Photo: Journal La Dépêche de Brest et de l'Ouest" du 24 octobre 1937 · Public domainPenmarch is on the coast
Waymarked hiking routes add up to 12 km in Penmarch. 18% of Penmarch’s land lies in protected areas. 41 km of footpaths cross Penmarch (2.5 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 Penmarch?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
What sets Penmarch apart: the sea. It is shorter on woodland.
How Penmarch 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.
Penmarch has the 7th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (5,441 to 5,563 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Le Port-Marly (5.9 km per km²) to Noyant-Villages (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Le Port-Marly Yvelines | 5.9 | 13% | 0% | 138 km |
| 2 | Crégy-lès-Meaux Seine-et-Marne | 3.5 | 10% | 0% | 159 km |
| 3 | Nouzonville Ardennes | 3 | 67% | 100% | 203 km |
| 4 | Chevreuse Yvelines | 2.9 | 50% | 100% | 147 km |
| 5 | Lardy Essonne | 2.7 | 46% | 0.1% | 173 km |
| 6 | Coublevie Isère | 2.7 | 18% | 73% | 220 km |
| 7 | Penmarch Finistère | 2.5 | 0% | 18% | On it |
| 8 | Beaurains Pas-de-Calais | 2.5 | 1.1% | 0% | 79 km |
| 9 | La Roque-d'Anthéron Bouches-du-Rhône | 2.3 | 36% | 51% | 39 km |
| 10 | Saint-Sébastien-de-Morsent Eure | 2.2 | 35% | 0% | 71 km |
| 11 | Aussillon Tarn | 2 | 41% | 100% | 75 km |
| 12 | Le Boulou Pyrénées-Orientales | 2 | 19% | 7.4% | 18 km |
| 13 | Guînes Pas-de-Calais | 1.8 | 34% | 100% | 10 km |
| 14 | Baisieux Nord | 1.8 | 2.5% | 0% | 70 km |
| 15 | Ollainville Essonne | 1.7 | 37% | 0% | 165 km |
| 16 | Rosheim Bas-Rhin | 1.7 | 57% | 0% | 443 km |
| 17 | Arnage Sarthe | 1.6 | 11% | 0% | 138 km |
| 18 | Nogent-sur-Seine Aube | 1.6 | 18% | 2.5% | 230 km |
| 19 | Ille-sur-Têt Pyrénées-Orientales | 1.4 | 7.9% | 0.1% | 34 km |
| 20 | Foulayronnes Lot-et-Garonne | 1.4 | 9.9% | 0% | 130 km |
| 21 | Pollestres Pyrénées-Orientales | 1.3 | 0.9% | 0% | 14 km |
| 22 | Ambazac Haute-Vienne | 1.2 | 50% | 8.1% | 177 km |
| 23 | Grans Bouches-du-Rhône | 1.2 | 13% | 43% | 22 km |
| 24 | Viarmes Val-d'Oise | 1.1 | 31% | 100% | 126 km |
| 25 | Quincy-Voisins Seine-et-Marne | 1.1 | 30% | 0% | 166 km |
| 26 | Neuville-de-Poitou Vienne | 1 | 0.3% | 26% | 114 km |
| 27 | Les Achards Vendée | 0.9 | 4.6% | 0% | 15 km |
| 28 | Drap Alpes-Maritimes | 0.8 | 33% | 0% | 4.8 km |
| 29 | Saint-Memmie Marne | 0.7 | 4.7% | 0% | 239 km |
| 30 | La Ferrière Vendée | 0.7 | 9.6% | 0% | 38 km |
| 31 | Carbonne Haute-Garonne | 0.6 | 9.8% | 7.6% | 153 km |
| 32 | Chazelles-sur-Lyon Loire | 0.6 | 13% | 0% | 232 km |
| 33 | Étoile-sur-Rhône Drôme | 0.5 | 8.7% | 1.6% | 154 km |
| 34 | Châtillon-sur-Seine Côte-d'Or | 0.4 | 12% | 100% | 334 km |
| 35 | Roquemaure Gard | 0.3 | 12% | 13% | 66 km |
| 36 | Ernée Mayenne | 0.3 | 1.4% | 0.1% | 48 km |
| 37 | Servian Hérault | 0.3 | 7.4% | 0% | 17 km |
| 38 | Aubigny-sur-Nère Cher | 0.3 | 25% | 24% | 265 km |
| 39 | La Garnache Vendée | 0.2 | 9.8% | 0% | 18 km |
| 40 | Nueil-les-Aubiers Deux-Sèvres | 0.2 | 4.2% | 0% | 83 km |
| 41 | Noyant-Villages Maine-et-Loire | 0.1 | 23% | 13% | 164 km |
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is the commune’s boundary.
3 in 10 residents of Penmarch live within 800 m of a park or wood
Each square is 1 resident in 100: in green, those within 800 m, as the crow flies, of a mapped park, garden or woodland edge (INSEE’s 200 m population grid against OpenStreetMap).
Residents within 800 m of green space · share of residents
About 3,800 residents live further away. The distance is a straight line to the edge of a mapped park or wood, not a walk to a gate, and a wood can be private.
18% of Penmarch lies in protected areas
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Baie d’Audierne
Baie d’Audierne
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.
18% of Penmarch’s land is protected, more than in 77% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Finistère has 0.5%.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
41 km of footpaths and 12 km of hiking routes cross Penmarch
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 more than in 66% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 99% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them.
A named hiking route within 2 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
The best walking months in Penmarch: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Pont-L’abbe, 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 | 11.8 | 13.6 | 15.1 | 16.0 | 15.6 | 14.3 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.2 | 8.4 |
| High (°C) | 11 | 12 | 14 | 17 | 19 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 22 | 18 | 14 | 12 |
| Rain (mm) | 124 | 101 | 74 | 72 | 62 | 48 | 51 | 59 | 59 | 104 | 129 | 130 |
June is the driest month (48 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 24 °C). 130 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 21 nights a year. The climate in Penmarch →
Next to Penmarch
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penmarch | 18% | 0% | 2.5 | On it |
| Guilvinec 2,669 · 5.1 km | 2.7% | 0.8% | 6.2 | On it |
| Plomeur 3,904 · 5.1 km | 7.9% | 4.7% | 0.9 | On it |
| Plobannalec-Lesconil 3,718 · 9.3 km | 0% | 3.3% | 1.1 | On it |
| Pont-l'Abbé 8,484 · 11 km | 2% | 13% | 1.9 | On it |
| Plonéour-Lanvern 6,452 · 11 km | 0.8% | 10% | 0.6 | 5 km |
| Loctudy 4,075 · 13 km | 0.3% | 1.4% | 1.4 | On it |
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 Penmarch
Is Penmarch in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 18% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Penmarch?
OpenStreetMap maps 41 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); 12 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Penmarch is woodland?
0% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Penmarch near the sea?
Yes: the commune touches the coast, 1.4 km from its center.
When is the best time for walking in Penmarch?
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.