First pick
Bois d'Airolle
Wood or forest
74 ha2.3 km of path
30 minto walk all 2.3 km of path
3.8 km north-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Caro A · CC BY 4.028%woodland
Outdoors in Rousson · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Rousson is within 800 m of a park or wood
Mapped woodland covers 28% of Rousson. No protected area reaches Rousson; the nearest, Cévennes National Park, is 3 km from the town center. Footpaths add up to 59 km across Rousson (1.8 km per km²). 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: Cévennes National Park, 3 km
Woodland
28%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
59 km
1.8 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
4
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Bois d'Airolle
Throughout this page, the Gard 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 Rousson 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
48out of 100
Woodland28%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
74out of 100
Footpaths1.8 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
53out of 100
Hiking routes0 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
12out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Rousson has the 19th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (4,417 to 4,496 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 Marans (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cap-d'Ail Alpes-Maritimes | 10.8 | 7.8% | 0.2% | On it |
| 2 | Saint-Nicolas Pas-de-Calais | 4.8 | 2.8% | 0% | 79 km |
| 3 | Royat Puy-de-Dôme | 4.2 | 63% | 0.2% | 257 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 | Bretteville-sur-Odon Calvados | 3.2 | 4.3% | 0% | 17 km |
| 8 | La Chaussée-Saint-Victor Loir-et-Cher | 3 | 11% | 8.1% | 215 km |
| 9 | Montrabé Haute-Garonne | 3 | 6.6% | 0% | 142 km |
| 10 | Thourotte Oise | 2.8 | 8% | 0.8% | 116 km |
| 11 | Montigny-en-Ostrevent Nord | 2.8 | 13% | 0.4% | 92 km |
| 12 | Écrouves Meurthe-et-Moselle | 2.6 | 23% | 100% | 346 km |
| 13 | Provin Nord | 2.4 | 4.7% | 0% | 69 km |
| 14 | Saint-Laurent-du-Pont Isère | 2.3 | 67% | 100% | 224 km |
| 15 | Villeneuve-de-la-Raho Pyrénées-Orientales | 2.2 | 0.2% | 0% | 9.8 km |
| 16 | Vinon-sur-Verdon Var | 2.1 | 34% | 100% | 57 km |
| 17 | Serres-Castet Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 1.9 | 8.9% | 0% | 92 km |
| 18 | Ornans Doubs | 1.8 | 66% | 92% | 384 km |
| 19 | Rousson Gard | 1.8 | 28% | 0% | 70 km |
| 20 | Capdenac-Gare Aveyron | 1.7 | 28% | 0% | 177 km |
| 21 | Maintenon Eure-et-Loir | 1.6 | 28% | 0.5% | 130 km |
| 22 | Saclay Essonne | 1.6 | 7.5% | 0% | 153 km |
| 23 | Guise Aisne | 1.5 | 4.9% | 0% | 143 km |
| 24 | Banyuls-sur-Mer Pyrénées-Orientales | 1.3 | 6.4% | 78% | On it |
| 25 | Craon Mayenne | 1.1 | 1.4% | 0% | 92 km |
| 26 | Plobsheim Bas-Rhin | 1.1 | 10% | 31% | 459 km |
| 27 | Vinay Isère | 1.1 | 26% | 0% | 200 km |
| 28 | Hergnies Nord | 0.9 | 8.5% | 100% | 94 km |
| 29 | Guignes Seine-et-Marne | 0.9 | 36% | 0% | 189 km |
| 30 | Hesdin-la-Forêt Pas-de-Calais | 0.9 | 51% | 0% | 28 km |
| 31 | Chancelade Dordogne | 0.7 | 48% | 0% | 100 km |
| 32 | Mesnil-Roc'h Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.6 | 36% | 100% | 8.2 km |
| 33 | La Réole Gironde | 0.5 | 7.2% | 6.5% | 64 km |
| 34 | Pineuilh Gironde | 0.5 | 8.5% | 2.2% | 67 km |
| 35 | Jarnac Charente | 0.5 | 6.2% | 23% | 53 km |
| 36 | Millas Pyrénées-Orientales | 0.5 | 3.2% | 0.1% | 28 km |
| 37 | Gonfaron Var | 0.4 | 42% | 23% | 21 km |
| 38 | Charmes Vosges | 0.4 | 60% | 8% | 391 km |
| 39 | Torigny-les-Villes Manche | 0.3 | 5.4% | 0% | 38 km |
| 40 | Angerville Essonne | 0.3 | 3.4% | 0% | 174 km |
| 41 | Marans Charente-Maritime | 0.2 | 0.3% | 100% | 11 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 Rousson
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Bois d'Airolle leads, at 74 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Bois de Segoussac
