First pick
Forêt départemento-domaniale de Takamaka
Wood or forest
1,531 ha7.3 km of path
1 h 35 minto walk all 7.3 km of path
12 km westfrom the center
Sentier de TakamakaSentier de Retour du Canyon Takamaka 1
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: JessydeVilly · CC BY-SA 4.078%of the land protected
Outdoors in Saint-Benoît · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Saint-Benoît lies in the heart of Réunion National Park
Protected areas cover 78% of Saint-Benoît’s land. 59% of Saint-Benoît is mapped woodland. 95 km of footpaths cross Saint-Benoît (0.4 km per km²). France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
78%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
59%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
95 km
0.4 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
17 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Green space nearby
76%
of residents within 800 m of a park or wood
Compared town: 100%
The sea
On it
the commune touches the coast, 1.6 km from its center
Throughout this page, the Réunion 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 Saint-Benoît?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
In the heart of Réunion National Park59% of the commune is in the park’s core, its strictly protected zone.A wooded commune59% mapped woodland, more than in 95% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.On the coastThe commune touches the sea; the coast is 1.6 km from its center.Few mapped footpaths0.4 km per km², against 1.7 km per km² for the median compared town.
What sets Saint-Benoît apart: the national park all around it, then its woods. It is shorter on footpaths.
Against French towns
How Saint-Benoît 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 areas78%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
90out of 100
Woodland59%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
95out of 100
Footpaths0.4 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
11out of 100
Hiking routes0.1 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
29out of 100
Green space nearby76%Share of residents within 800 m of a mapped park or wood
2out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Saint-Benoît has the fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (36,301 to 40,983 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Saint-Martin-d'Hères (10.1 km per km²) to Saint-Benoît (0.4 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saint-Martin-d'Hères Isère | 10.1 | 14% | 0% | 203 km |
| 2 | Échirolles Isère | 9.9 | 11% | 0% | 200 km |
| 3 | Paris 6e Paris | 8.4 | 1.7% | 0% | 149 km |
| 4 | Annemasse Haute-Savoie | 8.3 | 2.4% | 0% | 286 km |
| 5 | Franconville Val-d'Oise | 8.2 | 27% | 0% | 132 km |
| 6 | Marseille 1er Bouches-du-Rhône | 7.5 | 0.1% | 0% | On it |
| 7 | Marseille 6e Bouches-du-Rhône | 6.8 | 1.2% | 0% | 1 km |
| 8 | Neuilly-sur-Marne Seine-Saint-Denis | 6.6 | 9.5% | 11% | 157 km |
| 9 | Colomiers Haute-Garonne | 6.4 | 5.5% | 0% | 155 km |
| 10 | Romainville Seine-Saint-Denis | 6 | 11% | 0% | 151 km |
| 11 | Palaiseau Essonne | 5.9 | 18% | 0% | 158 km |
| 12 | Boulogne-sur-Mer Pas-de-Calais | 5.8 | 1.3% | 0% | On it |
| 13 | Creil Oise | 5.8 | 25% | 41% | 117 km |
| 14 | Chartres Eure-et-Loir | 5.5 | 2.4% | 0% | 138 km |
| 15 | Vitrolles Bouches-du-Rhône | 4.9 | 8.9% | 33% | 9.7 km |
| 16 | Athis-Mons Essonne | 4.6 | 4% | 0% | 165 km |
| 17 | Meyzieu Rhône | 4.2 | 13% | 26% | 256 km |
| 18 | Oullins-Pierre-Bénite Rhône | 4.2 | 2.3% | 0% | 246 km |
| 19 | Châtillon Hauts-de-Seine | 4.2 | 0.2% | 0% | 152 km |
| 20 | Pontault-Combault Seine-et-Marne | 4.1 | 27% | 0% | 166 km |
| 21 | Six-Fours-les-Plages Var | 3.9 | 34% | 21% | On it |
| 22 | Saint-Raphaël Var | 3.8 | 60% | 61% | On it |
| 23 | Thonon-les-Bains Haute-Savoie | 3.8 | 17% | 8.5% | 299 km |
| 24 | Douai Nord | 3.5 | 5.3% | 1.1% | 88 km |
| 25 | Marcq-en-Barœul Nord | 3.4 | 3.7% | 0% | 60 km |
| 26 | Compiègne Oise | 3.4 | 74% | 76% | 119 km |
| 27 | Savigny-sur-Orge Essonne | 3.4 | 2.2% | 0% | 166 km |
| 28 | La Ciotat Bouches-du-Rhône | 3.4 | 20% | 27% | On it |
| 29 | Conflans-Sainte-Honorine Yvelines | 3.2 | 3.8% | 0% | 126 km |
| 30 | Wattrelos Nord | 3.1 | 3.3% | 0% | 60 km |
| 31 | Tremblay-en-France Seine-Saint-Denis | 3 | 3.9% | 0% | 151 km |
| 32 | Poissy Yvelines | 3 | 12% | 0% | 131 km |
| 33 | Joué-lès-Tours Indre-et-Loire | 2.5 | 15% | 0% | 179 km |
| 34 | Bezons Val-d'Oise | 2.4 | 1.9% | 0% | 137 km |
| 35 | Montélimar Drôme | 1.8 | 8% | 0.9% | 123 km |
| 36 | La Possession Réunion | 1.6 | 67% | 88% | On it |
| 37 | Draguignan Var | 1.5 | 29% | 0% | 26 km |
| 38 | Haguenau Bas-Rhin | 1 | 81% | 76% | 436 km |
| 39 | Sainte-Marie Réunion | 0.7 | 50% | 60% | On it |
| 40 | Saint-Joseph Réunion | 0.6 | 50% | 85% | On it |
| 41 | Saint-Benoît Réunion | 0.4 | 59% | 78% | On it |
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 Saint-Benoît
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Forêt départemento-domaniale de Takamaka leads, at 1,531 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Forêt Sainte-Marguerite
Wood or forest
101 ha2.2 km of path
30 minto walk all 2.2 km of path
7.8 km south-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Takamaka
Park or garden
1.8 ha0.8 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.8 km of path
8.8 km westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Close to home
8 in 10 residents of Saint-Benoît 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).
