First pick
Parc Albert 1er
Park or garden
1.5 ha0.7 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.7 km of path
Centralin the middle of Thann
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Unknown author Unknown author or not provided · Public domain100%of the land protected
Outdoors in Thann · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Thann lies inside Ballons des Vosges Regional Nature Park
100% of Thann’s land lies in protected areas. 75% of Thann is mapped woodland. Thann has 64 km of waymarked hiking routes. 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
75%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
47 km
3.8 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
64 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 Albert 1er
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 Thann?
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.A wooded commune75% mapped woodland, more than in 99% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.On waymarked routes64 km of GR and other hiking routes cross the commune.A place of footpaths3.8 km per km² of mapped footpath, against 1.7 km per km² for the median compared town.
What sets Thann apart: the regional nature park around it, then its woods.
Against French towns
How Thann 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
95out of 100
Woodland75%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
99out of 100
Footpaths3.8 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
83out of 100
Hiking routes5.2 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
100out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Thann has the 8th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (7,673 to 7,850 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Chessy (11.5 km per km²) to Lys-Haut-Layon (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chessy Seine-et-Marne | 11.5 | 14% | 0% | 165 km |
| 2 | Émerainville Seine-et-Marne | 9 | 43% | 0% | 165 km |
| 3 | Malzéville Meurthe-et-Moselle | 6.6 | 19% | 32% | 364 km |
| 4 | Noisy-le-Roi Yvelines | 4.9 | 20% | 0% | 139 km |
| 5 | Terville Moselle | 4.6 | 24% | 0% | 307 km |
| 6 | Lagord Charente-Maritime | 4.3 | 3% | 0% | 2.8 km |
| 7 | Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse Yvelines | 4.2 | 48% | 100% | 149 km |
| 8 | Thann Haut-Rhin | 3.8 | 75% | 100% | 448 km |
| 9 | Claix Isère | 3.5 | 55% | 64% | 196 km |
| 10 | Neuville-sur-Saône Rhône | 3.3 | 18% | 0% | 264 km |
| 11 | Courcelles-lès-Lens Pas-de-Calais | 2.9 | 7.7% | 0% | 82 km |
| 12 | Montreuil-Juigné Maine-et-Loire | 2.9 | 8.8% | 15% | 117 km |
| 13 | Bompas Pyrénées-Orientales | 2.9 | 0.2% | 0% | 8.5 km |
| 14 | Falaise Calvados | 2.8 | 4% | 0% | 43 km |
| 15 | Bidart Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 2.4 | 19% | 7.8% | On it |
| 16 | Baillargues Hérault | 2.3 | 1.7% | 0% | 12 km |
| 17 | La Verpillière Isère | 2.3 | 30% | 0% | 243 km |
| 18 | Wavrin Nord | 2 | 6.6% | 0% | 64 km |
| 19 | Cappelle-la-Grande Nord | 2 | 0.2% | 0% | 4.6 km |
| 20 | Saint-Marcellin Isère | 1.9 | 4.3% | 0% | 192 km |
| 21 | Cranves-Sales Haute-Savoie | 1.8 | 28% | 5% | 284 km |
| 22 | La Couronne Charente | 1.7 | 29% | 21% | 70 km |
| 23 | Moirans Isère | 1.4 | 9.7% | 0% | 215 km |
| 24 | Corte Haute-Corse | 1.3 | 22% | 100% | 32 km |
| 25 | Saint-Aubin-de-Médoc Gironde | 1.3 | 70% | 0% | 15 km |
| 26 | Saint-Denis-en-Val Loiret | 1.3 | 8.5% | 14% | 209 km |
| 27 | Mimizan Landes | 1.3 | 75% | 8.2% | On it |
| 28 | Sisteron Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 1.2 | 38% | 7.1% | 106 km |
| 29 | Les Andelys Eure | 1.1 | 22% | 6.1% | 79 km |
| 30 | Langon Gironde | 1 | 12% | 3.9% | 58 km |
| 31 | Beynes Yvelines | 0.9 | 31% | 0% | 128 km |
| 32 | Nieppe Nord | 0.9 | 1.1% | 0% | 48 km |
| 33 | Hettange-Grande Moselle | 0.8 | 28% | 0.4% | 304 km |
| 34 | Pluvigner Morbihan | 0.7 | 19% | 0% | 9.6 km |
| 35 | Bain-de-Bretagne Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.7 | 5% | 0% | 65 km |
