First pick
Square Lejon
Park or garden
0.3 ha0.2 km of path
1.1 km westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Francesco Bonati · CC BY 3.034%of the land protected
Outdoors in Commelle-Vernay · protected areas, woods and footpaths
34% of Commelle-Vernay’s land is protected for nature
Footpaths add up to 9 km across Commelle-Vernay (0.7 km per km²). 6.3% of Commelle-Vernay is mapped woodland. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
34%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
6.3%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
9.5 km
0.7 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Green space nearby
89%
of residents within 800 m of a park or wood
Compared town: 100%
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.
Against French towns
How Commelle-Vernay 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 areas34%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
83out of 100
Woodland6.3%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
28out of 100
Footpaths0.7 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
23out of 100
Hiking routes0 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
12out of 100
Green space nearby89%Share of residents within 800 m of a mapped park or wood
7out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Commelle-Vernay has the 18th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (3,018 to 3,084 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Montlignon (5.5 km per km²) to La Roche-Chalais (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montlignon Val-d'Oise | 5.5 | 50% | 0% | 133 km |
| 2 | Albigny-sur-Saône Rhône | 4.8 | 25% | 0% | 263 km |
| 3 | Coupvray Seine-et-Marne | 4.3 | 19% | 0% | 164 km |
| 4 | Brax Haute-Garonne | 3.4 | 29% | 0% | 162 km |
| 5 | Feucherolles Yvelines | 3.2 | 33% | 0% | 133 km |
| 6 | La Turbie Alpes-Maritimes | 3.1 | 32% | 18% | 2 km |
| 7 | Pont-à-Vendin Pas-de-Calais | 2.9 | 13% | 0% | 72 km |
| 8 | Emmerin Nord | 2.8 | 6.3% | 0% | 64 km |
| 9 | Chéreng Nord | 2.5 | 11% | 0% | 69 km |
| 10 | Chapareillan Isère | 2.2 | 57% | 98% | 221 km |
| 11 | Chens-sur-Léman Haute-Savoie | 1.9 | 41% | 5% | 299 km |
| 12 | Gandrange Moselle | 1.9 | 12% | 0% | 313 km |
| 13 | Paimbœuf Loire-Atlantique | 1.9 | 0.6% | 70% | 10 km |
| 14 | Agon-Coutainville Manche | 1.7 | 1.1% | 15% | On it |
| 15 | Damelevières Meurthe-et-Moselle | 1.6 | 46% | 0% | 386 km |
| 16 | La Motte Var | 1.3 | 34% | 25% | 18 km |
| 17 | Valmont Moselle | 1.2 | 28% | 0% | 357 km |
| 18 | Yenne Savoie | 1.2 | 35% | 19% | 252 km |
| 19 | Villeneuve-de-Berg Ardèche | 1.2 | 5.9% | 0% | 116 km |
| 20 | Gréoux-les-Bains Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 1.2 | 62% | 20% | 63 km |
| 21 | Aubusson Creuse | 1 | 42% | 0% | 235 km |
| 22 | Saint-Ouen Loir-et-Cher | 0.9 | 14% | 0% | 186 km |
| 23 | Gasny Eure | 0.8 | 35% | 9.7% | 98 km |
| 24 | Commelle-Vernay Loire | 0.7 | 6.3% | 34% | 271 km |
| 25 | Nontron Dordogne | 0.7 | 37% | 100% | 110 km |
| 26 | Port-Saint-Père Loire-Atlantique | 0.7 | 9.5% | 16% | 20 km |
| 27 | Breuillet Charente-Maritime | 0.7 | 20% | 13% | On it |
| 28 | Noé Haute-Garonne | 0.7 | 7.6% | 5.6% | 150 km |
| 29 | Senonches Eure-et-Loir | 0.7 | 68% | 100% | 109 km |
| 30 | Pommeuse Seine-et-Marne | 0.6 | 19% | 0% | 179 km |
| 31 | Lapeyrouse-Fossat Haute-Garonne | 0.5 | 14% | 0% | 146 km |
| 32 | Saint-Denis-de-l'Hôtel Loiret | 0.4 | 38% | 4% | 217 km |
| 33 | Le Grand-Lemps Isère | 0.4 | 24% | 10% | 220 km |
| 34 | Châtillon-sur-Loire Loiret | 0.4 | 15% | 9.3% | 271 km |
| 35 | Crouy Aisne | 0.3 | 23% | 0% | 148 km |
| 36 | Brienon-sur-Armançon Yonne | 0.3 | 10% | 0% | 281 km |
| 37 | Blancs-Coteaux Marne | 0.2 | 35% | 2.1% | 220 km |
| 38 | Miramont-de-Guyenne Lot-et-Garonne | 0.2 | 11% | 0% | 88 km |
| 39 | Gémozac Charente-Maritime | 0.1 | 8.4% | 0% | 13 km |
| 40 | Montesquieu-Volvestre Haute-Garonne | 0.1 | 22% | 0% | 151 km |
| 41 | La Roche-Chalais Dordogne | 0.1 | 56% | 6.7% | 50 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 Commelle-Vernay
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Square Lejon leads, at 0.3 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Close to home
9 in 10 residents of Commelle-Vernay 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).
89% within 800 m11% further
Residents within 800 m of green space · share of residents
Commelle-VernayLoire medianFrance median
Within 800 m89%
0%50%100%
About 300 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 Commelle-Vernay
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 la Loire aval
27% of the commune1.2 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Milieux alluviaux et aquatiques de la Loire
10% of the commune1.1 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area34%
Natura 2000 site34%
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.
34% of Commelle-Vernay’s land is protected, more than in 83% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Loire has 1.2%.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
9 km of footpaths cross Commelle-Vernay
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
9.5 km
0.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked: 0 km per km²
Woodland
6.3%
about 0.8 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Commelle-VernayLoire medianFrance median
Footpaths0.7
Hiking routes0
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Commelle-VernayLoire medianFrance median
Woodland6.3%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 77% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less 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.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Commelle-Vernay: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Riorges - Man, 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) | 9.0 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 14.9 | 15.7 | 15.4 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.4 | 8.7 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 9 | 14 | 17 | 21 | 25 | 28 | 28 | 23 | 18 | 12 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 42 | 33 | 38 | 53 | 78 | 74 | 73 | 70 | 68 | 69 | 68 | 45 |
February is the driest month (33 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 28 °C). 78 mm of rain falls in May, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 61 nights a year. The climate in Commelle-Vernay →
Neighbors
Next to Commelle-Vernay
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
VillerestLe CoteauRoanneRiorgesMablyRenaisonCommelle-Vernay
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
Renaison is 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 Commelle-Vernay
Is Commelle-Vernay in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 34% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Commelle-Vernay?
OpenStreetMap maps 9 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.7 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²).
How much of Commelle-Vernay is woodland?
6.3% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Commelle-Vernay near the sea?
No: the coast is 271 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Commelle-Vernay?
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 9, 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.