First pick
Domaine de Pélican
Wood or forest
2.2 ha
3.4 km southfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Michel Chauvet · CC BY-SA 4.04.8%of the land protected
Outdoors in Gignac · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Gignac is within 800 m of a park or wood
26% of Gignac is mapped woodland. Footpaths add up to 34 km across Gignac (1.2 km per km²). Waymarked hiking routes add up to 8 km in Gignac. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
4.8%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
26%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
34 km
1.2 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
7.9 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: Domaine de Pélican
The sea
29 km
from the town center to the coast
Throughout this page, the Hérault 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 Gignac 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 areas4.8%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
65out of 100
Woodland26%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
72out of 100
Footpaths1.2 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
37out of 100
Hiking routes0.3 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
43out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Gignac has the 17th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (6,571 to 6,730 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Bouffémont (9.6 km per km²) to Fronton (0.4 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bouffémont Val-d'Oise | 9.6 | 54% | 0.9% | 131 km |
| 2 | Grenay Pas-de-Calais | 6.3 | 6.7% | 0% | 71 km |
| 3 | Luxeuil-les-Bains Haute-Saône | 5.7 | 68% | 59% | 432 km |
| 4 | Châtelaillon-Plage Charente-Maritime | 4.6 | 0.5% | 22% | On it |
| 5 | Ceyrat Puy-de-Dôme | 4.6 | 48% | 100% | 254 km |
| 6 | Gémenos Bouches-du-Rhône | 4.1 | 22% | 92% | 11 km |
| 7 | La Bassée Nord | 3.8 | 1.1% | 0% | 64 km |
| 8 | Cassis Bouches-du-Rhône | 3.7 | 28% | 83% | On it |
| 9 | Gigean Hérault | 3.4 | 6.4% | 12% | 8.7 km |
| 10 | Honfleur Calvados | 3.2 | 9.2% | 4.7% | On it |
| 11 | La Penne-sur-Huveaune Bouches-du-Rhône | 2.8 | 41% | 37% | 7.3 km |
| 12 | Saint-Victoret Bouches-du-Rhône | 2.6 | 10% | 0% | 7.1 km |
| 13 | Canohès Pyrénées-Orientales | 2.5 | 0% | 0% | 16 km |
| 14 | Inzinzac-Lochrist Morbihan | 2.5 | 40% | 0% | 2.3 km |
| 15 | Thônes Haute-Savoie | 2.4 | 67% | 29% | 252 km |
| 16 | Bouchemaine Maine-et-Loire | 2.2 | 14% | 11% | 113 km |
| 17 | Chasse-sur-Rhône Isère | 2.2 | 12% | 0% | 232 km |
| 18 | Furiani Haute-Corse | 1.9 | 0.6% | 6.3% | On it |
| 19 | Le Lavandou Var | 1.8 | 28% | 0.1% | On it |
| 20 | Laneuveville-devant-Nancy Meurthe-et-Moselle | 1.6 | 0.9% | 0% | 371 km |
| 21 | Labarthe-sur-Lèze Haute-Garonne | 1.6 | 5.1% | 2% | 144 km |
| 22 | Saint-Pierre-d'Oléron Charente-Maritime | 1.5 | 12% | 26% | On it |
| 23 | Labruguière Tarn | 1.4 | 44% | 100% | 84 km |
| 24 | Lentilly Rhône | 1.3 | 15% | 0% | 255 km |
| 25 | Gignac Hérault | 1.2 | 26% | 4.8% | 29 km |
| 26 | Montech Tarn-et-Garonne | 1.1 | 33% | 3.3% | 180 km |
| 27 | Meung-sur-Loire Loiret | 1.1 | 7.2% | 6.4% | 204 km |
| 28 | Montauban-de-Bretagne Ille-et-Vilaine | 1 | 13% | 0% | 32 km |
| 29 | Longuenée-en-Anjou Maine-et-Loire | 1 | 6.8% | 2.3% | 114 km |
| 30 | Migennes Yonne | 0.9 | 8.7% | 0% | 280 km |
| 31 | Chalonnes-sur-Loire Maine-et-Loire | 0.9 | 11% | 33% | 99 km |
| 32 | Othis Seine-et-Marne | 0.8 | 18% | 0.6% | 142 km |
| 33 | Vigneux-de-Bretagne Loire-Atlantique | 0.8 | 20% | 0% | 34 km |
| 34 | Elven Morbihan | 0.7 | 30% | 100% | 13 km |
| 35 | Loriol-sur-Drôme Drôme | 0.7 | 12% | 4.7% | 144 km |
| 36 | Le Péage-de-Roussillon Isère | 0.6 | 13% | 28% | 209 km |
