Photo: Moreau.henri · CC BY-SA 4.0Almost every home in Mellac is within 800 m of a park or wood
No protected area reaches Mellac; the nearest, Rivière Elle (Natura 2000), is 3.7 km from the town center. Waymarked hiking routes add up to 4 km in Mellac. 35 km of footpaths cross Mellac (1.3 km per km²). France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Throughout this page, the Finistère median and the France median are the median of compared communes (those with an overall grade), each figure its own median.
What kind of outdoors place is Mellac?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
What sets Mellac apart: the sea nearby, then protected land close by.
How Mellac 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.
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Mellac has the 17th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (3,375 to 3,434 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Mours-Saint-Eusèbe (3.7 km per km²) to Saint-Médard-d'Eyrans (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mours-Saint-Eusèbe Drôme | 3.7 | 12% | 0% | 180 km |
| 2 | Fontanil-Cornillon Isère | 3.5 | 42% | 36% | 210 km |
| 3 | Nantua Ain | 3 | 71% | 0% | 302 km |
| 4 | Anduze Gard | 2.9 | 49% | 100% | 55 km |
| 5 | Villiers-Saint-Frédéric Yvelines | 2.5 | 17% | 0% | 131 km |
| 6 | Essert Territoire de Belfort | 2.4 | 41% | 0% | 431 km |
| 7 | Auribeau-sur-Siagne Alpes-Maritimes | 2.3 | 48% | 16% | 8.4 km |
| 8 | Vals-près-le-Puy Haute-Loire | 2 | 17% | 0% | 164 km |
| 9 | Hégenheim Haut-Rhin | 2 | 11% | 0% | 420 km |
| 10 | Annet-sur-Marne Seine-et-Marne | 1.8 | 24% | 23% | 158 km |
| 11 | Sainte-Marie-de-Ré Charente-Maritime | 1.7 | 7.5% | 0.4% | On it |
| 12 | Porcheville Yvelines | 1.6 | 11% | 0% | 115 km |
| 13 | Plouër-sur-Rance Côtes-d'Armor | 1.6 | 25% | 100% | On it |
| 14 | Saint-Céré Lot | 1.6 | 28% | 0% | 196 km |
| 15 | Saint-Martin-du-Var Alpes-Maritimes | 1.5 | 23% | 16% | 15 km |
| 16 | Carpiquet Calvados | 1.4 | 0.2% | 0% | 16 km |
| 17 | Mellac Finistère | 1.3 | 13% | 0% | 9.9 km |
| 18 | Rupt-sur-Moselle Vosges | 1.3 | 67% | 100% | 441 km |
| 19 | Lespignan Hérault | 1.1 | 0.3% | 69% | 8.7 km |
| 20 | Narrosse Landes | 1 | 25% | 10% | 34 km |
| 21 | Vic-la-Gardiole Hérault | 1 | 4.8% | 70% | On it |
| 22 | Saint-André Pyrénées-Orientales | 0.9 | 1.3% | 0% | 6.3 km |
| 23 | Étain Meuse | 0.8 | 16% | 0% | 295 km |
| 24 | Thurins Rhône | 0.8 | 31% | 0% | 240 km |
| 25 | Saint-Étienne-de-Saint-Geoirs Isère | 0.7 | 12% | 0% | 213 km |
| 26 | Vernet Haute-Garonne | 0.7 | 4.5% | 1.7% | 141 km |
| 27 | Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Landes | 0.7 | 62% | 21% | 34 km |
| 28 | Andeville Oise | 0.7 | 11% | 0% | 105 km |
| 29 | Vouvray Indre-et-Loire | 0.7 | 10% | 9.6% | 192 km |
| 30 | Pont-sur-Yonne Yonne | 0.6 | 20% | 0% | 238 km |
| 31 | Mont-près-Chambord Loir-et-Cher | 0.5 | 58% | 23% | 224 km |
| 32 | Brassac-les-Mines Puy-de-Dôme | 0.5 | 15% | 3.4% | 214 km |
| 33 | Saint-Romain-de-Jalionas Isère | 0.4 | 19% | 18% | 257 km |
| 34 | Landrecies Nord | 0.3 | 1.3% | 100% | 133 km |
| 35 | Feillens Ain | 0.3 | 12% | 18% | 315 km |
| 36 | Longages Haute-Garonne | 0.2 | 8% | 0% | 153 km |
| 37 | Vescovato Haute-Corse | 0.2 | 16% | 2.9% | 5.9 km |
| 38 | Durtal Maine-et-Loire | 0.2 | 34% | 0% | 135 km |
| 39 | Traînou Loiret | 0.2 | 33% | 21% | 207 km |
| 40 | Iwuy Nord | 0.2 | 4.4% | 0% | 110 km |
| 41 | Saint-Médard-d'Eyrans Gironde | 0.2 | 29% | 36% | 33 km |
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is the commune’s boundary.
Rivière Elle is the nearest protected area, 3.7 km away
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Rivière Elle
Share of the commune’s land
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.
35 km of footpaths cross Mellac
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.
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
That is less than in 59% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 51% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 96% of Mellac’s residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
The best walking months in Mellac: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Lanvenegen, 12 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) | 8.8 | 10.2 | 11.7 | 13.6 | 15.1 | 16.0 | 15.6 | 14.3 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.2 | 8.4 |
| High (°C) | 10 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 22 | 18 | 13 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 148 | 115 | 84 | 87 | 76 | 61 | 62 | 70 | 76 | 138 | 140 | 159 |
June is the driest month (61 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 24 °C). 159 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 42 nights a year. The climate in Mellac →
Next to Mellac
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mellac | 0% | 13% | 1.3 | 9.9 km |
| Quimperlé 12,469 · 3.7 km | 3.9% | 24% | 2.4 | 9.2 km |
| Rédené 3,043 · 9.2 km | 3.5% | 15% | 0.9 | 6.7 km |
| Bannalec 5,725 · 9.6 km | 0% | 9.6% | 0.9 | 9.7 km |
| Riec-sur-Bélon 4,376 · 11 km | 0% | 13% | 0.7 | On it |
| Moëlan-sur-Mer 6,749 · 11 km | 0% | 30% | 2.5 | On it |
| Clohars-Carnoët 4,708 · 13 km | 1.3% | 24% | 2 | On it |
Quimperlé, Moëlan-sur-Mer and Clohars-Carnoët are more wooded.
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 Mellac
Is Mellac in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Rivière Elle, 3.7 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Mellac?
OpenStreetMap maps 35 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.3 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 4 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Mellac is woodland?
13% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Mellac near the sea?
No: the coast is 9.9 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Mellac?
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.