First pick
Vallon de la Dollée
Park or garden
5.8 ha1.7 km of path
20 minto walk all 1.7 km of path
0.8 km northfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: USAAF · Public domain5%woodland
Outdoors in Saint-Lô · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Saint-Lô is within 800 m of a park or wood
Footpaths add up to 68 km across Saint-Lô (2.9 km per km²). Mapped woodland covers 5% of Saint-Lô. No protected area reaches Saint-Lô; the nearest, Marais du Cotentin et du Bessin Regional Nature Park, is 4 km from the town center. 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: Marais du Cotentin et du Bessin Regional Nature Park, 4 km
Woodland
5%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
68 km
2.9 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
7 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: Vallon de la Dollée
The sea
26 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.
Against French towns
How Saint-Lô 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%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
23out of 100
Footpaths2.9 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
73out of 100
Hiking routes0.3 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
46out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Saint-Lô has the 21st fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (18,695 to 20,307 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Meylan (9.2 km per km²) to Mauges-sur-Loire (0.5 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Meylan Isère | 9.2 | 18% | 12% | 205 km |
| 2 | Villefontaine Isère | 9.1 | 21% | 1.7% | 241 km |
| 3 | Gentilly Val-de-Marne | 8 | 1.8% | 0% | 153 km |
| 4 | Le Mée-sur-Seine Seine-et-Marne | 7.9 | 34% | 0% | 190 km |
| 5 | Mont-Saint-Aignan Seine-Maritime | 7.3 | 12% | 0% | 50 km |
| 6 | Juvisy-sur-Orge Essonne | 6.4 | 1.3% | 0% | 166 km |
| 7 | Moulins Allier | 6.1 | 3.3% | 11% | 338 km |
| 8 | Chevilly-Larue Val-de-Marne | 5.8 | 3.8% | 0% | 158 km |
| 9 | Chennevières-sur-Marne Val-de-Marne | 5.4 | 6.2% | 0% | 163 km |
| 10 | Fougères Ille-et-Vilaine | 4.8 | 1.8% | 0% | 33 km |
| 11 | Paris 2e Paris | 4.6 | 0% | 0% | 148 km |
| 12 | Albertville Savoie | 4.1 | 47% | 0% | 228 km |
| 13 | Mougins Alpes-Maritimes | 4 | 28% | 0% | 5.1 km |
| 14 | Cesson-Sévigné Ille-et-Vilaine | 3.9 | 5.2% | 0% | 50 km |
| 15 | Bruz Ille-et-Vilaine | 3.8 | 14% | 0% | 55 km |
| 16 | Bruges Gironde | 3.7 | 9.3% | 23% | 14 km |
| 17 | Ronchin Nord | 3.7 | 1.8% | 0% | 66 km |
| 18 | Cournon-d'Auvergne Puy-de-Dôme | 3.3 | 6.6% | 6.3% | 251 km |
| 19 | Ploemeur Morbihan | 3.3 | 15% | 4.9% | On it |
| 20 | Saint-Dié-des-Vosges Vosges | 3.2 | 58% | 1.9% | 436 km |
| 21 | Saint-Lô Manche | 2.9 | 5% | 0% | 26 km |
| 22 | Royan Charente-Maritime | 2.8 | 8.7% | 12% | On it |
| 23 | Grande-Synthe Nord | 2.8 | 5.3% | 7.4% | On it |
| 24 | Louviers Eure | 2.8 | 55% | 0.1% | 64 km |
| 25 | Sarreguemines Moselle | 2.6 | 32% | 0.9% | 374 km |
| 26 | Lisieux Calvados | 2.4 | 1.9% | 0% | 26 km |
| 27 | La Crau Var | 2.3 | 23% | 1.8% | 6.1 km |
| 28 | Saint-Fons Rhône | 2.3 | 4.1% | 0% | 246 km |
| 29 | Vence Alpes-Maritimes | 2.2 | 28% | 64% | 8.3 km |
| 30 | Vitré Ille-et-Vilaine | 2.2 | 4.2% | 0% | 58 km |
| 31 | Cahors Lot | 1.9 | 42% | 0% | 172 km |
| 32 | Bourg-lès-Valence Drôme | 1.8 | 1.8% | 0% | 166 km |
| 33 | Sorgues Vaucluse | 1.7 | 9.7% | 22% | 62 km |
| 34 | Pertuis Vaucluse | 1.5 | 18% | 100% | 40 km |
| 35 | Brie-Comte-Robert Seine-et-Marne | 1.3 | 4.7% | 0% | 176 km |
| 36 | Riom Puy-de-Dôme | 1.1 | 2.4% | 1.3% | 269 km |
| 37 | Sélestat Bas-Rhin | 1 | 40% | 56% | 462 km |
