First pick
Parc de Wunsiedel
Park or garden
2.6 ha1.1 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.1 km of path
1.3 km south-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: User:civodule · CC BY-SA 3.054%woodland
Outdoors in Mende · protected areas, woods and footpaths
54% of Mende is woodland, more than in 9 in 10 French towns
No protected area reaches Mende; the nearest, Cévennes National Park, is 1.8 km from the town center. Footpaths add up to 87 km across Mende (2.4 km per km²). Mende has 14 km of waymarked hiking routes. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
0%
of the commune’s land
Nearest: Cévennes National Park, 1.8 km
Woodland
54%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
87 km
2.4 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
14 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
2
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Parc de Wunsiedel
Throughout this page, the Lozère 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 Mende?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
A wooded commune54% mapped woodland, more than in 93% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.Protected land nearbyCévennes National Park is 1.8 km from the town center.
What sets Mende apart: its woods, then protected land close by.
Against French towns
How Mende 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 areas0%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
48out of 100
Woodland54%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
93out of 100
Footpaths2.4 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
64out of 100
Hiking routes0.4 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
52out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Mende has the 21st fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (12,199 to 12,731 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Villetaneuse (11 km per km²) to Mèze (0.5 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Villetaneuse Seine-Saint-Denis | 11 | 5.1% | 0% | 140 km |
| 2 | La Queue-en-Brie Val-de-Marne | 6.3 | 47% | 0% | 165 km |
| 3 | Bayeux Calvados | 6.1 | 2.8% | 0% | 7.4 km |
| 4 | Marquette-lez-Lille Nord | 5.6 | 4.2% | 0% | 58 km |
| 5 | L'Union Haute-Garonne | 5.4 | 4.4% | 0% | 146 km |
| 6 | L'Isle-Adam Val-d'Oise | 5.2 | 60% | 0.2% | 121 km |
| 7 | Châlette-sur-Loing Loiret | 5.1 | 43% | 0% | 234 km |
| 8 | Riedisheim Haut-Rhin | 4.4 | 29% | 0% | 440 km |
| 9 | Harnes Pas-de-Calais | 4.2 | 7.3% | 0% | 75 km |
| 10 | Saint-Avé Morbihan | 3.7 | 24% | 97% | 4.5 km |
| 11 | Granville Manche | 3.6 | 1.3% | 7.2% | On it |
| 12 | Chambray-lès-Tours Indre-et-Loire | 3.5 | 24% | 0% | 181 km |
| 13 | Oissel-sur-Seine Seine-Maritime | 3.5 | 48% | 3.9% | 54 km |
| 14 | Raismes Nord | 3.2 | 71% | 100% | 100 km |
| 15 | Triel-sur-Seine Yvelines | 2.8 | 34% | 0% | 124 km |
| 16 | Le Chambon-Feugerolles Loire | 2.8 | 43% | 0.1% | 205 km |
| 17 | Cogolin Var | 2.7 | 46% | 0% | On it |
| 18 | Andernos-les-Bains Gironde | 2.6 | 46% | 3.4% | On it |
| 19 | Creutzwald Moselle | 2.4 | 57% | 0% | 348 km |
| 20 | Quimperlé Finistère | 2.4 | 24% | 3.9% | 9.2 km |
| 21 | Mende Lozère | 2.4 | 54% | 0% | 115 km |
| 22 | Aubergenville Yvelines | 2.4 | 9.1% | 0% | 121 km |
| 23 | Guidel Morbihan | 2.3 | 23% | 7.8% | On it |
| 24 | La Chapelle-Saint-Luc Aube | 2.3 | 12% | 0% | 270 km |
| 25 | Obernai Bas-Rhin | 2 | 16% | 1.9% | 447 km |
| 26 | Brignais Rhône | 2 | 14% | 0% | 241 km |
| 27 | Pont-Sainte-Maxence Oise | 1.8 | 47% | 99% | 118 km |
| 28 | Solliès-Pont Var | 1.7 | 28% | 0% | 11 km |
| 29 | Aubenas Ardèche | 1.6 | 6.8% | 18% | 120 km |
| 30 | Vernouillet Eure-et-Loir | 1.5 | 9.6% | 0% | 107 km |
| 31 | Châteaubriant Loire-Atlantique | 1.5 | 9.1% | 0% | 76 km |
| 32 | Pont-du-Château Puy-de-Dôme | 1.2 | 8.9% | 9.7% | 257 km |
| 33 | Bischwiller Bas-Rhin | 1.2 | 7.2% | 0% | 443 km |
| 34 | Louvres Val-d'Oise | 1.2 | 2.3% | 0% | 139 km |
| 35 | Sablé-sur-Sarthe Sarthe | 1 | 12% | 0% | 116 km |
| 36 | Gisors Eure | 0.9 | 34% | 0% | 87 km |
| 37 | Comines Nord | 0.9 | 2.3% | 0% | 48 km |
| 38 | Saint-André-de-Cubzac Gironde | 0.8 | 5.4% | 5.2% | 12 km |
| 39 | Vidauban Var | 0.7 | 22% | 34% | 20 km |
| 40 | Rognac Bouches-du-Rhône | 0.7 | 22% | 10% | 16 km |
| 41 | Mèze Hérault | 0.5 | 5.2% | 27% | 6.3 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 Mende
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc de Wunsiedel leads, at 2.6 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Jardin Pierre Couderc
Park or garden
0.3 ha
0.7 km south-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Cévennes National Park is the nearest protected area, 1.8 km away
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
National park, outer area
Cévennes National Park
1.8 km from the town center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area0%
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.
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.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
87 km of footpaths and 14 km of hiking routes cross Mende
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
87 km
2.4 km per km²
Hiking routes
14 km
waymarked: 0.4 km per km²
Woodland
54%
about 19.9 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
MendeLozère medianFrance median
Footpaths2.4
Hiking routes0.4
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
MendeLozère medianFrance median
Woodland54%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 64% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 93% 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 Mende is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
2 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
UV 03 : Barjac - Lanuéjols21 km
UV 02 : Le Monastier - Barjac1 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Mende: April and June to August
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Mende-Ville, 0.8 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) | 9.2 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.8 | 15.5 | 15.2 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.5 | 8.8 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 9 | 13 | 15 | 20 | 24 | 27 | 27 | 22 | 17 | 11 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 60 | 50 | 49 | 79 | 84 | 70 | 52 | 63 | 90 | 86 | 94 | 69 |
March is the driest month (49 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 27 °C). 94 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 83 nights a year. The climate in Mende →
Neighbors
Next to Mende
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
MarvejolsMende
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mende | 0% | 54% | 2.4 |
| Marvejols 4,764 · 16 km | 0.1% | 19% | 1.6 |
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 Mende
Is Mende in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Cévennes National Park, 1.8 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Mende?
OpenStreetMap maps 87 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 2.4 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 14 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Mende is woodland?
54% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Mende near the sea?
No: the coast is 115 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Mende?
April and June to August: 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.