First pick
Parc naturel du Perray
Park or garden · 0 m outside the commune
23 ha5.5 km of path
1 h 15 minto walk all 5.5 km of path
2.1 km north-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: ManoSolo13241324 · CC06.7%woodland
Outdoors in Saint-Michel-sur-Orge · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Saint-Michel-sur-Orge has more footpaths per km² than 9 in 10 French towns
28 km of footpaths cross Saint-Michel-sur-Orge (5.3 km per km²). No protected area reaches Saint-Michel-sur-Orge; the nearest, Sites Géologiques du Département de l’Essonne nature reserve, is 7 km from the town center. Mapped woodland covers 6.7% of Saint-Michel-sur-Orge. 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: Sites Géologiques du Département de l’Essonne nature reserve, 7 km
Woodland
6.7%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
28 km
5.3 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
2.8 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: Parc naturel du Perray
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.
What kind of place
What kind of outdoors place is Saint-Michel-sur-Orge?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
A place of footpaths5.3 km per km² of mapped footpath, against 1.7 km per km² for the median compared town.Protected land nearbySites Géologiques du Département de l’Essonne nature reserve is 7 km from the town center.
What sets Saint-Michel-sur-Orge apart: its footpaths, then protected land close by.
Against French towns
How Saint-Michel-sur-Orge 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
Woodland6.7%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
29out of 100
Footpaths5.3 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
92out of 100
Hiking routes0.5 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
63out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Saint-Michel-sur-Orge has the 10th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (21,105 to 22,457 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Sèvres (8.9 km per km²) to Chemillé-en-Anjou (0.4 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sèvres Hauts-de-Seine | 8.9 | 24% | 0% | 147 km |
| 2 | Arcueil Val-de-Marne | 8.8 | 3.2% | 0% | 153 km |
| 3 | La Madeleine Nord | 8.6 | 0.6% | 0% | 61 km |
| 4 | Fontaine Isère | 8.1 | 37% | 39% | 204 km |
| 5 | Mons-en-Barœul Nord | 7.5 | 2% | 0% | 63 km |
| 6 | Montigny-lès-Cormeilles Val-d'Oise | 7 | 17% | 0% | 130 km |
| 7 | Saint-Cyr-l'École Yvelines | 6.3 | 7.8% | 0% | 143 km |
| 8 | Saint-Gratien Val-d'Oise | 6 | 0.7% | 0% | 137 km |
| 9 | Longjumeau Essonne | 5.9 | 4.2% | 0% | 163 km |
| 10 | Saint-Michel-sur-Orge Essonne | 5.3 | 6.7% | 0% | 168 km |
| 11 | Fleury-les-Aubrais Loiret | 4.9 | 16% | 0% | 203 km |
| 12 | Montigny-lès-Metz Moselle | 4.9 | 3.4% | 0% | 329 km |
| 13 | Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon Rhône | 4.8 | 10% | 0% | 249 km |
| 14 | Bruay-la-Buissière Pas-de-Calais | 4.5 | 22% | 0% | 61 km |
| 15 | Lagny-sur-Marne Seine-et-Marne | 4 | 5.7% | 0% | 163 km |
| 16 | Montmorency Val-d'Oise | 3.8 | 20% | 0% | 136 km |
| 17 | Morsang-sur-Orge Essonne | 3.8 | 3.4% | 0% | 168 km |
| 18 | Gardanne Bouches-du-Rhône | 3.8 | 38% | 0% | 16 km |
| 19 | Achères Yvelines | 3.7 | 3.4% | 0% | 129 km |
| 20 | Ozoir-la-Ferrière Seine-et-Marne | 3.6 | 44% | 0% | 172 km |
| 21 | Neuilly-Plaisance Seine-Saint-Denis | 3.6 | 14% | 14% | 156 km |
| 22 | Le Plessis-Trévise Val-de-Marne | 3.4 | 9.3% | 0% | 163 km |
| 23 | Allauch Bouches-du-Rhône | 3.4 | 28% | 65% | 9.7 km |
| 24 | Le Petit-Quevilly Seine-Maritime | 3.3 | 0% | 0% | 51 km |
| 25 | Nogent-sur-Oise Oise | 3.3 | 19% | 0% | 115 km |
| 26 | Voiron Isère | 3.3 | 28% | 0% | 220 km |
| 27 | Mandelieu-la-Napoule Alpes-Maritimes | 2.9 | 48% | 0.1% | On it |
| 28 | Saint-Genis-Laval Rhône | 2.6 | 6% | 0% | 244 km |
| 29 | Dax Landes | 2.5 | 21% | 37% | 30 km |
| 30 | Mantes-la-Ville Yvelines | 2.5 | 7.2% | 0% | 111 km |
| 31 | Montereau-Fault-Yonne Seine-et-Marne | 2.2 | 4.3% | 8.8% | 217 km |
| 32 | Millau Aveyron | 2 | 35% | 100% | 91 km |
| 33 | Hazebrouck Nord | 1.7 | 0.7% | 0% | 37 km |
| 34 | Givors Rhône | 1.7 | 27% | 0.2% | 232 km |
| 35 | Épernay Marne | 1.7 | 44% | 7.2% | 208 km |
| 36 | Auch Gers | 1.6 | 18% | 0% | 161 km |
| 37 | Gujan-Mestras Gironde | 1.4 | 48% | 0.3% | On it |
| 38 | Abbeville Somme | 1.3 | 11% | 100% | 14 km |
| 39 | Montaigu-Vendée Vendée | 1.2 | 7.4% | 0% | 51 km |
