First pick
Bois du Mont du Roc
Wood or forest · 50 m outside the commune
115 ha0.7 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.7 km of path
9.3 km south-eastfrom the center
Rue Saint-Gilles
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Phillip Capper · CC BY 2.014%of the land protected
Outdoors in La Hague · protected areas, woods and footpaths
La Hague is on the coast
Waymarked hiking routes add up to 114 km in La Hague. Mapped woodland covers 5.5% of La Hague. Protected areas cover 14% of La Hague’s land. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
14%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
5.5%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
147 km
1 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
114 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Green space nearby
82%
of residents within 800 m of a park or wood
Compared town: 100%
The sea
On it
the commune touches the coast, 3.4 km from its center
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.
Against French towns
How La Hague 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 areas14%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
75out of 100
Woodland5.5%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
25out of 100
Footpaths1 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
31out of 100
Hiking routes0.8 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
75out of 100
Green space nearby82%Share of residents within 800 m of a mapped park or wood
4out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
La Hague has the 6th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (11,279 to 11,698 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Épinay-sous-Sénart (10.3 km per km²) to Vauvert (0.4 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Épinay-sous-Sénart Essonne | 10.3 | 54% | 0% | 171 km |
| 2 | Villecresnes Val-de-Marne | 6.5 | 27% | 0% | 170 km |
| 3 | Enghien-les-Bains Val-d'Oise | 5.4 | 0% | 0% | 137 km |
| 4 | Sassenage Isère | 4.6 | 48% | 50% | 205 km |
| 5 | Briançon Hautes-Alpes | 4.4 | 62% | 0% | 142 km |
| 6 | Gravelines Nord | 3.9 | 7.7% | 0% | On it |
| 7 | Gaillard Haute-Savoie | 3.9 | 14% | 8% | 286 km |
| 8 | Arpajon Essonne | 3.3 | 2.4% | 0% | 167 km |
| 9 | Maizières-lès-Metz Moselle | 3.2 | 8.6% | 0% | 319 km |
| 10 | Plan-de-Cuques Bouches-du-Rhône | 3.2 | 0.6% | 59% | 8.8 km |
| 11 | Le Haillan Gironde | 3.2 | 18% | 3.4% | 16 km |
| 12 | Yvetot Seine-Maritime | 3 | 3.5% | 100% | 28 km |
| 13 | Saint-Germain-lès-Arpajon Essonne | 3 | 16% | 0% | 167 km |
| 14 | Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer Var | 2.9 | 30% | 25% | On it |
| 15 | Dourdan Essonne | 2.8 | 58% | 0% | 157 km |
| 16 | Saint-Estève Pyrénées-Orientales | 2.8 | 2.8% | 0.5% | 16 km |
| 17 | Panazol Haute-Vienne | 2.7 | 21% | 0% | 167 km |
| 18 | Tournon-sur-Rhône Ardèche | 2.5 | 41% | 12% | 177 km |
| 19 | Ploufragan Côtes-d'Armor | 2.5 | 13% | 0.2% | 5.7 km |
| 20 | Corbas Rhône | 2.5 | 0.6% | 0% | 243 km |
| 21 | Saverne Bas-Rhin | 2.5 | 65% | 0% | 418 km |
| 22 | Nœux-les-Mines Pas-de-Calais | 2.4 | 4.6% | 0% | 66 km |
| 23 | Vaux-le-Pénil Seine-et-Marne | 2.4 | 27% | 0% | 194 km |
| 24 | Ancenis-Saint-Géréon Loire-Atlantique | 2.4 | 10% | 27% | 71 km |
| 25 | Montlouis-sur-Loire Indre-et-Loire | 2.1 | 15% | 7.6% | 192 km |
| 26 | La Roche-sur-Foron Haute-Savoie | 2.1 | 21% | 0% | 270 km |
| 27 | Bruay-sur-l'Escaut Nord | 2.1 | 14% | 98% | 102 km |
| 28 | Méricourt Pas-de-Calais | 2 | 4.3% | 0% | 79 km |
| 29 | Les Avirons Réunion | 1.7 | 47% | 78% | On it |
| 30 | Fourmies Nord | 1.6 | 48% | 100% | 157 km |
| 31 | Provins Seine-et-Marne | 1.6 | 6.6% | 0% | 215 km |
| 32 | Bolbec Seine-Maritime | 1.5 | 7.1% | 0% | 17 km |
| 33 | Chauny Aisne | 1.2 | 5.7% | 10% | 127 km |
| 34 | Biganos Gironde | 1.1 | 71% | 100% | On it |
| 35 | Thiers Puy-de-Dôme | 1 | 43% | 100% | 259 km |
| 36 | La Hague Manche | 1 | 5.5% | 14% | On it |
| 37 | Saint-Junien Haute-Vienne | 0.8 | 17% | 0% | 139 km |
| 38 | Pontchâteau Loire-Atlantique | 0.6 | 9.4% | 24% | 16 km |
| 39 | Le Luc Var | 0.5 | 19% | 10% | 25 km |
| 40 | Pia Pyrénées-Orientales | 0.5 | 0.2% | 0% | 10 km |
| 41 | Vauvert Gard | 0.4 | 3.1% | 71% | 20 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 La Hague
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Bois du Mont du Roc leads, at 115 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Espace détente Clairefontaine
Park or garden
8 ha0.9 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.9 km of path
3.4 km southfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Jardin Botanique de Vauville
Park or garden
3 ha1.1 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.1 km of path
4.2 km south-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Close to home
8 in 10 residents of La Hague 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).