| 38 | Pornic Loire-Atlantique | 1 | 4.4% | 0% | On it |
| 39 | L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue Vaucluse | 0.8 | 4.8% | 7.3% | 54 km |
| 40 | Bressuire Deux-Sèvres | 0.6 | 2.4% | 0% | 77 km |
| 41 | Mauges-sur-Loire Maine-et-Loire | 0.5 | 4.7% | 11% | 88 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 Saint-Lô
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Vallon de la Dollée leads, at 5.8 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Square des Beaux-Regards
Park or garden
0.5 ha0.4 km of path
1 km westfrom the center
Promenade André Hilt
Directionsto a point inside
Jardin de la Paix Jean Mignon
Park or garden
0.9 ha0.1 km of path
1.8 km eastfrom the center
Allée Claude Lavieille
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Marais du Cotentin et du Bessin Regional Nature Park is the nearest protected area, 4 km away
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
4 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
68 km of footpaths and 7 km of hiking routes cross Saint-Lô
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
68 km
2.9 km per km²
Hiking routes
7 km
waymarked: 0.3 km per km²
Woodland
5%
about 1.2 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Saint-LôManche medianFrance median
Footpaths2.9
Hiking routes0.3
024 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Saint-LôManche medianFrance median
Woodland5%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 73% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 77% 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 Saint-Lô is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
A named hiking route within 2 km
GR (long-distance)
GR 22127 km
GR 221 passes within 2 km of Saint-Lô.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Saint-Lô: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Conde sur Vire_Sapc, 7.6 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 | 13 | 15 | 19 | 21 | 24 | 24 | 21 | 17 | 12 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 98 | 75 | 69 | 65 | 66 | 62 | 56 | 72 | 69 | 98 | 105 | 123 |
July is the driest month (56 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 24 °C). 123 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 51 nights a year. The climate in Saint-Lô →
Neighbors
Next to Saint-Lô
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
AgneauxBourgvalléesCondé-sur-VireSaint-Jean-d'ElleMarigny-Le-LozonSaint-Amand-VillagesSaint-Lô
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Lô | 0% | 5% | 2.9 | 26 km |
| Agneaux 4,286 · 2.5 km | 0% | 10% | 3.5 | 25 km |
| Bourgvallées 3,326 · 7.5 km | 0% | 4.5% | 0.5 | 28 km |
| Condé-sur-Vire 4,137 · 7.8 km | 0% | 3.4% | 0.9 | 33 km |
| Saint-Jean-d'Elle 2,516 · 8.7 km | 0% | 1.2% | 0.6 | 30 km |
| Marigny-Le-Lozon 2,761 · 12 km | 46% | 0.2% | 0.7 | 21 km |
| Saint-Amand-Villages 2,525 · 12 km | 0% | 5% | 0.4 | 35 km |
Marigny-Le-Lozon has 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 Saint-Lô
Is Saint-Lô in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Marais du Cotentin et du Bessin Regional Nature Park, 4 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Saint-Lô?
OpenStreetMap maps 68 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 2.9 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 7 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Saint-Lô is woodland?
5% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Saint-Lô near the sea?
No: the coast is 26 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Saint-Lô?
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.