First pick
Parc de la Noue
Park or garden
6.8 ha
1.3 km south-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Yzergues · CC BY-SA 4.044%woodland
Outdoors in Vierzon · protected areas, woods and footpaths
44% of Vierzon is woodland, more than in 8 in 10 French towns
No protected area reaches Vierzon; the nearest, Vallée de l’Yèvre (Natura 2000), is 5.2 km from the town center. 63 km of footpaths cross Vierzon (0.8 km per km²). Waymarked hiking routes add up to 16 km in Vierzon. 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, 5.2 km
Woodland
44%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
63 km
0.8 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
16 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: Parc de la Noue
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 Vierzon?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
A wooded commune44% mapped woodland, more than in 88% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.Protected land nearbyVallée de l’Yèvre (Natura 2000) is 5.2 km from the town center.
What sets Vierzon apart: its woods, then protected land close by.
Against French towns
How Vierzon 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
46out of 100
Woodland44%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
88out of 100
Footpaths0.8 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
27out of 100
Hiking routes0.2 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
38out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Vierzon has the 4th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (23,840 to 26,241 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Les Ulis (10.9 km per km²) to Sainte-Suzanne (0.4 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Les Ulis Essonne | 10.9 | 13% | 0.2% | 156 km |
| 2 | Villeneuve-la-Garenne Hauts-de-Seine | 9.8 | 4.2% | 0% | 141 km |
| 3 | Vichy Allier | 8.8 | 1.3% | 12% | 290 km |
| 4 | Les Lilas Seine-Saint-Denis | 6.6 | 4.4% | 0% | 150 km |
| 5 | Fontenay-aux-Roses Hauts-de-Seine | 6.1 | 1.8% | 0% | 153 km |
| 6 | Rodez Aveyron | 5.9 | 5.5% | 0% | 136 km |
| 7 | Le Kremlin-Bicêtre Val-de-Marne | 5.8 | 1.8% | 0% | 154 km |
| 8 | Brunoy Essonne | 5.2 | 18% | 0% | 170 km |
| 9 | Eaubonne Val-d'Oise | 5 | 1.9% | 0% | 134 km |
| 10 | Montbéliard Doubs | 4.9 | 22% | 0% | 418 km |
| 11 | Alençon Orne | 4.8 | 2.3% | 5.5% | 97 km |
| 12 | Marseille 2e Bouches-du-Rhône | 4.8 | 0% | 0% | On it |
| 13 | Lormont Gironde | 4.7 | 12% | 7.4% | 16 km |
| 14 | Montgeron Essonne | 4.6 | 46% | 0% | 168 km |
| 15 | Castelnau-le-Lez Hérault | 4.6 | 4.5% | 1.2% | 11 km |
| 16 | Miramas Bouches-du-Rhône | 4 | 9.2% | 5.7% | 18 km |
| 17 | Béthune Pas-de-Calais | 4 | 4% | 0% | 60 km |
| 18 | Orly Val-de-Marne | 3.9 | 5% | 0% | 162 km |
| 19 | Eysines Gironde | 3.9 | 7.6% | 3.1% | 15 km |
| 20 | Hénin-Beaumont Pas-de-Calais | 3.8 | 5.6% | 0% | 80 km |
| 21 | Biarritz Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 3.5 | 11% | 3.5% | On it |
| 22 | Le Grand-Quevilly Seine-Maritime | 3.4 | 4.9% | 0.1% | 50 km |
| 23 | Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône Val-d'Oise | 3.2 | 7.4% | 0% | 123 km |
| 24 | Vertou Loire-Atlantique | 3.1 | 19% | 0% | 41 km |
| 25 | Le Bouscat Gironde | 3 | 1.4% | 0% | 16 km |
| 26 | Aurillac Cantal | 2.7 | 2.9% | 0.2% | 195 km |
| 27 | Vernon Eure | 2.5 | 56% | 3.5% | 90 km |
| 28 | Dole Jura | 2.5 | 36% | 37% | 400 km |
| 29 | Libourne Gironde | 2 | 2.5% | 14% | 30 km |
| 30 | Saintes Charente-Maritime | 1.9 | 12% | 9.3% | 26 km |
| 31 | Les Pavillons-sous-Bois Seine-Saint-Denis | 1.9 | 0% | 0% | 151 km |
| 32 | Frontignan Hérault | 1.8 | 0.9% | 29% | On it |
| 33 | Saumur Maine-et-Loire | 1.5 | 15% | 100% | 133 km |
