First pick
Bois des Vignettes
Wood or forest
17 ha2.6 km of path
35 minto walk all 2.6 km of path
1 km south-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Unknown photographer · Public domain5.6%woodland
Outdoors in Coutances · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Coutances is within 800 m of a park or wood
Coutances has 12 km of waymarked hiking routes. No protected area reaches Coutances; the nearest, Littoral Ouest du Cotentin de Bréhal à Pirou (Natura 2000), is 5.6 km from the town center. Footpaths add up to 30 km across Coutances (2.4 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: Littoral Ouest du Cotentin de Bréhal à Pirou, 5.6 km
Woodland
5.6%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
30 km
2.4 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
12 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
5
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Bois des Vignettes
The sea
5.7 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 Coutances?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
On waymarked routes12 km of GR and other hiking routes cross the commune.Near the seaThe coast is 5.7 km from the town center.Protected land nearbyLittoral Ouest du Cotentin de Bréhal à Pirou (Natura 2000) is 5.6 km from the town center.
What sets Coutances apart: its hiking routes, then the sea nearby.
Against French towns
How Coutances 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
22out of 100
Woodland5.6%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
25out of 100
Footpaths2.4 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
64out of 100
Hiking routes0.9 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
81out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Coutances has the 18th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (8,202 to 8,443 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From La Grande-Motte (6 km per km²) to Donges (0.3 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | La Grande-Motte Hérault | 6 | 4% | 53% | On it |
| 2 | Bihorel Seine-Maritime | 5.5 | 4.8% | 0% | 51 km |
| 3 | Larmor-Plage Morbihan | 5.3 | 17% | 0% | On it |
| 4 | Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie Vendée | 4.3 | 3.1% | 5.4% | On it |
| 5 | Harfleur Seine-Maritime | 4.1 | 14% | 0% | 6.6 km |
| 6 | Paray-Vieille-Poste Essonne | 3.9 | 0.4% | 0% | 164 km |
| 7 | Bouaye Loire-Atlantique | 3.4 | 20% | 9% | 26 km |
| 8 | Pignan Hérault | 3.2 | 1.7% | 34% | 13 km |
| 9 | Venelles Bouches-du-Rhône | 3 | 41% | 10% | 29 km |
| 10 | Mazingarbe Pas-de-Calais | 2.9 | 7.4% | 0% | 68 km |
| 11 | Guilers Finistère | 2.9 | 11% | 0% | 5.1 km |
| 12 | Vern-sur-Seiche Ille-et-Vilaine | 2.9 | 13% | 0% | 57 km |
| 13 | Téteghem-Coudekerque-Village Nord | 2.8 | 9.1% | 0% | 4.1 km |
| 14 | Brunstatt-Didenheim Haut-Rhin | 2.7 | 25% | 0% | 438 km |
| 15 | Souffelweyersheim Bas-Rhin | 2.7 | 1.7% | 0% | 447 km |
| 16 | Carbon-Blanc Gironde | 2.5 | 0.5% | 0% | 14 km |
| 17 | Charnay-lès-Mâcon Saône-et-Loire | 2.4 | 5.7% | 0% | 311 km |
| 18 | Coutances Manche | 2.4 | 5.6% | 0% | 5.7 km |
| 19 | Orchies Nord | 1.9 | 1.7% | 0.7% | 84 km |
| 20 | Bassens Gironde | 1.9 | 0.3% | 10% | 13 km |
| 21 | Bandol Var | 1.8 | 30% | 0% | On it |
| 22 | Noyal-Châtillon-sur-Seiche Ille-et-Vilaine | 1.8 | 4.5% | 0% | 56 km |
| 23 | Anse Rhône | 1.7 | 16% | 0% | 269 km |
| 24 | Saint-Claude Jura | 1.7 | 78% | 100% | 318 km |
| 25 | La Colle-sur-Loup Alpes-Maritimes | 1.7 | 39% | 28% | 5.1 km |
| 26 | Saint-Pierre-lès-Elbeuf Seine-Maritime | 1.5 | 5.4% | 1.3% | 53 km |
| 27 | Trignac Loire-Atlantique | 1.5 | 0.1% | 65% | 1.7 km |
| 28 | Saint-Aubin-lès-Elbeuf Seine-Maritime | 1.4 | 4.8% | 0.5% | 50 km |
| 29 | Pégomas Alpes-Maritimes | 1 | 49% | 0% | 6.4 km |
| 30 | Meximieux Ain | 1 | 12% | 2.7% | 274 km |
| 31 | Thuir Pyrénées-Orientales | 0.9 | 0.4% | 0% | 23 km |
| 32 | Tournan-en-Brie Seine-et-Marne | 0.8 | 17% | 0% | 178 km |
| 33 | Feurs Loire | 0.8 | 6.8% | 37% | 243 km |
| 34 | Marguerittes Gard | 0.7 | 11% | 33% | 44 km |
| 35 | Malemort Corrèze | 0.7 | 27% | 0% | 171 km |
| 36 | Marseillan Hérault | 0.7 | 0.9% | 52% | On it |
| 37 | Tonnay-Charente Charente-Maritime | 0.6 | 3.3% | 17% | 6.9 km |
