Photo: Fagairolles 34 · CC BY-SA 4.038% of Poussan’s land is protected for nature
2.1% of Poussan is mapped woodland. 45 km of footpaths cross Poussan (1.5 km per km²). France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
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.
What kind of outdoors place is Poussan?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
What sets Poussan apart: its protected countryside, then the sea nearby. It is shorter on woodland.
How Poussan 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.
Poussan has the 19th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (6,730 to 6,863 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Noyelles-sous-Lens (5 km per km²) to Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Noyelles-sous-Lens Pas-de-Calais | 5 | 10% | 0% | 77 km |
| 2 | Saint-Thibault-des-Vignes Seine-et-Marne | 4.3 | 11% | 0% | 164 km |
| 3 | Saulx-les-Chartreux Essonne | 4.3 | 29% | 0.1% | 162 km |
| 4 | Saint-Alban-Leysse Savoie | 4.2 | 44% | 75% | 233 km |
| 5 | Domène Isère | 3.8 | 24% | 0% | 202 km |
| 6 | Lutterbach Haut-Rhin | 3.7 | 43% | 12% | 442 km |
| 7 | Puilboreau Charente-Maritime | 3.5 | 1.5% | 0% | 3.8 km |
| 8 | Liancourt Oise | 3.4 | 26% | 0% | 110 km |
| 9 | Loos-en-Gohelle Pas-de-Calais | 3 | 3.6% | 0% | 71 km |
| 10 | Saint-Julien-les-Villas Aube | 2.9 | 7.6% | 0% | 275 km |
| 11 | Saint-Victoret Bouches-du-Rhône | 2.6 | 10% | 0% | 7.1 km |
| 12 | Montfort-sur-Meu Ille-et-Vilaine | 2.5 | 30% | 0% | 40 km |
| 13 | Nyons Drôme | 2.5 | 44% | 100% | 103 km |
| 14 | Moëlan-sur-Mer Finistère | 2.5 | 30% | 0% | On it |
| 15 | Gaillon Eure | 2 | 19% | 13% | 77 km |
| 16 | Beuvrages Nord | 1.9 | 4.2% | 99% | 102 km |
| 17 | Les Essarts-le-Roi Yvelines | 1.8 | 34% | 100% | 137 km |
| 18 | Auvers-sur-Oise Val-d'Oise | 1.7 | 19% | 100% | 122 km |
| 19 | Poussan Hérault | 1.5 | 2.1% | 38% | 8.5 km |
| 20 | Divion Pas-de-Calais | 1.4 | 12% | 0% | 57 km |
| 21 | Le Coteau Loire | 1.4 | 0% | 0% | 274 km |
| 22 | Plouguerneau Finistère | 1.4 | 2.5% | 10% | On it |
| 23 | Laudun-l'Ardoise Gard | 1.3 | 19% | 2.1% | 73 km |
| 24 | Douvaine Haute-Savoie | 1.3 | 22% | 0.9% | 296 km |
| 25 | Meyreuil Bouches-du-Rhône | 1.3 | 45% | 0% | 20 km |
| 26 | Brindas Rhône | 1.2 | 8.6% | 0% | 245 km |
| 27 | Ploeren Morbihan | 1.1 | 13% | 96% | 3.1 km |
| 28 | Saint-Jean-d'Angély Charente-Maritime | 1 | 8% | 0% | 35 km |
| 29 | Quesnoy-sur-Deûle Nord | 1 | 0.8% | 0% | 52 km |
| 30 | Cambo-les-Bains Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 0.9 | 30% | 15% | 18 km |
| 31 | Neufchâteau Vosges | 0.8 | 33% | 0% | 356 km |
| 32 | Les Abrets en Dauphiné Isère | 0.7 | 17% | 0% | 238 km |
| 33 | Itteville Essonne | 0.6 | 33% | 7.1% | 177 km |
| 34 | Le Cateau-Cambrésis Nord | 0.6 | 1.4% | 0% | 130 km |
| 35 | Merville Haute-Garonne | 0.4 | 9.8% | 5.4% | 163 km |
| 36 | Chabeuil Drôme | 0.4 | 5.6% | 0% | 162 km |
| 37 | Loudun Vienne | 0.3 | 6.4% | 0% | 122 km |
| 38 | Essarts-en-Bocage Vendée | 0.3 | 4.1% | 0% | 46 km |
| 39 | Caussade Tarn-et-Garonne | 0.2 | 5.6% | 0% | 172 km |
| 40 | Le Controis-en-Sologne Loir-et-Cher | 0.2 | 24% | 6.7% | 229 km |
| 41 | Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche Haute-Vienne | 0.1 | 24% | 0% | 151 km |
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is the commune’s boundary.
9 in 10 residents of Poussan live within 800 m of a park or wood
Each square is 1 resident in 100: in green, those within 800 m, as the crow flies, of a mapped park, garden or woodland edge (INSEE’s 200 m population grid against OpenStreetMap).
Residents within 800 m of green space · share of residents
About 600 residents live further away. The distance is a straight line to the edge of a mapped park or wood, not a walk to a gate, and a wood can be private.
Protected land in and around Poussan
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Montagne de la Moure et Causse d’Aumelas
Plaine de Fabrègues-Poussan
Étang de Thau et lido de Sète à Agde
Herbiers de l’étang de Thau
Garrigues de la Moure et d’Aumelas
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.
38% of Poussan’s land is protected, more than in 85% 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.
45 km of footpaths cross Poussan
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 54% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 89% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them.
A named hiking route within 2 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
The best walking months in Poussan: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Sete, 10 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 | 9.0 |
| High (°C) | 11 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 21 | 26 | 28 | 28 | 24 | 20 | 15 | 12 |
| Rain (mm) | 52 | 41 | 43 | 49 | 40 | 25 | 14 | 26 | 63 | 85 | 61 | 45 |
July is the driest month (14 mm) and the warmest (highs of 28 °C). 85 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 5 nights a year. The climate in Poussan →
Next to Poussan
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poussan | 38% | 2.1% | 1.5 | 8.5 km |
| Balaruc-le-Vieux 2,737 · 3.2 km | 19% | 5.5% | 2.5 | 5.4 km |
| Gigean 6,639 · 3.5 km | 12% | 6.4% | 3.4 | 8.7 km |
| Montbazin 2,877 · 3.7 km | 58% | 1.9% | 2 | 11 km |
| Balaruc-les-Bains 7,139 · 4.7 km | 33% | 0.7% | 3.5 | 3.8 km |
| Villeveyrac 3,972 · 5.7 km | 85% | 7% | 0.6 | 12 km |
| Cournonsec 3,616 · 7 km | 49% | 0.2% | 2.5 | 13 km |
Villeveyrac has 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 Poussan
Is Poussan in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 38% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Poussan?
OpenStreetMap maps 45 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.5 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²).
How much of Poussan is woodland?
2.1% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Poussan near the sea?
No: the coast is 8.5 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Poussan?
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 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.