First pick
Parc municipal
Park or garden
1 ha0.4 km of path
0.6 km north-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Bernard Chenal · CC BY-SA 4.0100%of the land protected
Outdoors in Orbey · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Orbey lies inside Ballons des Vosges Regional Nature Park
Protected areas cover 100% of Orbey’s land. 53% of Orbey is mapped woodland. Waymarked hiking routes add up to 127 km in Orbey. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
100%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
53%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
79 km
1.7 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
127 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
1
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Parc municipal
Throughout this page, the Haut-Rhin 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 Orbey?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Inside Ballons des Vosges Regional Nature Park100% of the commune is in the regional nature park.On waymarked routes127 km of GR and other hiking routes cross the commune.A wooded commune53% mapped woodland, more than in 93% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.A nature reserveDeux Lacs nature reserve covers 5.2% of the commune.
What sets Orbey apart: the regional nature park around it, then its hiking routes.
Against French towns
How Orbey 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 areas100%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
99out of 100
Woodland53%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
93out of 100
Footpaths1.7 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
51out of 100
Hiking routes2.8 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
99out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Orbey has the 12th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (3,404 to 3,453 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 | Verquin Pas-de-Calais | 2.9 | 5.5% | 0% | 62 km |
| 5 | Choisy-au-Bac Oise | 2.5 | 62% | 56% | 119 km |
| 6 | Essert Territoire de Belfort | 2.4 | 41% | 0% | 431 km |
| 7 | Hégenheim Haut-Rhin | 2 | 11% | 0% | 420 km |
| 8 | Ligugé Vienne | 1.8 | 38% | 0% | 114 km |
| 9 | Annet-sur-Marne Seine-et-Marne | 1.8 | 24% | 23% | 158 km |
| 10 | Culoz-Béon Ain | 1.8 | 57% | 22% | 267 km |
| 11 | Sainte-Marie-de-Ré Charente-Maritime | 1.7 | 7.5% | 0.4% | On it |
| 12 | Orbey Haut-Rhin | 1.7 | 53% | 100% | 460 km |
| 13 | Aubin Aveyron | 1.7 | 49% | 2.3% | 166 km |
| 14 | La Boisse Ain | 1.7 | 16% | 0% | 265 km |
| 15 | Plouër-sur-Rance Côtes-d'Armor | 1.6 | 25% | 100% | On it |
| 16 | Saint-Sulpice-de-Royan Charente-Maritime | 1.6 | 16% | 16% | On it |
| 17 | Saint-Céré Lot | 1.6 | 28% | 0% | 196 km |
| 18 | Saint-Martin-du-Var Alpes-Maritimes | 1.5 | 23% | 16% | 15 km |
| 19 | Mauriac Cantal | 1.4 | 22% | 17% | 227 km |
| 20 | Carpiquet Calvados | 1.4 | 0.2% | 0% | 16 km |
| 21 | Rupt-sur-Moselle Vosges | 1.3 | 67% | 100% | 441 km |
| 22 | Azay-le-Rideau Indre-et-Loire | 1.2 | 27% | 100% | 162 km |
| 23 | Lespignan Hérault | 1.1 | 0.3% | 69% | 8.7 km |
| 24 | Saint-Ambroix Gard | 1 | 30% | 100% | 78 km |
| 25 | Vic-la-Gardiole Hérault | 1 | 4.8% | 70% | On it |
| 26 | Troarn Calvados | 1 | 19% | 0% | 11 km |
| 27 | Ruffec Charente | 0.9 | 30% | 0% | 91 km |
| 28 | Thurins Rhône | 0.8 | 31% | 0% | 240 km |
| 29 | Saint-Étienne-de-Saint-Geoirs Isère | 0.7 | 12% | 0% | 213 km |
| 30 | Andeville Oise | 0.7 | 11% | 0% | 105 km |
| 31 | Vouvray Indre-et-Loire | 0.7 | 10% | 9.6% | 192 km |
| 32 | Brassac-les-Mines Puy-de-Dôme | 0.5 | 15% | 3.4% | 214 km |
| 33 | Moult-Chicheboville Calvados | 0.5 | 8.3% | 6% | 19 km |
| 34 | Saint-Romain-de-Jalionas Isère | 0.4 | 19% | 18% | 257 km |
| 35 | Bournezeau Vendée | 0.3 | 9.3% | 0% | 35 km |
| 36 | Landrecies Nord | 0.3 | 1.3% | 100% | 133 km |
| 37 | Feillens Ain | 0.3 | 12% | 18% | 315 km |
| 38 | Steenwerck Nord | 0.2 | 0.8% | 0% | 47 km |
| 39 | Vescovato Haute-Corse | 0.2 | 16% | 2.9% | 5.9 km |
| 40 | Bellevigne-les-Châteaux Maine-et-Loire | 0.2 | 28% | 100% | 128 km |
| 41 | Saint-Médard-d'Eyrans Gironde | 0.2 | 29% | 36% | 33 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 Orbey
