Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: VVVCFFrance · CC0Waymarked hiking routes add up to 14 km in Saclay. No protected area reaches Saclay; the nearest, Haute Vallée de Chevreuse Regional Nature Park, is 4.2 km from the town center. 7.5% of Saclay is mapped woodland. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Throughout this page, the Essonne median and the France median are the median of compared communes (those with an overall grade), each figure its own median.
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
What sets Saclay apart: its hiking routes, then protected land close by.
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.
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (4,392 to 4,482 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Cap-d'Ail (10.8 km per km²) to Bastelicaccia (0 km per km²).
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cap-d'Ail Alpes-Maritimes | 10.8 | 7.8% | 0.2% | On it |
| 2 | Royat Puy-de-Dôme | 4.2 | 63% | 0.2% | 257 km |
| 3 | Labège Haute-Garonne | 3.9 | 6.5% | 0% | 137 km |
| 4 | Valras-Plage Hérault | 3.8 | 0% | 26% | On it |
| 5 | Nozay Essonne | 3.2 | 5.7% | 0% | 162 km |
| 6 | Maurecourt Yvelines | 3.2 | 15% | 0% | 125 km |
| 7 | La Chaussée-Saint-Victor Loir-et-Cher | 3 | 11% | 8.1% | 215 km |
| 8 | Montrabé Haute-Garonne | 3 | 6.6% | 0% | 142 km |
| 9 | Thourotte Oise | 2.8 | 8% | 0.8% | 116 km |
| 10 | Haisnes Pas-de-Calais | 2.7 | 3.2% | 0% | 67 km |
| 11 | Écrouves Meurthe-et-Moselle | 2.6 | 23% | 100% | 346 km |
| 12 | Provin Nord | 2.4 | 4.7% | 0% | 69 km |
| 13 | Villeneuve-de-la-Raho Pyrénées-Orientales | 2.2 | 0.2% | 0% | 9.8 km |
| 14 | Vinon-sur-Verdon Var | 2.1 | 34% | 100% | 57 km |
| 15 | Serres-Castet Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 1.9 | 8.9% | 0% | 92 km |
| 16 | Ornans Doubs | 1.8 | 66% | 92% | 384 km |
| 17 | Rousson Gard | 1.8 | 28% | 0% | 70 km |
| 18 | Capdenac-Gare Aveyron | 1.7 | 28% | 0% | 177 km |
| 19 | Saclay Essonne | 1.6 | 7.5% | 0% | 153 km |
| 20 | La Tour-d'Aigues Vaucluse | 1.5 | 24% | 100% | 45 km |
| 21 | Chazay-d'Azergues Rhône | 1.3 | 11% | 0% | 262 km |
| 22 | Craon Mayenne | 1.1 | 1.4% | 0% | 92 km |
| 23 | Vinay Isère | 1.1 | 26% | 0% | 200 km |
| 24 | Morigny-Champigny Essonne | 0.9 | 22% | 0.4% | 173 km |
| 25 | Sierentz Haut-Rhin | 0.9 | 39% | 36% | 430 km |
| 26 | Hergnies Nord | 0.9 | 8.5% | 100% | 94 km |
| 27 | Guignes Seine-et-Marne | 0.9 | 36% | 0% | 189 km |
| 28 | Hesdin-la-Forêt Pas-de-Calais | 0.9 | 51% | 0% | 28 km |
| 29 | Villemoustaussou Aude | 0.8 | 4.8% | 0% | 63 km |
| 30 | Truchtersheim Bas-Rhin | 0.8 | 1.2% | 0% | 438 km |
| 31 | Marckolsheim Bas-Rhin | 0.8 | 37% | 47% | 475 km |
| 32 | Chancelade Dordogne | 0.7 | 48% | 0% | 100 km |
| 33 | Ghisonaccia Haute-Corse | 0.6 | 11% | 15% | On it |
| 34 | Millas Pyrénées-Orientales | 0.5 | 3.2% | 0.1% | 28 km |
| 35 | Montbeton Tarn-et-Garonne | 0.4 | 8% | 0% | 180 km |
| 36 | Torigny-les-Villes Manche | 0.3 | 5.4% | 0% | 38 km |
| 37 | Angerville Essonne | 0.3 | 3.4% | 0% | 174 km |
| 38 | Miniac-Morvan Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.2 | 16% | 100% | 3.2 km |
| 39 | Mesnil-en-Ouche Eure | 0.2 | 13% | 0.4% | 55 km |
| 40 | Marans Charente-Maritime | 0.2 | 0.3% | 100% | 11 km |
| 41 | Bastelicaccia Corse-du-Sud | 0 | 15% | 0.2% | 4.2 km |
Tap a number to zoom to a park or wood. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is the commune’s boundary.
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Bois de la Guyonnerie leads, at 241 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
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.
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.
That is less than in 53% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 68% 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 Saclay is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
+11 more
3 GR routes pass within 2 km of Saclay: GR 11, GR655 OT and GR 655ET.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Toussus le Noble, 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) | 8.7 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.6 | 15.2 | 16.1 | 15.8 | 14.3 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.1 | 8.3 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 19 | 23 | 25 | 25 | 21 | 16 | 10 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 55 | 47 | 50 | 50 | 68 | 55 | 53 | 58 | 52 | 61 | 61 | 66 |
February is the driest month (47 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 25 °C). 68 mm of rain falls in May, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 46 nights a year. The climate in Saclay →
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saclay | 0% | 7.5% | 1.6 |
| Jouy-en-Josas 7,981 · 2.8 km | 0% | 42% | 5.9 |
| Bièvres 4,686 · 3.4 km | 0% | 31% | 3.5 |
| Igny 10,833 · 3.9 km | 0% | 20% | 5.5 |
| Vélizy-Villacoublay 23,011 · 4.9 km | 0% | 33% | 7.6 |
| Buc 5,816 · 5.1 km | 0% | 45% | 5.6 |
| Orsay 16,498 · 5.3 km | 0% | 27% | 7.3 |
Jouy-en-Josas, Bièvres and Igny are more wooded.
No. The nearest protected area is Haute Vallée de Chevreuse Regional Nature Park, 4.2 km from the town center.
OpenStreetMap maps 22 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.6 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 14 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
7.5% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
No: the coast is 153 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
April and June to September: long days, mild highs and little rain, from Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at the nearest suitable station.
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.