First pick
Jardins du Château de Bizy
Park or garden
70 ha2.3 km of path
30 minto walk all 2.3 km of path
1.1 km south-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Maziere55 · CC BY-SA 4.03.5%of the land protected
Outdoors in Vernon · protected areas, woods and footpaths
56% of Vernon is woodland, more than in 9 in 10 French towns
84 km of footpaths cross Vernon (2.5 km per km²). Waymarked hiking routes add up to 17 km in Vernon. 3.5% of Vernon’s land lies in protected areas. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
3.5%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
56%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
84 km
2.5 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
17 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
5
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Jardins du Château de Bizy
Throughout this page, the Eure median and the France median are the median of compared communes (those with an overall grade), each figure its own median.
Against French towns
How Vernon 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 areas3.5%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
62out of 100
Woodland56%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
94out of 100
Footpaths2.5 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
65out of 100
Hiking routes0.5 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
61out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Vernon has the 14th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (24,022 to 26,658 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Les Ulis (10.9 km per km²) to Sainte-Suzanne (0.4 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Les Ulis Essonne | 10.9 | 13% | 0.2% | 156 km |
| 2 | Villeneuve-la-Garenne Hauts-de-Seine | 9.8 | 4.2% | 0% | 141 km |
| 3 | Vichy Allier | 8.8 | 1.3% | 12% | 290 km |
| 4 | Élancourt Yvelines | 8.2 | 26% | 3.5% | 138 km |
| 5 | Fontenay-aux-Roses Hauts-de-Seine | 6.1 | 1.8% | 0% | 153 km |
| 6 | Le Kremlin-Bicêtre Val-de-Marne | 5.8 | 1.8% | 0% | 154 km |
| 7 | Brunoy Essonne | 5.2 | 18% | 0% | 170 km |
| 8 | Eaubonne Val-d'Oise | 5 | 1.9% | 0% | 134 km |
| 9 | Montbéliard Doubs | 4.9 | 22% | 0% | 418 km |
| 10 | Alençon Orne | 4.8 | 2.3% | 5.5% | 97 km |
| 11 | Marseille 2e Bouches-du-Rhône | 4.8 | 0% | 0% | On it |
| 12 | Lormont Gironde | 4.7 | 12% | 7.4% | 16 km |
| 13 | Montgeron Essonne | 4.6 | 46% | 0% | 168 km |
| 14 | Castelnau-le-Lez Hérault | 4.6 | 4.5% | 1.2% | 11 km |
| 15 | Miramas Bouches-du-Rhône | 4 | 9.2% | 5.7% | 18 km |
| 16 | Béthune Pas-de-Calais | 4 | 4% | 0% | 60 km |
| 17 | Orly Val-de-Marne | 3.9 | 5% | 0% | 162 km |
| 18 | Eysines Gironde | 3.9 | 7.6% | 3.1% | 15 km |
| 19 | Hénin-Beaumont Pas-de-Calais | 3.8 | 5.6% | 0% | 80 km |
| 20 | La Garde Var | 3.8 | 7.6% | 25% | On it |
| 21 | Biarritz Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 3.5 | 11% | 3.5% | On it |
| 22 | Le Grand-Quevilly Seine-Maritime | 3.4 | 4.9% | 0.1% | 50 km |
| 23 | Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône Val-d'Oise | 3.2 | 7.4% | 0% | 123 km |
| 24 | Vertou Loire-Atlantique | 3.1 | 19% | 0% | 41 km |
| 25 | Le Bouscat Gironde | 3 | 1.4% | 0% | 16 km |
| 26 | Brétigny-sur-Orge Essonne | 3 | 9.5% | 0% | 169 km |
| 27 | Aurillac Cantal | 2.7 | 2.9% | 0.2% | 195 km |
| 28 | Vernon Eure | 2.5 | 56% | 3.5% | 90 km |
| 29 | Lunel Hérault | 2.2 | 0.4% | 0.6% | 14 km |
| 30 | Libourne Gironde | 2 | 2.5% | 14% | 30 km |
| 31 | Saintes Charente-Maritime | 1.9 | 12% | 9.3% | 26 km |
| 32 | Les Pavillons-sous-Bois Seine-Saint-Denis | 1.9 | 0% | 0% | 151 km |
| 33 | Frontignan Hérault | 1.8 | 0.9% | 29% | On it |
| 34 | Saumur Maine-et-Loire | 1.5 | 15% | 100% | 133 km |
| 35 | Muret Haute-Garonne | 1.5 | 10% | 3.2% | 150 km |
| 36 | Couëron Loire-Atlantique | 1.3 | 6.6% | 33% | 28 km |
| 37 | Cavaillon Vaucluse | 1.1 | 3.2% | 100% | 45 km |
| 38 | Laon Aisne | 1.1 | 16% | 0% | 156 km |
| 39 | Vierzon Cher | 0.8 | 44% | 0% | 265 km |
| 40 | Sèvremoine Maine-et-Loire | 0.6 | 5.3% | 0% | 70 km |
| 41 | Sainte-Suzanne Réunion | 0.4 | 31% | 49% | 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 Vernon