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc municipal leads, at 1 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Protected land in and around Orbey
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Regional nature park
Ballons des Vosges Regional Nature Park
100% of the commune
Nature reserve
Deux Lacs nature reserve
5.2% of the commune3.7 km from the center
Nature reserve
Tanet-Gazon-Du-Faing nature reserve
5.2 km from the town center
Natura 2000 site
Hautes-Vosges, Haut-Rhin
36% of the commune0.5 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Hautes Vosges
10% of the commune3.1 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Site à chauves-souris des Vosges haut-rhinoises
1.4% of the commune4.3 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area100%
Regional nature park100%
Nature reserve5.2%
Natura 2000 site37%
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.
100% of Orbey’s land is protected, more than in 99% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Haut-Rhin has 12%. A regional nature park is a charter between communes to look after a landscape: farming, building and hunting go on inside it.
All 8 protected areas
Massif vosgienNatura 2000 site · 5.2 km
Secteur du Tanet Gazon du FaingNatura 2000 site · 5.2 km
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
79 km of footpaths and 127 km of hiking routes cross Orbey
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
79 km
1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
127 km
waymarked: 2.8 km per km²
Woodland
53%
about 24.3 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
OrbeyHaut-Rhin medianFrance median
Footpaths1.7
Hiking routes2.8
024 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
OrbeyHaut-Rhin medianFrance median
Woodland53%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 51% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 93% 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 Orbey is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
50 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 53222 km
GR 53121 km
GR 514 km
Ligne de Front 1914/191820 km
L'itinéraire Albert Schweitzer14 km
Circuit étang du Devin12 km
Chemin de la mémoire 14/1811 km
Circuit des Basses Huttes10 km
Circuit du Petit Hohnach9.9 km
La tour du Faudé9.7 km
Circuit Hachimette9.1 km
Circuit du Creux d’Argent7.8 km
+38 more
3 GR routes pass within 2 km of Orbey: GR 532, GR 531 and GR 5.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Orbey: June to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Trois-Epis_Sapc, 6.2 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) | 8.8 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.6 | 15.2 | 16.0 | 15.7 | 14.3 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.2 | 8.4 |
| High (°C) | 4 | 5 | 9 | 13 | 17 | 21 | 23 | 23 | 18 | 13 | 8 | 5 |
| Rain (mm) | 68 | 57 | 55 | 53 | 82 | 74 | 73 | 69 | 60 | 74 | 61 | 79 |
April is the driest month (53 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 23 °C). 82 mm of rain falls in May, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 71 nights a year. The climate in Orbey →
Neighbors
Next to Orbey
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Kaysersberg VignobleMunsterTurckheimIngersheimWintzenheimFraizeOrbey
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orbey | 100% | 53% | 1.7 |
| Kaysersberg Vignoble 4,383 · 8.9 km | 100% | 69% | 1.5 |
| Munster 4,738 · 9.1 km | 100% | 55% | 3.6 |
| Turckheim 4,139 · 10 km | 7.9% | 56% | 2.7 |
| Ingersheim 4,774 · 12 km | 1.3% | 17% | 2 |
| Wintzenheim 8,059 · 12 km | 100% | 51% | 2.8 |
| Fraize 2,843 · 13 km | 100% | 48% | 1.2 |
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 Orbey
Is Orbey in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Orbey lies in Ballons des Vosges Regional Nature Park (100% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Orbey?
OpenStreetMap maps 79 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.7 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 127 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Orbey is woodland?
53% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Orbey near the sea?
No: the coast is 460 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Orbey?
June 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.