| 34 | Muret Haute-Garonne | 1.5 | 10% | 3.2% | 150 km |
| 35 | Couëron Loire-Atlantique | 1.3 | 6.6% | 33% | 28 km |
| 36 | Cavaillon Vaucluse | 1.1 | 3.2% | 100% | 45 km |
| 37 | Laon Aisne | 1.1 | 16% | 0% | 156 km |
| 38 | Vierzon Cher | 0.8 | 44% | 0% | 265 km |
| 39 | Sèvremoine Maine-et-Loire | 0.6 | 5.3% | 0% | 70 km |
| 40 | Beaupréau-en-Mauges Maine-et-Loire | 0.4 | 5.1% | 0% | 78 km |
| 41 | Sainte-Suzanne Réunion | 0.4 | 31% | 49% | On it |
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 Vierzon
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc de la Noue leads, at 6.8 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Square Lucien Beaufrère
Park or garden
0.7 ha0.8 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.8 km of path
Centralin the middle of Vierzon
Directionsto a point inside
Square Lénine
Park or garden
0.7 ha0.1 km of path
1.4 km northfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Les Jardins de la Française
Park or garden
0.4 ha0.3 km of path
0.8 km westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Sologne is the nearest protected area, 7.4 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
Sologne
7.4 km from the town center
Natura 2000 site
Vallée de l’Yèvre
5.2 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
63 km of footpaths and 16 km of hiking routes cross Vierzon
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
63 km
0.8 km per km²
Hiking routes
16 km
waymarked: 0.2 km per km²
Woodland
44%
about 32.5 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
VierzonCher medianFrance median
Footpaths0.8
Hiking routes0.2
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
VierzonCher medianFrance median
Woodland44%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 73% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 88% 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 Vierzon is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
4 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
Le Cher, de Tours à Vierzon11 km
Le Cher, de Vierzon à St-Amand-Montrond7.6 km
Circuit de l'étang d'Orçay6.8 km
Découvrez Vierzon et son patrimoine !5.5 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Vierzon: April and June to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Vierzon - Veves, 4.4 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 | 9.2 | 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 Vierzon →
Neighbors
Next to Vierzon
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
MéreauMehun-sur-YèvreSalbrisVillefranche-sur-CherSaint-Martin-d'AuxignySaint-DoulchardVierzon
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vierzon | 0% | 44% | 0.8 |
| Méreau 2,632 · 4 km | 0% | 14% | 0.1 |
| Mehun-sur-Yèvre 6,380 · 15 km | 0% | 7.1% | 0.7 |
| Salbris 4,809 · 23 km | 100% | 81% | 0.2 |
| Villefranche-sur-Cher 2,678 · 25 km | 45% | 60% | 0.2 |
| Saint-Martin-d'Auxigny 2,546 · 25 km | 16% | 35% | 0.9 |
| Saint-Doulchard 9,647 · 26 km | 7.2% | 8.8% | 0.7 |
Salbris, Villefranche-sur-Cher and Saint-Martin-d'Auxigny have at least twice as much protected land. Salbris 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 Vierzon
Is Vierzon in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Vallée de l’Yèvre, 5.2 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Vierzon?
OpenStreetMap maps 63 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); 16 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Vierzon is woodland?
44% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Vierzon near the sea?
No: the coast is 265 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Vierzon?
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.