First pick
Jardin des Plantes
Park or garden
3.1 ha1.6 km of path
20 minto walk all 1.6 km of path
1.2 km north-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: AirScott · CC BY-SA 4.01.5%woodland
Outdoors in Avranches · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Avranches is within 800 m of a park or wood
1.5% of Avranches is mapped woodland. No protected area reaches Avranches; the nearest, Baie du Mont Saint-Michel (Natura 2000), is 1.8 km from the town center. 22 km of footpaths cross Avranches (1.9 km per km²). 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: Baie du Mont Saint-Michel, 1.8 km
Woodland
1.5%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
22 km
1.9 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
4.4 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
6
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Jardin des Plantes
The sea
2.5 km
from the town center to the coast
Throughout this page, the Manche 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 Avranches?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Near the seaThe coast is 2.5 km from the town center.Protected land nearbyBaie du Mont Saint-Michel (Natura 2000) is 1.8 km from the town center.Little mapped woodland1.5% of the land, against 13% for the median compared town.
What sets Avranches apart: the sea nearby, then protected land close by. It is shorter on woodland.
Against French towns
How Avranches 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
Woodland1.5%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
9out of 100
Footpaths1.9 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
56out of 100
Hiking routes0.4 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
54out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Avranches has the 20th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (9,983 to 10,326 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Maxéville (5.5 km per km²) to Saint-Loubès (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maxéville Meurthe-et-Moselle | 5.5 | 24% | 0% | 363 km |
| 2 | Serris Seine-et-Marne | 5.1 | 2.1% | 0% | 168 km |
| 3 | Villerupt Meurthe-et-Moselle | 4.2 | 30% | 0% | 288 km |
| 4 | Courrières Pas-de-Calais | 4.1 | 11% | 0% | 76 km |
| 5 | Villebon-sur-Yvette Essonne | 3.8 | 23% | 0% | 159 km |
| 6 | Oignies Pas-de-Calais | 3.7 | 12% | 0% | 77 km |
| 7 | Cabriès Bouches-du-Rhône | 3.7 | 28% | 1.6% | 11 km |
| 8 | Méry-sur-Oise Val-d'Oise | 3.6 | 35% | 0% | 124 km |
| 9 | Grigny-sur-Rhône Rhône | 3.5 | 16% | 0% | 234 km |
| 10 | Feyzin Rhône | 3.4 | 12% | 0% | 242 km |
| 11 | Soyaux Charente | 3.3 | 35% | 9% | 78 km |
| 12 | Auchel Pas-de-Calais | 3.1 | 8.6% | 0% | 55 km |
| 13 | Marly Moselle | 3 | 4.4% | 0% | 332 km |
| 14 | Sainte-Savine Aube | 2.5 | 0.6% | 0% | 271 km |
| 15 | Neuville-en-Ferrain Nord | 2.4 | 5.6% | 0% | 54 km |
| 16 | Beaumont-sur-Oise Val-d'Oise | 2.4 | 26% | 35% | 121 km |
| 17 | Pierrelaye Val-d'Oise | 2.4 | 20% | 0% | 126 km |
| 18 | Buxerolles Vienne | 2.3 | 10% | 0% | 119 km |
| 19 | Pfastatt Haut-Rhin | 2.2 | 22% | 0.1% | 443 km |
| 20 | Fillière Haute-Savoie | 2.1 | 49% | 20% | 266 km |
| 21 | Parthenay Deux-Sèvres | 2 | 3.8% | 0.1% | 78 km |
| 22 | Avranches Manche | 1.9 | 1.5% | 0% | 2.5 km |
| 23 | La Ferté-sous-Jouarre Seine-et-Marne | 1.9 | 30% | 0% | 172 km |
| 24 | Pont-Audemer Eure | 1.8 | 20% | 65% | 15 km |
| 25 | Jeumont Nord | 1.8 | 25% | 0.1% | 133 km |
| 26 | Ingré Loiret | 1.8 | 11% | 0% | 200 km |
| 27 | Le Muy Var | 1.7 | 35% | 46% | 16 km |
| 28 | Saint-Pierre-du-Mont Landes | 1.5 | 58% | 3.4% | 69 km |
| 29 | Le Beausset Var | 1.5 | 18% | 69% | 7.1 km |
| 30 | Lambesc Bouches-du-Rhône | 1.3 | 32% | 65% | 33 km |
| 31 | Apt Vaucluse | 1.2 | 29% | 100% | 58 km |
| 32 | Mazamet Tarn | 1.2 | 77% | 0.1% | 74 km |
| 33 | Ploërmel Morbihan | 1.1 | 15% | 0% | 39 km |
| 34 | La Farlède Var | 1.1 | 8.7% | 15% | 7.4 km |
| 35 | Couzeix Haute-Vienne | 1.1 | 21% | 0% | 163 km |
| 36 | Douchy-les-Mines Nord | 1 | 11% | 0% | 106 km |
| 37 | Borgo Haute-Corse | 0.8 | 11% | 28% | On it |
| 38 | Loudéac Côtes-d'Armor | 0.7 | 14% | 0% | 35 km |