Wood or forest
51 ha0.3 km of path
2.5 km north-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Parc Intergénérationnel
Park or garden
2.5 ha1.6 km of path
20 minto walk all 1.6 km of path
Centralin the middle of Rousson
Directionsto a point inside
Jardins ethnobotaniques de la Gardie
Park or garden
2.2 ha0.8 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.8 km of path
3 km north-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Cévennes National Park is the nearest protected area, 3 km away
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
National park, outer area
Cévennes National Park
3 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.
A national park’s outer area (aire d’adhésion) is made of the communes that signed the park’s charter: it guides how they grow, but it isn’t strict protection like the core.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
59 km of footpaths cross Rousson
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
59 km
1.8 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked: 0 km per km²
Woodland
28%
about 9.4 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
RoussonGard medianFrance median
Footpaths1.8
Hiking routes0
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
RoussonGard medianFrance median
Woodland28%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 53% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 74% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 95% of Rousson’s residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
2 named hiking routes within 2 km
PR (local walk)Other named walk
PR 812 km
Chemin de Régordane, Villefort - Alès4.9 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Rousson: April to June
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Salindres, 1.2 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) | 9.2 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.5 | 15.2 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.5 | 8.9 |
| High (°C) | 11 | 12 | 16 | 19 | 23 | 28 | 31 | 31 | 26 | 20 | 14 | 11 |
| Rain (mm) | 84 | 56 | 72 | 85 | 86 | 55 | 45 | 54 | 166 | 158 | 142 | 89 |
July is the driest month (45 mm) and the warmest (highs of 31 °C). 166 mm of rain falls in September, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 46 nights a year. Summer highs reach 31 °C, too hot for the outline. The climate in Rousson →
Gardens
A garden to visit in Rousson
Named gardens in the commune.
Jardins ethnobotaniques de la GardieIn Rousson
DirectionsSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) and Wikidata.
Neighbors
Next to Rousson
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
SalindresSaint-Julien-les-RosiersSaint-Privat-des-VieuxSaint-Martin-de-ValgalguesAlèsSaint-AmbroixRousson
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rousson | 0% | 28% | 1.8 |
| Salindres 3,648 · 1.9 km | 0% | 4.3% | 0.8 |
| Saint-Julien-les-Rosiers 3,533 · 3.4 km | 0% | 55% | 1.8 |
| Saint-Privat-des-Vieux 5,703 · 4.8 km | 0% | 24% | 1.4 |
| Saint-Martin-de-Valgalgues 4,840 · 5.6 km | 0% | 49% | 1.3 |
| Alès 46,125 · 8 km | 0% | 8% | 2.2 |
| Saint-Ambroix 3,445 · 8.9 km | 100% | 30% | 1 |
Saint-Ambroix has at least twice as much protected land. Saint-Julien-les-Rosiers and Saint-Martin-de-Valgalgues are 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 Rousson
Is Rousson in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Cévennes National Park, 3 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Rousson?
OpenStreetMap maps 59 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.8 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²).
How much of Rousson is woodland?
28% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Rousson near the sea?
No: the coast is 70 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Rousson?
April to June: 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.