Photo: Fagairolles 34 · CC BY-SA 4.0Vias is on the coast
44% of Vias’ land lies in protected areas. Mapped woodland covers 5.5% of Vias. Footpaths add up to 42 km across Vias (1.3 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 Vias?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
What sets Vias apart: the sea, then its protected countryside.
How Vias 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.
Vias has the 17th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (5,886 to 6,019 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Clapiers (9.8 km per km²) to Saint-Denis-de-Pile (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clapiers Hérault | 9.8 | 42% | 3.1% | 14 km |
| 2 | Ablon-sur-Seine Val-de-Marne | 5.8 | 6.2% | 0% | 165 km |
| 3 | La Verrière Yvelines | 5.3 | 14% | 1.3% | 139 km |
| 4 | Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer Var | 3.9 | 35% | 0% | On it |
| 5 | Villennes-sur-Seine Yvelines | 3.7 | 17% | 0% | 128 km |
| 6 | Fleury-sur-Orne Calvados | 3.6 | 3.3% | 0% | 17 km |
| 7 | Noyelles-Godault Pas-de-Calais | 3.5 | 6.9% | 0.2% | 81 km |
| 8 | Tain-l'Hermitage Drôme | 3.1 | 0.9% | 0% | 179 km |
| 9 | Roost-Warendin Nord | 2.9 | 22% | 7.5% | 85 km |
| 10 | Quiévrechain Nord | 2.5 | 13% | 97% | 107 km |
| 11 | Raon-l'Étape Vosges | 2.4 | 69% | 2% | 421 km |
| 12 | Trith-Saint-Léger Nord | 2.1 | 6.9% | 0% | 106 km |
| 13 | Lavelanet Ariège | 2 | 40% | 0% | 97 km |
| 14 | Marnaz Haute-Savoie | 2 | 51% | 9.8% | 265 km |
| 15 | Saint-Pierre-d'Irube Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 2 | 27% | 13% | 8.6 km |
| 16 | Benfeld Bas-Rhin | 2 | 24% | 20% | 460 km |
| 17 | Hombourg-Haut Moselle | 1.9 | 48% | 0% | 357 km |
| 18 | Ciboure Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 1.8 | 30% | 16% | On it |
| 19 | Sains-en-Gohelle Pas-de-Calais | 1.7 | 1.5% | 0% | 70 km |
| 20 | Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade Bouches-du-Rhône | 1.7 | 26% | 5.4% | 34 km |
| 21 | Saint-André-de-la-Roche Alpes-Maritimes | 1.6 | 28% | 0% | 4.4 km |
| 22 | Saint-Girons Ariège | 1.5 | 36% | 100% | 155 km |
| 23 | Fontenilles Haute-Garonne | 1.4 | 13% | 0% | 163 km |
| 24 | Loon-Plage Nord | 1.3 | 2.6% | 0.2% | On it |
| 25 | Vias Hérault | 1.3 | 5.5% | 44% | On it |
| 26 | Donzère Drôme | 1.2 | 22% | 8.5% | 110 km |
| 27 | Naintré Vienne | 1.1 | 33% | 0% | 134 km |
| 28 | Aixe-sur-Vienne Haute-Vienne | 1 | 12% | 0% | 153 km |
| 29 | Grand-Champ Morbihan | 0.9 | 17% | 0% | 11 km |
| 30 | Montdidier Somme | 0.8 | 5.3% | 0% | 87 km |
| 31 | Blanzy Saône-et-Loire | 0.8 | 17% | 0% | 349 km |
| 32 | Condé-en-Normandie Calvados | 0.7 | 8.1% | 18% | 52 km |
| 33 | Corbie Somme | 0.6 | 16% | 4.5% | 66 km |
| 34 | Commentry Allier | 0.5 | 13% | 0% | 288 km |
| 35 | Fontenay-Trésigny Seine-et-Marne | 0.5 | 25% | 0% | 185 km |
| 36 | Aubignan Vaucluse | 0.5 | 3.8% | 42% | 73 km |
| 37 | Bellevigne-en-Layon Maine-et-Loire | 0.4 | 14% | 0.1% | 113 km |
| 38 | Bricquebec-en-Cotentin Manche | 0.4 | 13% | 0% | 13 km |
| 39 | Vexin-sur-Epte Eure | 0.3 | 16% | 2.2% | 91 km |
| 40 | Nègrepelisse Tarn-et-Garonne | 0.2 | 13% | 1% | 167 km |
| 41 | Saint-Denis-de-Pile Gironde | 0.2 | 11% | 14% | 31 km |
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is the commune’s boundary.
44% of Vias lies in protected areas
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Roque-Haute nature reserve
Est et sud de Béziers
Plateau de Roquehaute
Côtes sableuses de l’infralittoral Languedocien
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.
44% of Vias’ land is protected, more than in 86% 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.
42 km of footpaths cross Vias
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 60% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 75% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 99% of Vias’ 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).
The best walking months in Vias: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Beziers-Vias, 5.4 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) | 9.3 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.1 | 13.9 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 9.0 |
| High (°C) | 12 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 22 | 27 | 30 | 29 | 25 | 21 | 16 | 13 |
| Rain (mm) | 48 | 52 | 41 | 51 | 42 | 26 | 14 | 26 | 62 | 84 | 69 | 41 |
July is the driest month (14 mm) and the warmest (highs of 30 °C). 84 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 22 nights a year. The climate in Vias →
Next to Vias
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vias | 44% | 5.5% | 1.3 | On it |
| Agde 29,939 · 5.2 km | 22% | 4.4% | 3.2 | On it |
| Bessan 5,838 · 5.9 km | 39% | 3.4% | 0.6 | 8.1 km |
| Portiragnes 3,530 · 6.2 km | 80% | 5% | 1.9 | On it |
| Cers 2,503 · 9 km | 36% | 4% | 0.2 | 6.6 km |
| Florensac 5,254 · 9.4 km | 0.8% | 3.6% | 0.6 | 10 km |
| Saint-Thibéry 3,132 · 9.6 km | 0.2% | 6.2% | 0.8 | 12 km |
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 Vias
Is Vias in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 44% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Vias?
OpenStreetMap maps 42 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.3 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²).
How much of Vias is woodland?
5.5% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Vias near the sea?
Yes: the commune touches the coast, 2.3 km from its center.
When is the best time for walking in Vias?
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.