First pick
Forêt de Pons
Wood or forest
634 ha38 km of path
8 h 25 minto walk all 38 km of path
8.1 km north-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Cobber17 · CC BY 3.013%of the land protected
Outdoors in Pons · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Pons is within 800 m of a park or wood
Waymarked hiking routes add up to 24 km in Pons. Footpaths add up to 22 km across Pons (0.8 km per km²). 13% of Pons’ land lies in protected areas. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
13%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
10%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
22 km
0.8 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
24 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
5
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Forêt de Pons
The sea
22 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.
Against French towns
How Pons 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 areas13%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
74out of 100
Woodland10%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
42out of 100
Footpaths0.8 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
25out of 100
Hiking routes0.9 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
80out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Pons has the 15th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (4,310 to 4,378 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Sevrier (4.3 km per km²) to Buzançais (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sevrier Haute-Savoie | 4.3 | 49% | 100% | 255 km |
| 2 | Saint-Maurice-de-Beynost Ain | 4 | 21% | 17% | 262 km |
| 3 | Tigery Essonne | 3.6 | 41% | 0% | 176 km |
| 4 | Villard-de-Lans Isère | 3.4 | 57% | 100% | 188 km |
| 5 | Nilvange Moselle | 3.3 | 27% | 0% | 304 km |
| 6 | Gattières Alpes-Maritimes | 2.7 | 27% | 80% | 9.5 km |
| 7 | Niederbronn-les-Bains Bas-Rhin | 2.6 | 74% | 100% | 417 km |
| 8 | Poulx Gard | 2.5 | 0.1% | 56% | 47 km |
| 9 | Saulxures-lès-Nancy Meurthe-et-Moselle | 2.3 | 31% | 0% | 369 km |
| 10 | Coignières Yvelines | 2.3 | 29% | 0.1% | 137 km |
| 11 | Steenvoorde Nord | 1.8 | 1.9% | 0% | 29 km |
| 12 | Pins-Justaret Haute-Garonne | 1.8 | 3% | 2.1% | 145 km |
| 13 | Villeneuve Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 1.8 | 34% | 100% | 74 km |
| 14 | Cheval-Blanc Vaucluse | 1.7 | 19% | 100% | 42 km |
| 15 | Hillion Côtes-d'Armor | 1.6 | 6.9% | 9% | On it |
| 16 | Le Château-d'Oléron Charente-Maritime | 1.5 | 7.5% | 50% | On it |
| 17 | Le Val Var | 1.5 | 63% | 7.3% | 37 km |
| 18 | Louverné Mayenne | 1.5 | 3.9% | 0% | 74 km |
| 19 | Ormes Loiret | 1.4 | 12% | 0% | 198 km |
| 20 | Cadenet Vaucluse | 1.1 | 28% | 100% | 42 km |
| 21 | Camon Somme | 1.1 | 5.6% | 14% | 57 km |
| 22 | Morlaàs Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 1 | 20% | 0% | 101 km |
| 23 | Beaumont-lès-Valence Drôme | 0.8 | 9.8% | 0% | 157 km |
| 24 | Égletons Corrèze | 0.8 | 51% | 0.1% | 212 km |
| 25 | Chabanière Rhône | 0.8 | 17% | 0% | 230 km |
| 26 | Morestel Isère | 0.8 | 16% | 12% | 252 km |
| 27 | Pons Charente-Maritime | 0.8 | 10% | 13% | 22 km |
| 28 | Riec-sur-Bélon Finistère | 0.7 | 13% | 0% | On it |
| 29 | Langeais Indre-et-Loire | 0.7 | 71% | 100% | 163 km |
| 30 | Bessières Haute-Garonne | 0.6 | 9.9% | 2.4% | 145 km |
| 31 | Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat Haute-Vienne | 0.5 | 24% | 1.4% | 181 km |
| 32 | Saint-Savin Isère | 0.5 | 17% | 15% | 244 km |
| 33 | Sarralbe Moselle | 0.5 | 29% | 10% | 381 km |
| 34 | Valence-en-Poitou Vienne | 0.4 | 20% | 0% | 100 km |
| 35 | Ussac Corrèze | 0.4 | 24% | 0% | 167 km |
| 36 | Montélier Drôme | 0.3 | 2.2% | 0% | 165 km |
| 37 | Rives de l'Yon Vendée | 0.3 | 7.1% | 0% | 25 km |
| 38 | Prigonrieux Dordogne | 0.3 | 21% | 1.2% | 80 km |
| 39 | Roullet-Saint-Estèphe Charente | 0.2 | 16% | 3.1% | 65 km |
| 40 | Bassillac et Auberoche Dordogne | 0.1 | 49% | 0% | 116 km |
| 41 | Buzançais Indre | 0.1 | 28% | 5.7% | 206 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 Pons
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Forêt de Pons leads, at 634 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Bois Noujas
Wood or forest · 20 m outside the commune
17 ha
4.6 km westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Bois des Vignauds
Wood or forest · 30 m outside the commune
7.9 ha
4 km westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Jardin Médiéval
Park or garden
0.2 ha0.2 km of path
1 km southfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
13% of Pons lies in protected areas
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Natura 2000 site
Haute vallée de la Seugne en amont de pons et affluents
9% of the commune0.1 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Vallée de la Charente moyenne et Seugnes
3.5% of the commune0.5 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Moyenne vallée de la Charente et Seugnes et Coran
3.5% of the commune0.5 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area13%
Natura 2000 site13%
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.
13% of Pons’ land is protected, more than in 74% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Charente-Maritime has 12%.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
22 km of footpaths and 24 km of hiking routes cross Pons
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
22 km
0.8 km per km²
Hiking routes
24 km
waymarked: 0.9 km per km²
Woodland
10%
about 2.9 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
PonsCharente-Maritime medianFrance median
Footpaths0.8
Hiking routes0.9
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
PonsCharente-Maritime medianFrance median
Woodland10%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 75% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 58% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 99% of Pons’ residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
7 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
Via Sancti Martini - Camino de Zaragoza / Chemin de Saragosse15 km
De Pons à Vénérand9.1 km
De Pons à Saint-Fort-sur-Gironde7.5 km
De Pons à Saint-Léger6.4 km
De Jonzac à Pons5.4 km
De Rioux à Saint-Léger2.8 km
De Saint-Léger à Rétaud2.6 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Pons: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at St Germain de Lusignan, 17 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) | 9.1 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 14.9 | 15.7 | 15.3 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.4 | 8.7 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 11 | 15 | 17 | 21 | 25 | 27 | 27 | 24 | 19 | 13 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 94 | 67 | 64 | 73 | 71 | 74 | 49 | 62 | 73 | 91 | 107 | 107 |
July is the driest month (49 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 27 °C). 107 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 29 nights a year. The climate in Pons →
Neighbors
Next to Pons
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
GémozacJonzacChaniersSaintesCognacChâteaubernardPons
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
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 Pons
Is Pons in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 13% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Pons?
OpenStreetMap maps 22 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); 24 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Pons is woodland?
10% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Pons near the sea?
No: the coast is 22 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Pons?
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 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.