| 40 | Villeneuve-sur-Lot Lot-et-Garonne | 0.5 | 11% | 0.9% | 123 km |
| 41 | Chemillé-en-Anjou Maine-et-Loire | 0.4 | 4.3% | 0% | 98 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 Saint-Michel-sur-Orge
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc naturel du Perray leads, at 23 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Parc des Mares Yvon
Park or garden
5.7 ha1.1 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.1 km of path
1.4 km south-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Le Bois des Roches
Wood or forest
13 ha1.2 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.2 km of path
Centralin the middle of Saint-Michel-sur-Orge
Directionsto a point inside
Parc Jean Vilar
Park or garden
3.4 ha1.4 km of path
20 minto walk all 1.4 km of path
1.1 km westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Parc de la Chataigneraie
Wood or forest · 10 m outside the commune
3.4 ha0.5 km of path
0.9 km north-eastfrom the center
Allée de la Haute FutaieAllée des Frênes
Directionsto a point inside
Square Saint-Jean
Park or garden
0.3 ha
Centralin the middle of Saint-Michel-sur-Orge
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Sites Géologiques du Département de l’Essonne nature reserve is the nearest protected area, 7 km away
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Nature reserve
Sites Géologiques du Département de l’Essonne nature reserve
7 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
Footpaths and woods in Saint-Michel-sur-Orge
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
28 km
5.3 km per km²
Hiking routes
2.8 km
waymarked: 0.5 km per km²
Woodland
6.7%
about 0.4 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Saint-Michel-sur-OrgeEssonne medianFrance median
Footpaths5.3
Hiking routes0.5
03.57 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Saint-Michel-sur-OrgeEssonne medianFrance median
Woodland6.7%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 92% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 71% 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 Saint-Michel-sur-Orge is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
4 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 655ET8.4 km
Promenade de l'Orge21 km
De la Bièvre à l'Orge8.4 km
Du Val d'Yerres à l'Étampois8.4 km
GR 655ET passes within 2 km of Saint-Michel-sur-Orge.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Saint-Michel-sur-Orge: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Bretigny_Sapc, 3.8 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) | 7 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 20 | 23 | 26 | 26 | 22 | 17 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 48 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 61 | 56 | 53 | 58 | 49 | 53 | 55 | 63 |
April is the driest month (45 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 26 °C). 63 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 44 nights a year. The climate in Saint-Michel-sur-Orge →
Neighbors
Next to Saint-Michel-sur-Orge
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Sainte-Geneviève-des-BoisLongpont-sur-OrgeLe Plessis-PâtéVilliers-sur-OrgeBrétigny-sur-OrgeFleury-MérogisSaint-Michel-sur-Orge
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Michel-sur-Orge | 0% | 6.7% | 5.3 |
| Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois 35,438 · 1.6 km | 0% | 9.5% | 5.6 |
| Longpont-sur-Orge 6,482 · 2.4 km | 0% | 15% | 3.2 |
| Le Plessis-Pâté 4,154 · 2.5 km | 0% | 4.8% | 3.2 |
| Villiers-sur-Orge 4,545 · 2.9 km | 0% | 7.5% | 4.7 |
| Brétigny-sur-Orge 26,658 · 3 km | 0% | 9.5% | 3 |
| Fleury-Mérogis 13,721 · 3.4 km | 0% | 35% | 4.2 |
Fleury-Mérogis 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 Saint-Michel-sur-Orge
Is Saint-Michel-sur-Orge in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Sites Géologiques du Département de l’Essonne nature reserve, 7 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Saint-Michel-sur-Orge?
OpenStreetMap maps 28 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 5.3 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 3 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Saint-Michel-sur-Orge is woodland?
6.7% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Saint-Michel-sur-Orge near the sea?
No: the coast is 168 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Saint-Michel-sur-Orge?
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 9, 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.