76% within 800 m24% further
Residents within 800 m of green space · share of residents
Saint-BenoîtRéunion medianFrance median
Within 800 m76%
0%50%100%
About 9,000 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 areas
Protected land in and around Saint-Benoît
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
National park, core
Réunion National Park
59% of the commune3.4 km from the center
National park, outer area
Réunion National Park
19% of the commune0.6 km from the center
Nature reserve
Bébour nature reserve
19% of the commune14 km from the center
Nature reserve
Mazerin nature reserve
12 km from the town center
Nature reserve
Grand Matarum nature reserve
23 km from the town center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area78%
National park, core59%
National park, outer area19%
Nature reserve19%
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.
78% of Saint-Benoît’s land is protected, more than in 90% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Réunion has 69%. A national park’s outer area (aire d’adhésion) is made of the communes that signed the park’s charter: it guides how they grow, but it isn’t strict protection like the core. Natura 2000 doesn’t apply in the overseas départements.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
95 km of footpaths and 17 km of hiking routes cross Saint-Benoît
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
95 km
0.4 km per km²
Hiking routes
17 km
waymarked: 0.1 km per km²
Woodland
59%
about 135.8 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Saint-BenoîtRéunion medianFrance median
Footpaths0.4
Hiking routes0.1
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Saint-BenoîtRéunion medianFrance median
Woodland59%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 89% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 95% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them.
7 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
Sentier du Piton des Neiges7.2 km
PR44.5 km
sentier de Takamaka3.5 km
Sentier de l'École normale3.4 km
Sentier Jacky Inard3.4 km
bassin des hirondelles2.5 km
Sentier du Trou de Fer1.6 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Saint-Benoît: October and November
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Saint-Benoit, 0.9 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) | 13.3 | 12.8 | 12.3 | 11.6 | 11.1 | 10.9 | 11.0 | 11.4 | 12.0 | 12.6 | 13.2 | 13.4 |
| High (°C) | 30 | 31 | 30 | 29 | 28 | 26 | 25 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| Rain (mm) | 469 | 541 | 535 | 349 | 260 | 179 | 179 | 155 | 145 | 133 | 181 | 330 |
October is the driest month (133 mm) and February the warmest (highs of 31 °C). 541 mm of rain falls in February, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 31 °C, too hot for the outline. The climate in Saint-Benoît →
Neighbors
Next to Saint-Benoît
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Bras-PanonSaint-AndréLa Plaine-des-PalmistesSainte-RoseSainte-SuzanneSalazieSaint-Benoît
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Benoît | 78% | 59% | 0.4 | On it |
| Bras-Panon 13,012 · 7.3 km | 83% | 69% | 0.6 | On it |
| Saint-André 58,885 · 12 km | 31% | 16% | 0.6 | On it |
| La Plaine-des-Palmistes 6,936 · 13 km | 100% | 64% | 0.5 | 14 km |
| Sainte-Rose 6,557 · 14 km | 100% | 48% | 0.5 | On it |
| Sainte-Suzanne 25,551 · 18 km | 49% | 31% | 0.4 | On it |
| Salazie 7,268 · 21 km | 100% | 63% | 0.9 | 16 km |
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 Saint-Benoît
Is Saint-Benoît in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Saint-Benoît lies in Réunion National Park (59% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Saint-Benoît?
OpenStreetMap maps 95 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.4 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 17 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Saint-Benoît is woodland?
59% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Saint-Benoît near the sea?
Yes: the commune touches the coast, 1.6 km from its center.
When is the best time for walking in Saint-Benoît?
October and November: 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 8, 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.