First pick
Bois de Tressaint
Wood or forest · 380 m outside the commune
23 ha2.5 km of path
35 minto walk all 2.5 km of path
3.1 km south-eastfrom the center
Parcours Sportif
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Benh LIEU SONG · CC BY-SA 3.0100%of the land protected
Outdoors in Dinan · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Dinan lies inside Vallée de la Rance - Côte d’Emeraude Regional Nature Park
Protected areas cover 100% of Dinan’s land. 41 km of footpaths cross Dinan (4.7 km per km²). Dinan has 6 km of waymarked hiking routes. 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
17%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
41 km
4.7 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
5.9 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
6
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Bois de Tressaint
The sea
5.6 km
from the town center to the coast
Throughout this page, the Côtes-d'Armor 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 Dinan?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Inside Vallée de la Rance - Côte d’Emeraude Regional Nature Park100% of the commune is in the regional nature park.A place of footpaths4.7 km per km² of mapped footpath, against 1.7 km per km² for the median compared town.Near the seaThe coast is 5.6 km from the town center.
What sets Dinan apart: the regional nature park around it, then its footpaths.
Against French towns
How Dinan 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
Woodland17%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
58out of 100
Footpaths4.7 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
89out of 100
Hiking routes0.7 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
71out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Dinan has the 10th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (14,402 to 15,115 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Paris 1er (17.1 km per km²) to Saint-Gilles (0.4 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paris 1er Paris | 17.1 | 0% | 0% | 148 km |
| 2 | Lognes Seine-et-Marne | 9.3 | 14% | 0% | 164 km |
| 3 | Saint-Maurice Val-de-Marne | 8.8 | 9.4% | 0% | 157 km |
| 4 | Valenton Val-de-Marne | 8.7 | 6.6% | 0% | 164 km |
| 5 | Verrières-le-Buisson Essonne | 8.5 | 52% | 3.9% | 156 km |
| 6 | Villers-lès-Nancy Meurthe-et-Moselle | 8.4 | 48% | 0% | 365 km |
| 7 | Laxou Meurthe-et-Moselle | 6.9 | 74% | 0% | 364 km |
| 8 | Haubourdin Nord | 6.6 | 10% | 0% | 62 km |
| 9 | Montargis Loiret | 4.8 | 5.7% | 0% | 237 km |
| 10 | Dinan Côtes-d'Armor | 4.7 | 17% | 100% | 5.6 km |
| 11 | Montesson Yvelines | 4.7 | 2.3% | 0% | 136 km |
| 12 | Saint-Genis-Pouilly Ain | 4.5 | 17% | 0.3% | 298 km |
| 13 | Montmagny Val-d'Oise | 4.4 | 25% | 0% | 139 km |
| 14 | Saint-Avertin Indre-et-Loire | 4.3 | 14% | 0% | 184 km |
| 15 | Canteleu Seine-Maritime | 3.7 | 64% | 100% | 49 km |
| 16 | Bar-le-Duc Meuse | 3.7 | 55% | 0% | 297 km |
| 17 | Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt Val-d'Oise | 3.3 | 24% | 0% | 137 km |
| 18 | Saint-Orens-de-Gameville Haute-Garonne | 3.2 | 6.4% | 0% | 138 km |
| 19 | Vesoul Haute-Saône | 3.1 | 3.3% | 3.6% | 434 km |
| 20 | Woippy Moselle | 3.1 | 12% | 0% | 325 km |
| 21 | Bois-Guillaume Seine-Maritime | 3 | 3.8% | 0% | 50 km |
| 22 | Ollioules Var | 2.9 | 23% | 14% | On it |
| 23 | Plérin Côtes-d'Armor | 2.9 | 14% | 1.8% | On it |
| 24 | Pontivy Morbihan | 2.8 | 14% | 0% | 36 km |
| 25 | L'Étang-Salé Réunion | 2.6 | 52% | 39% | On it |
| 26 | Saint-Avold Moselle | 2.5 | 53% | 2.9% | 356 km |
| 27 | Saint-Jean-de-Luz Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 2.4 | 28% | 7.6% | On it |
| 28 | Carrières-sur-Seine Yvelines | 2.2 | 5% | 0% | 138 km |
| 29 | Fameck Moselle | 2.2 | 32% | 0% | 309 km |
| 30 | Château-Thierry Aisne | 1.9 | 18% | 0% | 176 km |
| 31 | Illzach Haut-Rhin | 1.9 | 2.6% | 0% | 443 km |
| 32 | Flers Orne | 1.6 | 2.5% | 0% | 59 km |
| 33 | Saint-Brevin-les-Pins Loire-Atlantique | 1.6 | 7.3% | 25% | On it |
| 34 | Saint-Paul-lès-Dax Landes | 1.6 | 62% | 5.3% | 29 km |
| 35 | Arnouville Val-d'Oise | 1.6 | 4.6% | 0% | 141 km |
| 36 | Issoire Puy-de-Dôme | 1.4 | 8% | 3.4% | 229 km |
| 37 | La Flèche Sarthe | 1.3 | 34% | 11% | 140 km |
| 38 | Le Raincy Seine-Saint-Denis | 0.8 | 0% | 0.1% | 153 km |
| 39 | Romilly-sur-Seine Aube | 0.8 | 35% | 4.2% | 237 km |
| 40 | Bailleul Nord | 0.7 | 0.9% | 0% | 42 km |
| 41 | Saint-Gilles Gard | 0.4 | 2.5% | 18% | 25 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 Dinan
