Photo: Pilat.Oueb · CC BY-SA 4.0Chavanay lies inside Pilat Regional Nature Park
Protected areas cover 99% of Chavanay’s land. Mapped woodland covers 21% of Chavanay. 12 km of footpaths cross Chavanay (0.8 km per km²). France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Throughout this page, the Loire median and the France median are the median of compared communes (those with an overall grade), each figure its own median.
How Chavanay 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.
Chavanay has the 19th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (2,858 to 2,911 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Batz-sur-Mer (6.4 km per km²) to Précigné (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Batz-sur-Mer Loire-Atlantique | 6.4 | 1.4% | 52% | On it |
| 2 | Giromagny Territoire de Belfort | 3 | 42% | 100% | 443 km |
| 3 | Sainte-Anne-d'Auray Morbihan | 2.9 | 12% | 100% | 2.5 km |
| 4 | Le Pouzin Ardèche | 2.5 | 4.6% | 28% | 142 km |
| 5 | Blaye-les-Mines Tarn | 2.5 | 10% | 0% | 127 km |
| 6 | Fresnoy-le-Grand Aisne | 2.2 | 2.4% | 0% | 127 km |
| 7 | Pérignat-lès-Sarliève Puy-de-Dôme | 2.2 | 3.7% | 4.6% | 251 km |
| 8 | Vitry-sur-Orne Moselle | 2.2 | 63% | 0% | 313 km |
| 9 | Montbazin Hérault | 2 | 1.9% | 58% | 11 km |
| 10 | Bar-sur-Seine Aube | 1.7 | 40% | 0% | 302 km |
| 11 | Saint-Jean-en-Royans Drôme | 1.7 | 60% | 100% | 177 km |
| 12 | Charquemont Doubs | 1.5 | 39% | 100% | 385 km |
| 13 | Argentat-sur-Dordogne Corrèze | 1.4 | 59% | 2.2% | 199 km |
| 14 | Orcet Puy-de-Dôme | 1.4 | 5.6% | 0% | 248 km |
| 15 | Megève Haute-Savoie | 1.3 | 40% | 0% | 241 km |
| 16 | Tresserve Savoie | 1.3 | 6.1% | 66% | 245 km |
| 17 | Trélivan Côtes-d'Armor | 1.1 | 18% | 100% | 9.5 km |
| 18 | Cany-Barville Seine-Maritime | 1.1 | 20% | 0% | 7.9 km |
| 19 | Rozay-en-Brie Seine-et-Marne | 1.1 | 1.1% | 0.3% | 191 km |
| 20 | Toulenne Gironde | 1.1 | 8.9% | 7.5% | 56 km |
| 21 | L'Étrat Loire | 1 | 19% | 0% | 215 km |
| 22 | Colombier-Saugnieu Rhône | 1 | 2.7% | 0% | 252 km |
| 23 | Chavanay Loire | 0.8 | 21% | 99% | 213 km |
| 24 | Noailles Oise | 0.8 | 46% | 0% | 101 km |
| 25 | Bourg-Argental Loire | 0.8 | 42% | 100% | 197 km |
| 26 | Saint-Priest-Taurion Haute-Vienne | 0.6 | 45% | 0% | 175 km |
| 27 | Aoste Isère | 0.6 | 13% | 4.6% | 245 km |
| 28 | Balbigny Loire | 0.6 | 12% | 5.8% | 251 km |
| 29 | Argentré Mayenne | 0.5 | 3.1% | 0% | 80 km |
| 30 | Labouheyre Landes | 0.5 | 74% | 100% | 30 km |
| 31 | Dormans Marne | 0.4 | 24% | 0% | 188 km |
| 32 | Neuville-sur-Escaut Nord | 0.4 | 0.8% | 0% | 105 km |
| 33 | Pennautier Aude | 0.3 | 7.6% | 0% | 65 km |
| 34 | Sennecey-le-Grand Saône-et-Loire | 0.3 | 33% | 0% | 348 km |
| 35 | Rosières-en-Santerre Somme | 0.3 | 0.2% | 0% | 84 km |
| 36 | Yvrac Gironde | 0.3 | 7.7% | 0% | 17 km |
| 37 | Lafrançaise Tarn-et-Garonne | 0.3 | 19% | 0.8% | 175 km |
| 38 | Thiviers Dordogne | 0.2 | 27% | 0.1% | 127 km |
| 39 | Auneuil Oise | 0.2 | 17% | 4.7% | 88 km |
| 40 | Avord Cher | 0.1 | 3.2% | 0% | 300 km |
| 41 | Précigné Sarthe | 0.1 | 23% | 0% | 123 km |
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is the commune’s boundary.
Protected land in and around Chavanay
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Pilat Regional Nature Park
Vallons et combes du Pilat rhodanien
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.
99% of Chavanay’s land is protected, more than in 92% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Loire has 1.2%. A regional nature park is a charter between communes to look after a landscape: farming, building and hunting go on inside it.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
12 km of footpaths and 7 km of hiking routes cross Chavanay
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 74% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 65% 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 Chavanay is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
3 named hiking routes within 2 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
The best walking months in Chavanay: April and June to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at St-Desirat Sa, 18 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 | 13.5 | 14.9 | 15.6 | 15.3 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.4 | 8.7 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 10 | 14 | 18 | 22 | 26 | 29 | 28 | 24 | 19 | 12 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 45 | 30 | 36 | 54 | 70 | 56 | 57 | 49 | 66 | 94 | 94 | 47 |
February is the driest month (30 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 29 °C). 94 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 37 nights a year. The climate in Chavanay →
Next to Chavanay
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chavanay | 99% | 21% | 0.8 |
| Pélussin 3,727 · 4.2 km | 100% | 50% | 2.7 |
| Saint-Clair-du-Rhône 3,778 · 4.2 km | 0.2% | 19% | 1.2 |
| Saint-Maurice-l'Exil 6,889 · 5 km | 5.4% | 11% | 1.2 |
| Condrieu 3,957 · 6.1 km | 100% | 20% | 2 |
| Le Péage-de-Roussillon 6,718 · 7.1 km | 28% | 13% | 0.6 |
| Roussillon 8,595 · 8.2 km | 0% | 12% | 0.6 |
Pélussin is more wooded.
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 Chavanay
Is Chavanay in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Chavanay lies in Pilat Regional Nature Park (99% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Chavanay?
OpenStreetMap maps 12 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.8 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 7 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Chavanay is woodland?
21% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Chavanay near the sea?
No: the coast is 213 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Chavanay?
April and 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 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.