| 39 | Lillers Pas-de-Calais | 0.5 | 7.8% | 0% | 53 km |
| 40 | Carentan-les-Marais Manche | 0.3 | 0.2% | 100% | On it |
| 41 | Saint-Loubès Gironde | 0.2 | 4% | 28% | 16 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 Avranches
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Jardin des Plantes leads, at 3.1 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
bois Maurice
Wood or forest
8.5 ha0.8 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.8 km of path
1.7 km south-eastfrom the center
Chemin des Buttes
Directionsto a point inside
La Bourdonnière
Park or garden
1.1 ha0.2 km of path
1.8 km south-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Jardin Bergevin
Park or garden
0.3 ha0.4 km of path
1 km north-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Square Thomas Becket
Park or garden
0.4 ha0.2 km of path
1.2 km north-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Baie du Mont Saint-Michel 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.
Natura 2000 site
Baie du Mont Saint-Michel
1.8 km from the town center
Natura 2000 site
Baie du Mont Saint-Michel
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.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
22 km of footpaths cross Avranches
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
22 km
1.9 km per km²
Hiking routes
4.4 km
waymarked: 0.4 km per km²
Woodland
1.5%
about 0.2 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
AvranchesManche medianFrance median
Footpaths1.9
Hiking routes0.4
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
AvranchesManche medianFrance median
Woodland1.5%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 56% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 91% 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 Avranches is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
4 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 2232.9 km
d'Avranches au Mont-Saint-Michel8.2 km
du Petit-Celland à Avranches8.1 km
Mortain - Mont-Saint-Michel2.5 km
GR 223 passes within 2 km of Avranches.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Avranches: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Pontorson, 15 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) | 8.7 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.6 | 15.2 | 16.1 | 15.8 | 14.3 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.1 | 8.3 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 18 | 22 | 23 | 23 | 21 | 17 | 12 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 76 | 58 | 55 | 60 | 66 | 55 | 62 | 65 | 57 | 87 | 86 | 95 |
June is the driest month (55 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 23 °C). 95 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 28 nights a year. The climate in Avranches →
Neighbors
Next to Avranches
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Ducey-Les ChérisSartilly-Baie-BocageIsigny-le-BuatPontorsonSaint-JamesVilledieu-les-Poêles-RouffignyAvranches
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avranches | 0% | 1.5% | 1.9 | 2.5 km |
| Ducey-Les Chéris 2,784 · 8.6 km | 7.8% | 13% | 0.9 | 5.3 km |
| Sartilly-Baie-Bocage 2,778 · 11 km | 0% | 3% | 0.4 | 5.9 km |
| Isigny-le-Buat 3,183 · 15 km | 0% | 5.1% | 0.4 | 13 km |
| Pontorson 4,280 · 18 km | 6.2% | 0.4% | 0.4 | On it |
| Saint-James 5,018 · 18 km | 0% | 6.3% | 0.2 | 12 km |
| Villedieu-les-Poêles-Rouffigny 3,903 · 20 km | 0.6% | 2.5% | 0.7 | 21 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 Avranches
Is Avranches in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Baie du Mont Saint-Michel, 1.8 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Avranches?
OpenStreetMap maps 22 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.9 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 4 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Avranches is woodland?
1.5% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Avranches near the sea?
No: the coast is 2.5 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Avranches?
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.