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Bois de Tressaint leads, at 23 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Jardin du Val Cocherel
Park or garden
3.3 ha1.8 km of path
25 minto walk all 1.8 km of path
Centralin the middle of Dinan
Directionsto a point inside
Bois de Léhon
Wood or forest
6.3 ha1.4 km of path
20 minto walk all 1.4 km of path
0.8 km south-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Jardin public de la Madeleine
Park or garden · 100 m outside the commune
1.6 ha0.3 km of path
1.1 km north-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Jardin médiéval de l'abbaye
Park or garden
1.2 ha0.1 km of path
1.4 km south-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Jardin Anglais
Park or garden
0.5 ha0.3 km of path
0.7 km eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Protected land in and around Dinan
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Regional nature park
Vallée de la Rance - Côte d’Emeraude Regional Nature Park
100% of the commune
Natura 2000 site
Estuaire de la Rance
0.4 km from the town center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area100%
Regional nature park100%
Natura 2000 site0.1%
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 Dinan’s land is protected, more than in 99% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Côtes-d'Armor has 2%. 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
41 km of footpaths and 6 km of hiking routes cross Dinan
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
41 km
4.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
5.9 km
waymarked: 0.7 km per km²
Woodland
17%
about 1.5 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
DinanCôtes-d'Armor medianFrance median
Footpaths4.7
Hiking routes0.7
036 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
DinanCôtes-d'Armor medianFrance median
Woodland17%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 89% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more 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. Every home in Dinan is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
2 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
De Néal au barrage de la Rance, tracé principal11 km
Balade Autour de Taden8.3 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Dinan: May to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Dinard, 15 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) | 8.7 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.6 | 15.2 | 16.1 | 15.7 | 14.3 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.1 | 8.3 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 10 | 12 | 15 | 17 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 20 | 17 | 12 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 64 | 56 | 48 | 54 | 56 | 54 | 46 | 58 | 60 | 81 | 89 | 86 |
July is the driest month (46 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 22 °C). 89 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 22 nights a year. The climate in Dinan →
Gardens
A garden to visit in Dinan
Named gardens in the commune.
Jardin médiéval de l'abbayeIn Dinan
DirectionsSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) and Wikidata.
Neighbors
Next to Dinan
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
LanvallayQuévertTadenTrélivanPlouër-sur-RancePleslin-TrigavouDinan
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dinan | 100% | 17% | 4.7 | 5.6 km |
| Lanvallay 4,291 · 2.3 km | 100% | 17% | 1.8 | 4.9 km |
| Quévert 3,955 · 2.4 km | 100% | 12% | 1.3 | 6.9 km |
| Taden 2,636 · 3.1 km | 100% | 19% | 1.1 | 3.6 km |
| Trélivan 2,865 · 4.1 km | 100% | 18% | 1.1 | 9.5 km |
| Plouër-sur-Rance 3,416 · 9.2 km | 100% | 25% | 1.6 | On it |
| Pleslin-Trigavou 4,065 · 9.2 km | 100% | 15% | 0.9 | 5.1 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 Dinan
Is Dinan in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Dinan lies in Vallée de la Rance - Côte d’Emeraude Regional Nature Park (100% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Dinan?
OpenStreetMap maps 41 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 4.7 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 6 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Dinan is woodland?
17% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Dinan near the sea?
No: the coast is 5.6 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Dinan?
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.