First pick
Forêt de Pirou
Wood or forest
315 ha4.1 km of path
55 minto walk all 4.1 km of path
2.6 km eastfrom the center
Chemin de Découverte de la Lande de Pirou
Directionsto a point inside
100%of the land protected
Outdoors in Pirou · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Pirou lies inside Marais du Cotentin et du Bessin Regional Nature Park
Protected areas cover 100% of Pirou’s land. Pirou has 18 km of waymarked hiking routes. 29 km of footpaths cross Pirou (1 km per km²). France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
100%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
18%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
29 km
1 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
18 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
3
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Forêt de Pirou
The sea
1.4 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 Pirou?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Inside Marais du Cotentin et du Bessin Regional Nature Park100% of the commune is in the regional nature park.Near the seaThe coast is 1.4 km from the town center.
What sets Pirou apart: the regional nature park around it, then the sea nearby.
Against French towns
How Pirou 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 areas100%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
95out of 100
Woodland18%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
59out of 100
Footpaths1 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
32out of 100
Hiking routes0.6 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
68out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Pirou has the 20th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (1,514 to 2,582 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From École-Valentin (3.9 km per km²) to Bouligny (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | École-Valentin Doubs | 3.9 | 16% | 0% | 405 km |
| 2 | Sainte-Foy-la-Grande Gironde | 3.7 | 0% | 8.7% | 66 km |
| 3 | Mers-les-Bains Somme | 3.5 | 10% | 100% | On it |
| 4 | Villejust Essonne | 2.4 | 4.4% | 0% | 160 km |
| 5 | Sainte-Feyre Creuse | 2.1 | 30% | 0% | 222 km |
| 6 | Camiers Pas-de-Calais | 2 | 30% | 32% | On it |
| 7 | Sain-Bel Rhône | 1.9 | 12% | 0% | 253 km |
| 8 | La Rivière-Saint-Sauveur Calvados | 1.8 | 14% | 29% | On it |
| 9 | Fareins Ain | 1.8 | 8.8% | 0.1% | 279 km |
| 10 | Entzheim Bas-Rhin | 1.7 | 1.5% | 0% | 449 km |
| 11 | Mornas Vaucluse | 1.5 | 35% | 5% | 84 km |
| 12 | Watten Nord | 1.4 | 24% | 100% | 18 km |
| 13 | Rantigny Oise | 1.4 | 18% | 0% | 109 km |
| 14 | Beautor Aisne | 1.3 | 3.6% | 40% | 133 km |
| 15 | Conques-sur-Orbiel Aude | 1.3 | 8.1% | 0% | 60 km |
| 16 | Barcelonnette Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 1.3 | 46% | 100% | 91 km |
| 17 | Granges-Aumontzey Vosges | 1.1 | 70% | 90% | 436 km |
| 18 | Cattenom Moselle | 1.1 | 37% | 0% | 308 km |
| 19 | Prayssac Lot | 1 | 42% | 0% | 151 km |
| 20 | Pirou Manche | 1 | 18% | 100% | 1.4 km |
| 21 | Chatte Isère | 0.7 | 24% | 0% | 190 km |
| 22 | Arelaune-en-Seine Seine-Maritime | 0.7 | 69% | 100% | 29 km |
| 23 | La Croix-en-Touraine Indre-et-Loire | 0.7 | 24% | 0% | 199 km |
| 24 | Criel-sur-Mer Seine-Maritime | 0.7 | 4.9% | 7% | On it |
| 25 | Lusignan Vienne | 0.7 | 17% | 0% | 97 km |
| 26 | Avelin Nord | 0.6 | 6.1% | 0% | 72 km |
| 27 | Civray Vienne | 0.5 | 19% | 0% | 101 km |
| 28 | Le Cailar Gard | 0.4 | 2% | 68% | 17 km |
| 29 | Vervins Aisne | 0.4 | 1.1% | 0% | 164 km |
| 30 | Port-Sainte-Foy-et-Ponchapt Dordogne | 0.4 | 13% | 2.1% | 65 km |
| 31 | Frans Ain | 0.4 | 4% | 0% | 275 km |
| 32 | Toucy Yonne | 0.4 | 24% | 0% | 288 km |
| 33 | Auxi-le-Château Pas-de-Calais | 0.3 | 25% | 1% | 31 km |
| 34 | Vivy Maine-et-Loire | 0.3 | 15% | 100% | 140 km |
| 35 | Nogent-sur-Vernisson Loiret | 0.2 | 46% | 0.3% | 249 km |
