First pick
Bois d'Aglans
Wood or forest
233 ha
4 km south-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Wikipedro · CC BY-SA 4.028%of the land protected
Outdoors in Saône · protected areas, woods and footpaths
43% of Saône is woodland, more than in 8 in 10 French towns
28% of Saône’s land lies in protected areas. Footpaths add up to 23 km across Saône (1.1 km per km²). Waymarked hiking routes add up to 11 km in Saône. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
28%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
43%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
23 km
1.1 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
11 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: Bois d'Aglans
Throughout this page, the Doubs 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 Saône?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
A wooded commune43% mapped woodland, more than in 87% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.Protected countryside28% of the land lies in protected areas.
What sets Saône apart: its woods, then its protected countryside.
Against French towns
How Saône 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 areas28%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
81out of 100
Woodland43%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
87out of 100
Footpaths1.1 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
36out of 100
Hiking routes0.5 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
64out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Saône has the 20th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (3,175 to 3,215 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Fonbeauzard (4.4 km per km²) to Saint-Ciers-sur-Gironde (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fonbeauzard Haute-Garonne | 4.4 | 10% | 0% | 151 km |
| 2 | Saint-Michel Aisne | 3.4 | 55% | 62% | 170 km |
| 3 | Gagnac-sur-Garonne Haute-Garonne | 3 | 15% | 38% | 156 km |
| 4 | Ville-di-Pietrabugno Haute-Corse | 2.7 | 25% | 0% | On it |
| 5 | Saint-Michel Charente | 2.3 | 12% | 3.2% | 71 km |
| 6 | Saint-Gervais-la-Forêt Loir-et-Cher | 2.2 | 63% | 0% | 220 km |
| 7 | Lissieu Rhône | 2 | 19% | 0% | 260 km |
| 8 | Dolus-d'Oléron Charente-Maritime | 1.9 | 31% | 40% | On it |
| 9 | Knutange Moselle | 1.9 | 64% | 0% | 303 km |
| 10 | Fretin Nord | 1.8 | 3.1% | 0% | 72 km |
| 11 | Proville Nord | 1.6 | 15% | 9.5% | 109 km |
| 12 | Salomé Nord | 1.6 | 3% | 0% | 65 km |
| 13 | Lozanne Rhône | 1.6 | 17% | 0% | 259 km |
| 14 | Châteaugay Puy-de-Dôme | 1.6 | 4.7% | 5.2% | 265 km |
| 15 | Nay Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 1.6 | 14% | 8.5% | 109 km |
| 16 | Fontoy Moselle | 1.5 | 48% | 0% | 300 km |
| 17 | Toussieu Rhône | 1.5 | 6.8% | 0% | 243 km |
| 18 | La Machine Nièvre | 1.5 | 65% | 58% | 357 km |
| 19 | Marsac-sur-l'Isle Dordogne | 1.2 | 33% | 0% | 99 km |
| 20 | Davézieux Ardèche | 1.2 | 4.3% | 0% | 195 km |
| 21 | Saint-Paul-de-Vence Alpes-Maritimes | 1.1 | 32% | 0% | 5 km |
| 22 | Saône Doubs | 1.1 | 43% | 28% | 397 km |
| 23 | Druelle Balsac Aveyron | 1.1 | 22% | 0% | 140 km |
| 24 | Veynes Hautes-Alpes | 1.1 | 51% | 63% | 137 km |
| 25 | Breuil-le-Vert Oise | 1 | 31% | 0% | 105 km |
| 26 | Sallèles-d'Aude Aude | 1 | 7.8% | 1.7% | 21 km |
| 27 | La Loupe Eure-et-Loir | 1 | 9.5% | 100% | 118 km |
| 28 | Souillac Lot | 1 | 67% | 6.9% | 163 km |
| 29 | Ploemel Morbihan | 0.9 | 18% | 0% | 3.3 km |
| 30 | Camblanes-et-Meynac Gironde | 0.9 | 12% | 2.8% | 28 km |
| 31 | Creuzier-le-Vieux Allier | 0.8 | 10% | 3% | 293 km |
| 32 | Saint-Sauveur-Villages Manche | 0.8 | 2% | 35% | 13 km |
| 33 | Meschers-sur-Gironde Charente-Maritime | 0.6 | 7.4% | 60% | On it |
| 34 | Seltz Bas-Rhin | 0.6 | 36% | 57% | 447 km |
| 35 | Imphy Nièvre | 0.6 | 32% | 46% | 343 km |
| 36 | Crêches-sur-Saône Saône-et-Loire | 0.6 | 5.5% | 16% | 303 km |
| 37 | Mayet Sarthe | 0.5 | 38% | 40% | 155 km |
| 38 | Saint-Siméon-de-Bressieux Isère | 0.3 | 15% | 0% | 211 km |
| 39 | Montsûrs Mayenne | 0.3 | 15% | 19% | 80 km |
| 40 | Illiers-Combray Eure-et-Loir | 0.3 | 8.1% | 0% | 142 km |
| 41 | Saint-Ciers-sur-Gironde Gironde | 0.1 | 0.8% | 55% | 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 Saône
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Bois d'Aglans leads, at 233 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
28% of Saône 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
Moyenne Vallée du Doubs
28% of the commune0.4 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Moyenne vallée du Doubs
28% of the commune0.4 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area28%
Natura 2000 site28%
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.
28% of Saône’s land is protected, more than in 81% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Doubs has 0%.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
23 km of footpaths and 11 km of hiking routes cross Saône
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
23 km
1.1 km per km²
Hiking routes
11 km
waymarked: 0.5 km per km²
Woodland
43%
about 8.8 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
SaôneDoubs medianFrance median
Footpaths1.1
Hiking routes0.5
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
SaôneDoubs medianFrance median
Woodland43%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 64% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 87% 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 Saône is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
17 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 14516 km
GR 595 km
Sentier du Fort et des Batteries12 km
Sentier du Golf7.2 km
Sentier des Essarts6.9 km
Sentier du Bois de la Fougère6.3 km
Sentier du Fort des Epesses6 km
Sentier des Rives et du Château5.2 km
Sentier des Falaises et du château4.7 km
Sentier du Tour des Landes4.6 km
Sentier des Buis4.5 km
Circuit des Trois Portes4.3 km
+5 more
2 GR routes pass within 2 km of Saône: GR 145 and GR 59.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Saône: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Besancon, 10 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) | 6 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 21 | 16 | 10 | 6 |
| Rain (mm) | 90 | 81 | 85 | 87 | 108 | 98 | 89 | 96 | 101 | 112 | 107 | 105 |
February is the driest month (81 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 26 °C). 112 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 58 nights a year. The climate in Saône →
Neighbors
Next to Saône
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
ThiseBesançonÉcole-ValentinMiserey-SalinesOrnansLes AuxonsSaône
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saône | 28% | 43% | 1.1 |
| Thise 2,994 · 7.3 km | 0% | 49% | 2.7 |
| Besançon 118,489 · 8.1 km | 0.6% | 37% | 5.3 |
| École-Valentin 2,579 · 11 km | 0% | 16% | 3.9 |
| Miserey-Salines 2,661 · 13 km | 0% | 37% | 2.7 |
| Ornans 4,419 · 13 km | 92% | 66% | 1.8 |
| Les Auxons 2,533 · 15 km | 0% | 43% | 1.1 |
Ornans has at least twice as much protected land. Ornans 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 Saône
Is Saône in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 28% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Saône?
OpenStreetMap maps 23 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.1 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 11 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Saône is woodland?
43% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Saône near the sea?
No: the coast is 397 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Saône?
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.