First pick
Bois des Epesses
Wood or forest
78 ha6.2 km of path
1 h 25 minto walk all 6.2 km of path
2.4 km eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Ville de Valdahon · CC BY-SA 3.028%woodland
Outdoors in Valdahon · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Valdahon is within 800 m of a park or wood
8 km of footpaths cross Valdahon (0.3 km per km²). 28% of Valdahon is mapped woodland. No protected area reaches Valdahon; the nearest, Vallées de la Loue et du Lison (Natura 2000), is 8.4 km from the town center. 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: Vallées de la Loue et du Lison, 8.4 km
Woodland
28%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
8.2 km
0.3 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
6.4 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
2
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Bois des Epesses
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 Valdahon?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Protected land nearbyVallées de la Loue et du Lison (Natura 2000) is 8.4 km from the town center.Few mapped footpaths0.3 km per km², against 1.7 km per km² for the median compared town.
What sets Valdahon apart: protected land close by. It is shorter on footpaths.
Against French towns
How Valdahon 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
Woodland28%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
74out of 100
Footpaths0.3 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
7out of 100
Hiking routes0.3 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
43out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Valdahon has the 5th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (5,666 to 5,739 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Montbonnot-Saint-Martin (4.6 km per km²) to Missillac (0 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montbonnot-Saint-Martin Isère | 4.6 | 9.5% | 0% | 205 km |
| 2 | Carry-le-Rouet Bouches-du-Rhône | 4.3 | 19% | 59% | On it |
| 3 | Cancale Ille-et-Vilaine | 3.8 | 10% | 22% | On it |
| 4 | Mourenx Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 3.6 | 20% | 9.2% | 73 km |
| 5 | L'Isle-d'Espagnac Charente | 3.4 | 13% | 0% | 78 km |
| 6 | Revin Ardennes | 3.3 | 88% | 100% | 188 km |
| 7 | Lèves Eure-et-Loir | 2.7 | 24% | 0% | 135 km |
| 8 | Saint-Georges-d'Orques Hérault | 2.7 | 0.3% | 0% | 14 km |
| 9 | Beaucouzé Maine-et-Loire | 2.7 | 15% | 0% | 113 km |
| 10 | Longueau Somme | 2.6 | 0.4% | 4% | 60 km |
| 11 | Épernon Eure-et-Loir | 2.4 | 16% | 0% | 133 km |
| 12 | Saleilles Pyrénées-Orientales | 2.3 | 1.4% | 0% | 7.1 km |
| 13 | La Roquette-sur-Siagne Alpes-Maritimes | 2.1 | 22% | 0% | 4.6 km |
| 14 | Orgères Ille-et-Vilaine | 2 | 13% | 0% | 60 km |
| 15 | Dainville Pas-de-Calais | 2 | 4.1% | 0% | 75 km |
| 16 | Altkirch Haut-Rhin | 1.6 | 23% | 0% | 427 km |
| 17 | Saint-Privat-des-Vieux Gard | 1.4 | 24% | 0% | 65 km |
| 18 | Caumont-sur-Durance Vaucluse | 1.4 | 16% | 18% | 50 km |
| 19 | Piolenc Vaucluse | 1.4 | 20% | 1.9% | 81 km |
| 20 | Mondelange Moselle | 1.2 | 2% | 0% | 316 km |
| 21 | Lannilis Finistère | 1.2 | 5.5% | 14% | On it |
| 22 | Marcheprime Gironde | 1.2 | 83% | 100% | 14 km |
| 23 | Marolles-en-Hurepoix Essonne | 1.2 | 14% | 0% | 172 km |
| 24 | Pouzauges Vendée | 1.1 | 8.4% | 0% | 57 km |
| 25 | Saint-Michel-Chef-Chef Loire-Atlantique | 1.1 | 5.6% | 0.1% | On it |
| 26 | Cugand-la-Bernardière Vendée | 1 | 7.5% | 0% | 55 km |
| 27 | Sausheim Haut-Rhin | 1 | 30% | 25% | 445 km |
| 28 | Bannalec Finistère | 0.9 | 9.6% | 0% | 9.7 km |
| 29 | Saint-Xandre Charente-Maritime | 0.9 | 1.2% | 7.3% | 5.2 km |
| 30 | Gournay-en-Bray Seine-Maritime | 0.8 | 2.6% | 4.7% | 66 km |
| 31 | Lacanau Gironde | 0.8 | 79% | 100% | On it |
| 32 | La Cadière-d'Azur Var | 0.7 | 19% | 68% | 4.5 km |
| 33 | Aimargues Gard | 0.7 | 1.6% | 19% | 17 km |
| 34 | Gan Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 0.5 | 38% | 4.7% | 97 km |
| 35 | Tournus Saône-et-Loire | 0.4 | 9.6% | 6.5% | 340 km |
| 36 | Bédarrides Vaucluse | 0.3 | 5.1% | 6.2% | 65 km |
| 37 | Valdahon Doubs | 0.3 | 28% | 0% | 385 km |
| 38 | Valdallière Calvados | 0.2 | 2% | 12% | 52 km |
| 39 | Coursan Aude | 0.2 | 0% | 12% | 12 km |
| 40 | Saint-Martin-la-Pallu Vienne | 0.2 | 8.6% | 11% | 117 km |
| 41 | Missillac Loire-Atlantique | 0 | 19% | 100% | 16 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 Valdahon
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Bois des Epesses leads, at 78 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Vallées de la Loue et du Lison is the nearest protected area, 8.4 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
Vallées de la Loue et du Lison
8.4 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
8 km of footpaths and 6 km of hiking routes cross Valdahon
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
8.2 km
0.3 km per km²
Hiking routes
6.4 km
waymarked: 0.3 km per km²
Woodland
28%
about 7.2 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
ValdahonDoubs medianFrance median
Footpaths0.3
Hiking routes0.3
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
ValdahonDoubs medianFrance median
Woodland28%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 93% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 74% 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 Valdahon 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
Grande Randonnée11 km
Sentier Historique3.7 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Valdahon: May to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Adam-Les-Vercel, 4.7 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 | 15.5 | 14.2 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.3 | 8.5 |
| High (°C) | 5 | 6 | 10 | 15 | 19 | 23 | 24 | 24 | 20 | 16 | 10 | 6 |
| Rain (mm) | 125 | 112 | 120 | 108 | 136 | 125 | 121 | 132 | 108 | 141 | 134 | 151 |
April is the driest month (108 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 24 °C). 151 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 91 nights a year. The climate in Valdahon →
Neighbors
Next to Valdahon
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
OrnansSaôneBaume-les-DamesMorteauLes FinsThiseValdahon
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
Ornans, Saône and Baume-les-Dames have at least twice as much protected land. Ornans, Saône and Baume-les-Dames 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 Valdahon
Is Valdahon in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Vallées de la Loue et du Lison, 8.4 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Valdahon?
OpenStreetMap maps 8 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.3 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 6 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Valdahon is woodland?
28% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Valdahon near the sea?
No: the coast is 385 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Valdahon?
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.