| 36 | Eymet Dordogne | 0.2 | 8.6% | 0.4% | 86 km |
| 37 | Athies-sous-Laon Aisne | 0.2 | 8.9% | 0% | 159 km |
| 38 | Val-de-Scie Seine-Maritime | 0.1 | 18% | 0% | 23 km |
| 39 | Noyen-sur-Sarthe Sarthe | 0.1 | 28% | 0% | 126 km |
| 40 | Chalamont Ain | 0.1 | 20% | 69% | 284 km |
| 41 | Bouligny Meuse | 0.1 | 8.4% | 0% | 293 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 Pirou
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Forêt de Pirou leads, at 315 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
La Lande
Wood or forest
87 ha0.3 km of path
2.7 km north-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Protected land in and around Pirou
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Regional nature park
Marais du Cotentin et du Bessin Regional Nature Park
100% of the commune
Nature reserve
Tourbière de la mare de Sursat nature reserve
0.7% of the commune2.5 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Havre de Saint-Germain-sur-Ay et Landes de Lessay
18% of the commune2 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Littoral Ouest du Cotentin de Bréhal à Pirou
0.8% of the commune1.4 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area100%
Regional nature park100%
Nature reserve0.7%
Natura 2000 site19%
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.
100% of Pirou’s land is protected, more than in 95% 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.
Footpaths and woods
29 km of footpaths and 18 km of hiking routes cross Pirou
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
29 km
1 km per km²
Hiking routes
18 km
waymarked: 0.6 km per km²
Woodland
18%
about 5.2 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
PirouManche medianFrance median
Footpaths1
Hiking routes0.6
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
PirouManche medianFrance median
Woodland18%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 68% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 59% 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 Pirou is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
7 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 22326 km
Donjon et moulin de Pirou11 km
Sentier de Découverte4.6 km
Les Mielles de Créances3.9 km
Chemin de Découverte de la Lande de Pirou3.9 km
Les sentiers de Foliata3.5 km
Circuit de l'herbette1.7 km
GR 223 passes within 2 km of Pirou.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Pirou: May to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Coutances, 16 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 | 9.0 | 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 Pirou →
Neighbors
Next to Pirou
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Gouville-sur-MerSaint-Sauveur-VillagesAgon-CoutainvilleLa HayeCoutancesPort-Bail-sur-MerPirou
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pirou | 100% | 18% | 1 | 1.4 km |
| Gouville-sur-Mer 3,274 · 7.4 km | 0.4% | 2.6% | 0.5 | 2.9 km |
| Saint-Sauveur-Villages 3,208 · 13 km | 35% | 2% | 0.8 | 13 km |
| Agon-Coutainville 3,020 · 14 km | 15% | 1.1% | 1.7 | On it |
| La Haye 4,029 · 14 km | 51% | 3.6% | 0.7 | On it |
| Coutances 8,321 · 16 km | 0% | 5.6% | 2.4 | 5.7 km |
| Port-Bail-sur-Mer 2,520 · 20 km | 5.8% | 0.3% | 0.8 | On it |
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 Pirou
Is Pirou in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Pirou lies in Marais du Cotentin et du Bessin Regional Nature Park (100% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Pirou?
OpenStreetMap maps 29 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 18 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Pirou is woodland?
18% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Pirou near the sea?
No: the coast is 1.4 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Pirou?
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.