| 38 | Salles Gironde | 0.5 | 86% | 100% | 17 km |
| 39 | Gennes-Val-de-Loire Maine-et-Loire | 0.3 | 29% | 100% | 134 km |
| 40 | Évron Mayenne | 0.3 | 7.3% | 19% | 88 km |
| 41 | Donges Loire-Atlantique | 0.3 | 2.8% | 58% | 8.5 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 Coutances
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Bois des Vignettes leads, at 17 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Jardin des Plantes
Park or garden
2.1 ha2 km of path
25 minto walk all 2 km of path
0.7 km south-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Aire de Loisirs du Vaudon
Park or garden
1 ha0.2 km of path
1 km northfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Square de l'Evêché
Park or garden
0.4 ha0.1 km of path
Centralin the middle of Coutances
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Littoral Ouest du Cotentin de Bréhal à Pirou is the nearest protected area, 5.6 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
Littoral Ouest du Cotentin de Bréhal à Pirou
5.6 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
30 km of footpaths and 12 km of hiking routes cross Coutances
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
30 km
2.4 km per km²
Hiking routes
12 km
waymarked: 0.9 km per km²
Woodland
5.6%
about 0.7 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
CoutancesManche medianFrance median
Footpaths2.4
Hiking routes0.9
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
CoutancesManche medianFrance median
Woodland5.6%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 64% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 75% 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 Coutances is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
5 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 22313 km
GR 2216.2 km
Chemin de Barfleur13 km
Circuit de la fée12 km
Circuit des moulins et des écluses2.1 km
2 GR routes pass within 2 km of Coutances: GR 223 and GR 221.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Coutances: May to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Coutances, 1.4 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) | 8.6 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.6 | 15.3 | 16.2 | 15.8 | 14.4 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.1 | 8.2 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 10 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 21 | 23 | 23 | 20 | 16 | 12 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 110 | 87 | 76 | 72 | 69 | 65 | 67 | 80 | 82 | 120 | 122 | 144 |
June is the driest month (65 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 23 °C). 144 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 27 nights a year. The climate in Coutances →
Neighbors
Next to Coutances
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Quettreville-sur-SienneSaint-Sauveur-VillagesAgon-CoutainvilleGouville-sur-MerMarigny-Le-LozonBréhalCoutances
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coutances | 0% | 5.6% | 2.4 | 5.7 km |
| Quettreville-sur-Sienne 3,167 · 8.9 km | 0% | 1.5% | 0.2 | 6.6 km |
| Saint-Sauveur-Villages 3,208 · 9.4 km | 35% | 2% | 0.8 | 13 km |
| Agon-Coutainville 3,020 · 11 km | 15% | 1.1% | 1.7 | On it |
| Gouville-sur-Mer 3,274 · 11 km | 0.4% | 2.6% | 0.5 | 2.9 km |
| Marigny-Le-Lozon 2,761 · 15 km | 46% | 0.2% | 0.7 | 21 km |
| Bréhal 3,487 · 18 km | 1.8% | 3.9% | 0.8 | 2.8 km |
Saint-Sauveur-Villages, Agon-Coutainville and Marigny-Le-Lozon have at least twice as much protected land.
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 Coutances
Is Coutances in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Littoral Ouest du Cotentin de Bréhal à Pirou, 5.6 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Coutances?
OpenStreetMap maps 30 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); 12 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Coutances is woodland?
5.6% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Coutances near the sea?
No: the coast is 5.7 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Coutances?
May 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.