| 37 | Feignies Nord | 0.5 | 4.1% | 100% | 126 km |
| 38 | Sury-le-Comtal Loire | 0.5 | 2.4% | 0.6% | 220 km |
| 39 | Héric Loire-Atlantique | 0.4 | 13% | 0% | 42 km |
| 40 | Vallons-de-l'Erdre Loire-Atlantique | 0.4 | 13% | 0% | 81 km |
| 41 | Fronton Haute-Garonne | 0.4 | 12% | 0% | 162 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 Gignac
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Domaine de Pélican leads, at 2.2 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
4.8% of Gignac lies in protected areas
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Natura 2000 site
Gorges de l’Hérault
4.8% of the commune0.8 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Garrigues de la Moure et d’Aumelas
5.4 km from the town center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area4.8%
Natura 2000 site4.8%
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.
4.8% of Gignac’s land is protected, more than in 65% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Hérault has 12%.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
34 km of footpaths and 8 km of hiking routes cross Gignac
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
34 km
1.2 km per km²
Hiking routes
7.9 km
waymarked: 0.3 km per km²
Woodland
26%
about 7.9 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
GignacHérault medianFrance median
Footpaths1.2
Hiking routes0.3
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
GignacHérault medianFrance median
Woodland26%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 63% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 72% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 99% of Gignac’s residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Gignac: April to June
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Prades le Lez, 26 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) | 9.3 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.1 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 8.9 |
| High (°C) | 12 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 24 | 29 | 32 | 31 | 26 | 21 | 16 | 13 |
| Rain (mm) | 79 | 52 | 57 | 75 | 64 | 45 | 23 | 45 | 112 | 128 | 106 | 84 |
July is the driest month (23 mm) and the warmest (highs of 32 °C). 128 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 53 nights a year. Summer highs reach 32 °C, too hot for the outline. The climate in Gignac →
Neighbors
Next to Gignac
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Saint-André-de-SangonisAnianeCanetClermont-l'HéraultMontarnaudVailhauquèsGignac
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gignac | 4.8% | 26% | 1.2 | 29 km |
| Saint-André-de-Sangonis 6,427 · 3.8 km | 11% | 3.2% | 0.7 | 30 km |
| Aniane 2,979 · 4.5 km | 14% | 43% | 1.7 | 31 km |
| Canet 3,619 · 7.2 km | 2.8% | 2.7% | 0.8 | 27 km |
| Clermont-l'Hérault 9,461 · 10 km | 46% | 22% | 2 | 32 km |
| Montarnaud 4,208 · 12 km | 17% | 47% | 3 | 22 km |
| Vailhauquès 2,722 · 14 km | 0% | 56% | 2.8 | 23 km |
Saint-André-de-Sangonis, Aniane and Clermont-l'Hérault have at least twice as much protected land. Aniane, Montarnaud and Vailhauquès 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 Gignac
Is Gignac in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 4.8% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Gignac?
OpenStreetMap maps 34 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.2 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 8 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Gignac is woodland?
26% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Gignac near the sea?
No: the coast is 29 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Gignac?
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.