 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
MaransCharente-Maritime medianFrance median
Footpaths0.2
Hiking routes0
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
MaransCharente-Maritime medianFrance median
Woodland0.3%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 97% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 97% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Marans: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Marans, 1.8 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 | 15.0 | 15.8 | 15.4 | 14.2 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.3 | 8.6 |
| High (°C) | 10 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 21 | 24 | 26 | 27 | 24 | 19 | 14 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 72 | 55 | 56 | 56 | 55 | 44 | 40 | 45 | 60 | 83 | 89 | 86 |
July is the driest month (40 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 27 °C). 89 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 31 nights a year. The climate in Marans →
Neighbors
Next to Marans
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Saint-Jean-de-LiversaySainte-SoulleMarsillySaint-XandreDompierre-sur-MerPuilboreauMarans
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marans | 100% | 0.3% | 0.2 | 11 km |
| Saint-Jean-de-Liversay 3,063 · 9.6 km | 100% | 0.5% | 0.1 | 18 km |
| Sainte-Soulle 5,034 · 13 km | 0% | 1.9% | 0.5 | 11 km |
| Marsilly 3,176 · 14 km | 0.3% | 0.3% | 1.2 | On it |
| Saint-Xandre 5,677 · 14 km | 7.3% | 1.2% | 0.9 | 5.2 km |
| Dompierre-sur-Mer 6,315 · 15 km | 0% | 6.2% | 2.8 | 7 km |
| Puilboreau 6,765 · 17 km | 0% | 1.5% | 3.5 | 3.8 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 Marans
Is Marans in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Marans lies in Marais Poitevin Regional Nature Park (100% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Marans?
OpenStreetMap maps 16 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.2 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²).
How much of Marans is woodland?
0.3% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Marans near the sea?
No: the coast is 11 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Marans?
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 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.