First pick
Parc d'autry
Park or garden
6.1 ha0.6 km of path
5 minto walk all 0.6 km of path
1.1 km northfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Yzergues · CC BY-SA 4.014%woodland
Outdoors in Méreau · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Méreau is within 800 m of a park or wood
2 km of footpaths cross Méreau (0.1 km per km²). No protected area reaches Méreau; the nearest, Vallée de l’Yèvre (Natura 2000), is 6.5 km from the town center. Mapped woodland covers 14% of Méreau. 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’Yèvre, 6.5 km
Woodland
14%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
1.5 km
0.1 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
1
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Parc d'autry
Throughout this page, the Cher 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 Méreau?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Protected land nearbyVallée de l’Yèvre (Natura 2000) is 6.5 km from the town center.Few mapped footpaths0.1 km per km², against 1.7 km per km² for the median compared town.
What sets Méreau apart: protected land close by. It is shorter on footpaths.
Against French towns
How Méreau 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
Woodland14%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
51out of 100
Footpaths0.1 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
0out 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
Méreau has the 2nd fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (2,604 to 2,662 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Couzon-au-Mont-d'Or (7.2 km per km²) to Hilsenheim (0 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Couzon-au-Mont-d'Or Rhône | 7.2 | 42% | 0% | 261 km |
| 2 | Gometz-le-Châtel Essonne | 2.5 | 24% | 0.2% | 155 km |
| 3 | Morzine Haute-Savoie | 2.4 | 33% | 36% | 274 km |
| 4 | Champlan Essonne | 2.2 | 14% | 0% | 161 km |
| 5 | Dorlisheim Bas-Rhin | 2.1 | 12% | 0% | 442 km |
| 6 | Wahagnies Nord | 1.9 | 30% | 0% | 76 km |
| 7 | Les Vans Ardèche | 1.8 | 46% | 78% | 94 km |
| 8 | Coquelles Pas-de-Calais | 1.8 | 1.7% | 0.7% | 2.8 km |
| 9 | Le Bourg-d'Oisans Isère | 1.7 | 33% | 100% | 180 km |
| 10 | Vinassan Aude | 1.7 | 20% | 65% | 9.2 km |
| 11 | Bourguébus Calvados | 1.5 | 1.1% | 0% | 18 km |
| 12 | Saint-Yorre Allier | 1.4 | 23% | 15% | 283 km |
| 13 | Longeville-sur-Mer Vendée | 1.3 | 18% | 100% | On it |
| 14 | Bessèges Gard | 1.3 | 66% | 100% | 81 km |
| 15 | Villenauxe-la-Grande Aube | 1.3 | 13% | 0% | 223 km |
| 16 | Foug Meurthe-et-Moselle | 1.3 | 73% | 1.2% | 342 km |
| 17 | Auboué Meurthe-et-Moselle | 1.2 | 21% | 0% | 311 km |
| 18 | Cauffry Oise | 1.2 | 17% | 0% | 110 km |
| 19 | Châteauneuf-en-Thymerais Eure-et-Loir | 1.2 | 57% | 62% | 115 km |
| 20 | Taden Côtes-d'Armor | 1.1 | 19% | 100% | 3.6 km |
| 21 | La Broque Bas-Rhin | 1.1 | 79% | 8% | 432 km |
| 22 | Vendres Hérault | 1 | 1.9% | 60% | On it |
| 23 | Montréjeau Haute-Garonne | 0.9 | 5.7% | 2.6% | 175 km |
| 24 | Ivry-la-Bataille Eure | 0.8 | 2.6% | 3.2% | 101 km |
| 25 | Villeneuve-Saint-Germain Aisne | 0.8 | 11% | 0% | 150 km |
| 26 | Marpent Nord | 0.7 | 15% | 0% | 133 km |
| 27 | La Calmette Gard | 0.7 | 29% | 0% | 43 km |
| 28 | Frelinghien Nord | 0.7 | 1% | 0% | 51 km |
| 29 | Soual Tarn | 0.6 | 1.4% | 0% | 95 km |
| 30 | Le Thoronet Var | 0.6 | 49% | 31% | 29 km |
| 31 | Rieux-Volvestre Haute-Garonne | 0.6 | 6.6% | 7% | 154 km |
| 32 | Trélon Nord | 0.6 | 78% | 100% | 156 km |
| 33 | Toury Eure-et-Loir | 0.5 | 0.8% | 0% | 180 km |
| 34 | Beychac-et-Caillau Gironde | 0.4 | 16% | 4.7% | 22 km |
| 35 | Montayral Lot-et-Garonne | 0.4 | 10% | 8.3% | 137 km |
| 36 | Noyers-sur-Cher Loir-et-Cher | 0.3 | 34% | 0.6% | 221 km |
| 37 | Clairac Lot-et-Garonne | 0.3 | 7.7% | 0% | 105 km |
| 38 | Ailly-sur-Noye Somme | 0.2 | 22% | 0% | 68 km |
| 39 | Haspres Nord | 0.2 | 1.8% | 0% | 111 km |
| 40 | Méreau Cher | 0.1 | 14% | 0% | 262 km |
| 41 | Hilsenheim Bas-Rhin | 0 | 28% | 18% | 465 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 Méreau
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc d'autry leads, at 6.1 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Vallée de l’Yèvre is the nearest protected area, 6.5 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’Yèvre
6.5 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
2 km of footpaths cross Méreau
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
1.5 km
0.1 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked: 0 km per km²
Woodland
14%
about 2.6 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
MéreauCher medianFrance median
Footpaths0.1
Hiking routes0
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
MéreauCher medianFrance median
Woodland14%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 99% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more 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 Méreau 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
Le Cher, de Tours à Vierzon5.9 km
Découvrez Vierzon et son patrimoine !4 km
Le Cher, de Vierzon à St-Amand-Montrond0.9 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Méreau: April and June to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Vierzon - Veves, 4.5 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) | 8.9 | 10.2 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 15.1 | 15.9 | 15.6 | 14.2 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.3 | 8.5 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 10 | 14 | 18 | 22 | 25 | 28 | 28 | 23 | 18 | 12 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 62 | 50 | 50 | 67 | 76 | 52 | 63 | 57 | 62 | 71 | 67 | 70 |
February is the driest month (50 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 28 °C). 76 mm of rain falls in May, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 57 nights a year. The climate in Méreau →
Neighbors
Next to Méreau
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
VierzonMehun-sur-YèvreLa Chapelle-Saint-UrsinVillefranche-sur-CherSaint-DoulchardSalbrisMéreau
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Méreau | 0% | 14% | 0.1 |
| Vierzon 25,068 · 4 km | 0% | 44% | 0.8 |
| Mehun-sur-Yèvre 6,380 · 14 km | 0% | 7.1% | 0.7 |
| La Chapelle-Saint-Ursin 3,681 · 25 km | 11% | 3.5% | 1.3 |
| Villefranche-sur-Cher 2,678 · 25 km | 45% | 60% | 0.2 |
| Saint-Doulchard 9,647 · 26 km | 7.2% | 8.8% | 0.7 |
| Salbris 4,809 · 26 km | 100% | 81% | 0.2 |
La Chapelle-Saint-Ursin, Villefranche-sur-Cher and Salbris have at least twice as much protected land. Vierzon, Villefranche-sur-Cher and Salbris are 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 Méreau
Is Méreau in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Vallée de l’Yèvre, 6.5 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Méreau?
OpenStreetMap maps 2 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.1 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²).
How much of Méreau is woodland?
14% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Méreau near the sea?
No: the coast is 262 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Méreau?
April and June 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.