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Jardins du Château de Bizy leads, at 70 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Parc Naturel de la Fonderie
Park or garden
3.1 ha1 km of path
15 minto walk all 1 km of path
1.6 km north-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Esplanade Jean-Claude Asphe
Park or garden
1 ha0.7 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.7 km of path
0.7 km north-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Square de Bizy
Park or garden
0.4 ha0.3 km of path
1.5 km westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Louise Michel
Park or garden
0.4 ha0.2 km of path
1.3 km south-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
3.5% of Vernon 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
Les grottes du mont Roberge
2.8% of the commune1.5 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Vallée de l’Epte
0.7% of the commune1.3 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area3.5%
Natura 2000 site3.5%
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.
3.5% of Vernon’s land is protected, more than in 62% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Eure has 0.3%.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
84 km of footpaths and 17 km of hiking routes cross Vernon
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
84 km
2.5 km per km²
Hiking routes
17 km
waymarked: 0.5 km per km²
Woodland
56%
about 19.3 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
VernonEure medianFrance median
Footpaths2.5
Hiking routes0.5
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
VernonEure medianFrance median
Woodland56%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 65% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 94% 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 Vernon is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
5 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 215 km
GR 2611 km
Nature et paysages de Vernon rive droite11 km
Les Coteaux de la Chapelle-Longueville2.9 km
Circuit / Saint-Just1.4 km
2 GR routes pass within 2 km of Vernon: GR 2 and GR 26.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Vernon: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Magnanville, 20 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) | 8.6 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.6 | 15.3 | 16.2 | 15.8 | 14.4 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.0 | 8.2 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 19 | 23 | 26 | 25 | 21 | 17 | 11 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 49 | 48 | 48 | 43 | 62 | 54 | 52 | 57 | 41 | 65 | 57 | 67 |
September is the driest month (41 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 26 °C). 67 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 40 nights a year. The climate in Vernon →
Neighbors
Next to Vernon
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Saint-MarcelLa Chapelle-LonguevilleGasnyBonnières-sur-SeineFreneusePacy-sur-EureVernon
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vernon | 3.5% | 56% | 2.5 |
| Saint-Marcel 4,512 · 2.6 km | 0% | 24% | 1.8 |
| La Chapelle-Longueville 3,282 · 4.3 km | 0% | 31% | 1.3 |
| Gasny 3,062 · 8.6 km | 9.7% | 35% | 0.8 |
| Bonnières-sur-Seine 5,064 · 9.2 km | 20% | 45% | 2.1 |
| Freneuse 4,505 · 10 km | 51% | 34% | 0.4 |
| Pacy-sur-Eure 5,027 · 11 km | 3.1% | 45% | 0.6 |
Bonnières-sur-Seine and Freneuse have at least twice as much protected land.
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 Vernon
Is Vernon in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 3.5% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Vernon?
OpenStreetMap maps 84 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 2.5 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 17 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Vernon is woodland?
56% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Vernon near the sea?
No: the coast is 90 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Vernon?
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.