| 36 | Coulounieix-Chamiers Dordogne | 0.7 | 33% | 0% | 102 km |
| 37 | Pézenas Hérault | 0.7 | 10% | 6.9% | 19 km |
| 38 | Machecoul-Saint-Même Loire-Atlantique | 0.5 | 12% | 27% | 13 km |
| 39 | Les Avenières Veyrins-Thuellin Isère | 0.4 | 22% | 11% | 249 km |
| 40 | Saint-Étienne-de-Montluc Loire-Atlantique | 0.4 | 4.4% | 36% | 29 km |
| 41 | Lys-Haut-Layon Maine-et-Loire | 0.2 | 6.8% | 0% | 105 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 Thann
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc Albert 1er leads, at 1.5 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 Thann
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
Natura 2000 site
Promontoires siliceux
2.3% of the commune0.9 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Hautes-Vosges, Haut-Rhin
3.5 km from the town center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area100%
Regional nature park100%
Natura 2000 site2.4%
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 Thann’s land is protected, more than in 95% 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.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
47 km of footpaths and 64 km of hiking routes cross Thann
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
47 km
3.8 km per km²
Hiking routes
64 km
waymarked: 5.2 km per km²
Woodland
75%
about 9.3 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
ThannHaut-Rhin medianFrance median
Footpaths3.8
Hiking routes5.2
036 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
ThannHaut-Rhin medianFrance median
Woodland75%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 83% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more 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. Every home in Thann is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
28 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 517 km
Voyage aux Pays de Thann25 km
Découverte du Rangen9.7 km
Circuit de la résistance8.1 km
Circuit du rocher de l’Ostein6.5 km
Circuit touristique de Leimbach5.7 km
Circuit du vallon de Steinbach5.5 km
Karsprung versant sud5.5 km
Circuit Riegelbourg5.3 km
Circuit Plan Diebold4.9 km
Boucle du Karsprung4.8 km
Circuit du Kohlberg4.5 km
+16 more
GR 5 passes within 2 km of Thann.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Thann: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Bits.-Les-Thann, 3.4 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) | 5 | 7 | 11 | 16 | 20 | 24 | 26 | 25 | 21 | 15 | 9 | 5 |
| Rain (mm) | 150 | 121 | 111 | 78 | 98 | 91 | 89 | 89 | 82 | 115 | 113 | 171 |
April is the driest month (78 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 26 °C). 171 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 92 nights a year. The climate in Thann →
Neighbors
Next to Thann
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Vieux-ThannCernayMasevaux-NiederbruckWittelsheimStaffelfeldenSoultz-Haut-RhinThann
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thann | 100% | 75% | 3.8 |
| Vieux-Thann 2,866 · 1.5 km | 0.4% | 32% | 2 |
| Cernay 12,057 · 5.4 km | 0.1% | 26% | 1.4 |
| Masevaux-Niederbruck 3,594 · 9.2 km | 100% | 78% | 2.6 |
| Wittelsheim 10,645 · 10 km | 6.2% | 34% | 1.2 |
| Staffelfelden 4,072 · 12 km | 0% | 34% | 1.5 |
| Soultz-Haut-Rhin 7,012 · 13 km | 100% | 60% | 2.4 |
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 Thann
Is Thann in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Thann lies in Ballons des Vosges Regional Nature Park (100% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Thann?
OpenStreetMap maps 47 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 3.8 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 64 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Thann is woodland?
75% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Thann near the sea?
No: the coast is 448 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Thann?
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.