Photo: Havang(nl) · CC049% of Tence is woodland, more than in 9 in 10 French towns
24 km of footpaths cross Tence (0.5 km per km²). 3.2% of Tence’s land lies in protected areas. Tence has 10 km of waymarked hiking routes. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Throughout this page, the Haute-Loire 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 Tence?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
What sets Tence apart: its woods, then the mountains. It is shorter on footpaths.
How Tence 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.
Tence has the 7th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (3,086 to 3,137 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Étiolles (3.7 km per km²) to Bérat (0 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Étiolles Essonne | 3.7 | 72% | 0% | 175 km |
| 2 | Buhl Haut-Rhin | 3.7 | 74% | 100% | 461 km |
| 3 | Sérézin-du-Rhône Rhône | 3.5 | 20% | 0% | 237 km |
| 4 | Villers-Bocage Calvados | 3.1 | 7.7% | 0% | 29 km |
| 5 | Asnières-sur-Oise Val-d'Oise | 3.1 | 51% | 100% | 125 km |
| 6 | La Tranche-sur-Mer Vendée | 2.8 | 18% | 100% | On it |
| 7 | Morainvilliers Yvelines | 2.4 | 32% | 0% | 127 km |
| 8 | Saint-Germain-au-Mont-d'Or Rhône | 2.3 | 24% | 0% | 264 km |
| 9 | Beaumont Haute-Savoie | 2.2 | 40% | 48% | 280 km |
| 10 | Béthisy-Saint-Pierre Oise | 2.1 | 37% | 21% | 127 km |
| 11 | Custines Meurthe-et-Moselle | 2 | 38% | 0% | 355 km |
| 12 | Fumay Ardennes | 2 | 92% | 100% | 185 km |
| 13 | La Sentinelle Nord | 1.9 | 3.3% | 0.5% | 104 km |
| 14 | Le Touvet Isère | 1.9 | 48% | 58% | 212 km |
| 15 | Arbois Jura | 1.4 | 51% | 12% | 373 km |
| 16 | Plancoët Côtes-d'Armor | 1.4 | 13% | 100% | 3.9 km |
| 17 | Besse-sur-Issole Var | 1.3 | 36% | 0.7% | 26 km |
| 18 | Moyenmoutier Vosges | 1.2 | 72% | 2.8% | 426 km |
| 19 | Saint-Genix-les-Villages Savoie | 1.2 | 33% | 4.4% | 247 km |
| 20 | Champcevinel Dordogne | 1.1 | 51% | 0% | 106 km |
| 21 | Le Plan-de-la-Tour Var | 1.1 | 40% | 0% | 7.3 km |
| 22 | Guichainville Eure | 1.1 | 15% | 0% | 78 km |
| 23 | Appoigny Yonne | 1 | 46% | 2.7% | 289 km |
| 24 | Vémars Val-d'Oise | 0.9 | 6.8% | 0% | 139 km |
| 25 | Arleux Nord | 0.9 | 7.5% | 0% | 99 km |
| 26 | Boussois Nord | 0.9 | 5.1% | 100% | 131 km |
| 27 | Saint-Thibéry Hérault | 0.8 | 6.2% | 0.2% | 12 km |
| 28 | Anor Nord | 0.8 | 37% | 100% | 162 km |
| 29 | Thézan-lès-Béziers Hérault | 0.8 | 0.9% | 0% | 22 km |
| 30 | Colayrac-Saint-Cirq Lot-et-Garonne | 0.7 | 14% | 3.8% | 126 km |
| 31 | Soulac-sur-Mer Gironde | 0.7 | 23% | 100% | On it |
| 32 | Saint-Jacques-sur-Darnétal Seine-Maritime | 0.6 | 26% | 0% | 54 km |
| 33 | Le Molay-Littry Calvados | 0.5 | 10% | 0.1% | 14 km |
| 34 | Montfrin Gard | 0.5 | 3.1% | 14% | 47 km |
| 35 | Tence Haute-Loire | 0.5 | 49% | 3.2% | 174 km |
| 36 | Valensole Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 0.4 | 44% | 100% | 75 km |
| 37 | Saint-Hippolyte Pyrénées-Orientales | 0.3 | 0% | 68% | 6.1 km |
| 38 | Dissay Vienne | 0.2 | 34% | 24% | 127 km |
| 39 | Lailly-en-Val Loiret | 0.1 | 52% | 60% | 210 km |
| 40 | Chasseneuil-sur-Bonnieure Charente | 0.1 | 23% | 0% | 103 km |
| 41 | Bérat Haute-Garonne | 0 | 11% | 0% | 159 km |
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is the commune’s boundary.
3.2% of Tence lies in protected areas
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Haute vallée du Lignon
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.
3.2% of Tence’s land is protected, more than in 62% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Haute-Loire has 1.5%.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
24 km of footpaths and 10 km of hiking routes cross Tence
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 87% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 91% 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 Tence is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
2 named hiking routes within 2 km
2 GR routes pass within 2 km of Tence: GR 420 and GR 7.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
The best walking months in Tence: June to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Yssingeaux, 13 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) | 9.1 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.8 | 15.6 | 15.3 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.9 | 9.5 | 8.8 |
| High (°C) | 5 | 6 | 10 | 14 | 18 | 22 | 25 | 25 | 20 | 15 | 9 | 6 |
| Rain (mm) | 62 | 50 | 49 | 82 | 110 | 92 | 79 | 78 | 91 | 100 | 101 | 57 |
March is the driest month (49 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 25 °C). 110 mm of rain falls in May, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 102 nights a year. The climate in Tence →
Next to Tence
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tence | 3.2% | 49% | 0.5 |
| Le Chambon-sur-Lignon 2,501 · 6.4 km | 4.2% | 62% | 1.2 |
| Dunières 2,670 · 12 km | 0% | 56% | 1.1 |
| Yssingeaux 7,415 · 14 km | 15% | 39% | 1.2 |
| Sainte-Sigolène 6,097 · 15 km | 1.3% | 40% | 1.3 |
| Saint-Maurice-de-Lignon 2,688 · 17 km | 100% | 50% | 1.3 |
| Saint-Didier-en-Velay 3,523 · 21 km | 0% | 35% | 1.1 |
Yssingeaux and Saint-Maurice-de-Lignon have at least twice as much protected land.
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 Tence
Is Tence in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 3.2% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Tence?
OpenStreetMap maps 24 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.5 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 10 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Tence is woodland?
49% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Tence near the sea?
No: the coast is 174 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Tence?
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.