Photo: libre de droit mais obligation de mentionner l'auteur suivant : Conseil Régional de Basse-Normandie / National Archives USA voir les conditions d'utilisation sur http://www.archivesnormandie39-45.org/conditions.html · Public domainLa Haye is on the coast
51% of La Haye’s land lies in protected areas. Mapped woodland covers 3.6% of La Haye. Footpaths add up to 43 km across La Haye (0.7 km per km²). France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
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 outdoors place is La Haye?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
What sets La Haye apart: the sea, then its protected countryside. It is shorter on woodland.
How La Haye 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.
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
La Haye has the 13th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (4,006 to 4,056 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Vaux-sur-Mer (5.3 km per km²) to Bâgé-Dommartin (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vaux-sur-Mer Charente-Maritime | 5.3 | 10% | 0.2% | On it |
| 2 | Montsoult Val-d'Oise | 4.5 | 42% | 0.9% | 129 km |
| 3 | Montmélian Savoie | 4.3 | 47% | 100% | 222 km |
| 4 | Saint-Vallier Drôme | 3.8 | 32% | 0% | 189 km |
| 5 | La Châtre Indre | 3.7 | 6.5% | 0% | 239 km |
| 6 | Port-Vendres Pyrénées-Orientales | 3.2 | 0.8% | 18% | On it |
| 7 | Presles Val-d'Oise | 3.1 | 47% | 100% | 124 km |
| 8 | Neuville-Saint-Rémy Nord | 3 | 4% | 0% | 109 km |
| 9 | Le Coudray Eure-et-Loir | 3 | 2.6% | 0% | 140 km |
| 10 | Limonest Rhône | 3 | 30% | 0% | 258 km |
| 11 | Offemont Territoire de Belfort | 2.9 | 39% | 0% | 433 km |
| 12 | Vaulnaveys-le-Haut Isère | 2.2 | 67% | 0% | 195 km |
| 13 | Saint-Cézaire-sur-Siagne Alpes-Maritimes | 2.2 | 70% | 100% | 18 km |
| 14 | Erdeven Morbihan | 2.1 | 14% | 22% | On it |
| 15 | La Rochefoucauld-en-Angoumois Charente | 1.6 | 39% | 16% | 95 km |
| 16 | Pont-Scorff Morbihan | 1.5 | 23% | 3.8% | On it |
| 17 | Avesnes-sur-Helpe Nord | 1.4 | 1.7% | 100% | 142 km |
| 18 | Le Plessis-Belleville Oise | 1.4 | 1.5% | 0.1% | 143 km |
| 19 | Cinq-Mars-la-Pile Indre-et-Loire | 1.2 | 28% | 14% | 167 km |
| 20 | Le Cellier Loire-Atlantique | 1.2 | 29% | 12% | 57 km |
| 21 | Salernes Var | 1.2 | 68% | 26% | 42 km |
| 22 | Nogent-le-Roi Eure-et-Loir | 1.1 | 10% | 0.1% | 123 km |
| 23 | Cordemais Loire-Atlantique | 1 | 7.6% | 24% | 24 km |
| 24 | Bresles Oise | 0.8 | 19% | 0% | 95 km |
| 25 | Générac Gard | 0.8 | 4.5% | 19% | 27 km |
| 26 | Bourg-Achard Eure | 0.7 | 5.5% | 0% | 34 km |
| 27 | Savigné-l'Évêque Sarthe | 0.7 | 10% | 0% | 137 km |
| 28 | Gravigny Eure | 0.7 | 47% | 0% | 73 km |
| 29 | La Haye Manche | 0.7 | 3.6% | 51% | On it |
| 30 | Hochfelden Bas-Rhin | 0.7 | 6.8% | 0% | 428 km |
| 31 | Fay-de-Bretagne Loire-Atlantique | 0.7 | 9.9% | 0% | 31 km |
| 32 | La Chapelle-de-Guinchay Saône-et-Loire | 0.5 | 5.5% | 5.6% | 300 km |
| 33 | Paulhan Hérault | 0.5 | 1% | 0% | 23 km |
| 34 | Les Villages Vovéens Eure-et-Loir | 0.4 | 7.4% | 5% | 159 km |
| 35 | Trouy Cher | 0.4 | 2.7% | 0.1% | 280 km |
| 36 | Bressols Tarn-et-Garonne | 0.4 | 3% | 0.6% | 173 km |
| 37 | Layrac Lot-et-Garonne | 0.3 | 21% | 0.9% | 139 km |
| 38 | Beauvoir-sur-Mer Vendée | 0.3 | 0.3% | 83% | On it |
| 39 | Hourtin Gironde | 0.3 | 66% | 100% | On it |
| 40 | Sévérac d'Aveyron Aveyron | 0.2 | 24% | 100% | 114 km |
| 41 | Bâgé-Dommartin Ain | 0.1 | 13% | 0% | 315 km |
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.
Parks and woods to walk in, in and around La Haye
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Bois du Mont leads, at 24 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
8 in 10 residents of La Haye 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).
Residents within 800 m of green space · share of residents
About 700 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.
51% of La Haye lies in protected areas
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Marais du Cotentin et du Bessin Regional Nature Park
Littoral ouest du Cotentin de Saint-Germain-sur-Ay au Rozel
Marais du Cotentin et du Bessin - Baie des Veys
Basses Vallées du Cotentin et Baie des Veys
Share of the commune’s land
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.
51% of La Haye’s land is protected, more than in 87% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Manche has 0.6%. A regional nature park is a charter between communes to look after a landscape: farming, building and hunting go on inside it.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
43 km of footpaths and 7 km of hiking routes cross La Haye
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.
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
That is less than in 80% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 83% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them.
5 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR 223 passes within 2 km of La Haye.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
The best walking months in La Haye: May to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Coutances, 29 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 | 13.7 | 15.3 | 16.2 | 15.8 | 14.4 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.0 | 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 La Haye →
Next to La Haye
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Haye | 51% | 3.6% | 0.7 | On it |
| Port-Bail-sur-Mer 2,520 · 9.7 km | 5.8% | 0.3% | 0.8 | On it |
| Picauville 3,228 · 15 km | 100% | 2.9% | 0.2 | 15 km |
| Bricquebec-en-Cotentin 5,893 · 21 km | 0% | 13% | 0.4 | 13 km |
| Saint-Sauveur-Villages 3,208 · 21 km | 35% | 2% | 0.8 | 13 km |
| Gouville-sur-Mer 3,274 · 22 km | 0.4% | 2.6% | 0.5 | 2.9 km |
| Sainte-Mère-Église 2,896 · 22 km | 100% | 0.5% | 0.2 | 8.7 km |
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 Haye
Is La Haye in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: La Haye lies in Marais du Cotentin et du Bessin Regional Nature Park (47% of the commune).
Are there good walks in La Haye?
OpenStreetMap maps 43 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); 7 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of La Haye is woodland?
3.6% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is La Haye near the sea?
Yes: the commune touches the coast, 7.1 km from its center.
When is the best time for walking in La Haye?
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 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.