82% within 800 m18% further
Residents within 800 m of green space · share of residents
La HagueManche medianFrance median
Within 800 m82%
0%50%100%
About 2,100 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
14% of La Hague lies in protected areas
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Nature reserve
Mare de Vauville nature reserve
4.5 km from the town center
Natura 2000 site
Landes et dunes de la Hague
14% of the commune0.9 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Récifs et landes de la Hague
10% of the commune0.9 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Massif dunaire de Héauville à Vauville
4.1% of the commune4.4 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area14%
Nature reserve0.5%
Natura 2000 site14%
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.
14% of La Hague’s land is protected, more than in 75% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Manche has 0.6%.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
147 km of footpaths and 114 km of hiking routes cross La Hague
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
147 km
1 km per km²
Hiking routes
114 km
waymarked: 0.8 km per km²
Woodland
5.5%
about 8.2 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
La HagueManche medianFrance median
Footpaths1
Hiking routes0.8
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
La HagueManche medianFrance median
Woodland5.5%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 69% 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.
11 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 22358 km
GR 223A11 km
Sentier du Poète15 km
Portes de La Hague14 km
Terre d’Artistes13 km
Entre Mare et Dunes13 km
Sentier du Corsaire12 km
Le Cap de la Hague12 km
Le Sentier du Contrebandier11 km
Coup de Vent sur Jobourg7.8 km
Chemin des Douaniers7.2 km
2 GR routes pass within 2 km of La Hague: GR 223 and GR 223A.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in La Hague: May to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Cherbourg-Homet, 12 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 | 10.0 | 11.7 | 13.7 | 15.3 | 16.3 | 15.9 | 14.4 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 9.0 | 8.1 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 18 | 20 | 21 | 19 | 16 | 13 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 105 | 81 | 66 | 63 | 55 | 52 | 48 | 52 | 67 | 115 | 122 | 139 |
July is the driest month (48 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 21 °C). 139 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 5 nights a year. The climate in La Hague →
Gardens
A garden to visit in La Hague
Named gardens in the commune.
Jardin botanique du château de VauvilleIn La Hague
DirectionsSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) and Wikidata.
Neighbors
Next to La Hague
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Cherbourg-en-CotentinLes PieuxBricquebec-en-CotentinValognesLa Hague
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Hague | 14% | 5.5% | 1 | On it |
| Cherbourg-en-Cotentin 78,258 · 12 km | 0% | 10% | 3.1 | On it |
| Les Pieux 3,249 · 16 km | 0% | 2.6% | 1 | On it |
| Bricquebec-en-Cotentin 5,893 · 23 km | 0% | 13% | 0.4 | 13 km |
| Valognes 6,969 · 28 km | 0% | 4.7% | 0.5 | 12 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 La Hague
Is La Hague in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 14% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in La Hague?
OpenStreetMap maps 147 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 114 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of La Hague is woodland?
5.5% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is La Hague near the sea?
Yes: the commune touches the coast, 3.4 km from its center.
When is the best time for walking in La Hague?
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 8, 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.