First pick
Parc des Cordeliers
Park or garden
1 ha0.4 km of path
0.7 km southfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: WITTYCYB (France) · CC BY 3.04.7%woodland
Outdoors in Valognes · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Valognes is within 800 m of a park or wood
Footpaths add up to 9 km across Valognes (0.5 km per km²). Mapped woodland covers 4.7% of Valognes. No protected area reaches Valognes; the nearest, Marais du Cotentin et du Bessin Regional Nature Park, is 4.7 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, 4.7 km
Woodland
4.7%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
8.6 km
0.5 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
2
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Parc des Cordeliers
The sea
12 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 Valognes?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Protected land nearbyMarais du Cotentin et du Bessin Regional Nature Park is 4.7 km from the town center.Few mapped footpaths0.5 km per km², against 1.7 km per km² for the median compared town.
What sets Valognes apart: protected land close by. It is shorter on footpaths.
Against French towns
How Valognes 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
Woodland4.7%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
22out of 100
Footpaths0.5 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
15out of 100
Hiking routes0 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
12out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Valognes has the 9th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (6,889 to 7,044 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Jacou (10.3 km per km²) to Cadaujac (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacou Hérault | 10.3 | 16% | 0% | 13 km |
| 2 | Sathonay-Camp Rhône | 8.3 | 17% | 0% | 259 km |
| 3 | Sainte-Adresse Seine-Maritime | 6.5 | 8.4% | 7.6% | On it |
| 4 | Bailly-Romainvilliers Seine-et-Marne | 4.6 | 10% | 0% | 169 km |
| 5 | Lésigny Seine-et-Marne | 4.2 | 42% | 0% | 171 km |
| 6 | Trévoux Ain | 3.9 | 8.3% | 0% | 270 km |
| 7 | Cognin Savoie | 3.6 | 16% | 44% | 234 km |
| 8 | Luisant Eure-et-Loir | 3.4 | 11% | 6.4% | 139 km |
| 9 | Binic-Étables-sur-Mer Côtes-d'Armor | 3.3 | 7.5% | 0% | On it |
| 10 | Fontaines-sur-Saône Rhône | 3 | 14% | 0% | 259 km |
| 11 | Étréchy Essonne | 2.8 | 29% | 0% | 170 km |
| 12 | Escalquens Haute-Garonne | 2.5 | 1.9% | 0% | 134 km |
| 13 | Soultz-Haut-Rhin Haut-Rhin | 2.4 | 60% | 100% | 456 km |
| 14 | Uckange Moselle | 2.3 | 3.2% | 0% | 312 km |
| 15 | Saint-Rambert-d'Albon Drôme | 1.8 | 6.2% | 1.6% | 201 km |
| 16 | Houdain Pas-de-Calais | 1.7 | 7% | 0% | 60 km |
| 17 | Saint-André-des-Eaux Loire-Atlantique | 1.5 | 7.8% | 100% | 6.4 km |
| 18 | Changé Sarthe | 1.5 | 33% | 0% | 142 km |
| 19 | Bourbourg Nord | 1.4 | 0.3% | 0% | 6.1 km |
| 20 | Castelnau-d'Estrétefonds Haute-Garonne | 1.4 | 16% | 2.6% | 161 km |
| 21 | Saint-Pol-de-Léon Finistère | 1.2 | 2% | 4% | On it |
| 22 | Saint-Maurice-l'Exil Isère | 1.2 | 11% | 5.4% | 211 km |
| 23 | Morteau Doubs | 1.2 | 28% | 100% | 371 km |
| 24 | Trans-en-Provence Var | 1.1 | 26% | 0% | 23 km |
| 25 | Épône Yvelines | 1.1 | 16% | 0% | 119 km |
| 26 | Plédran Côtes-d'Armor | 1.1 | 8.8% | 0% | 6.7 km |
| 27 | Jurançon Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 1 | 45% | 5.5% | 94 km |
| 28 | Surgères Charente-Maritime | 0.9 | 5% | 0% | 24 km |
| 29 | Bétheny Marne | 0.7 | 0% | 0% | 198 km |
| 30 | Saint-Bonnet-de-Mure Rhône | 0.7 | 4.8% | 0% | 249 km |
| 31 | Sénas Bouches-du-Rhône | 0.6 | 2.8% | 100% | 36 km |
| 32 | Marsillargues Hérault | 0.6 | 0.5% | 32% | 13 km |
| 33 | Valognes Manche | 0.5 | 4.7% | 0% | 12 km |
| 34 | Nérac Lot-et-Garonne | 0.5 | 6.7% | 0.5% | 122 km |
| 35 | Montluel Ain | 0.5 | 27% | 35% | 267 km |
| 36 | La Plaine-des-Palmistes Réunion | 0.5 | 64% | 100% | 14 km |
| 37 | Manduel Gard | 0.5 | 0.5% | 63% | 40 km |
| 38 | Lucciana Haute-Corse | 0.4 | 4.8% | 3% | On it |
| 39 | Chauvigny Vienne | 0.4 | 24% | 0% | 140 km |
| 40 | Beaufort-en-Anjou Maine-et-Loire | 0.3 | 12% | 100% | 141 km |
| 41 | Cadaujac Gironde | 0.2 | 14% | 45% | 29 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 Valognes
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc des Cordeliers leads, at 1 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Jardin Anne Heinis
Park or garden
0.5 ha0.5 km of path
5 minto walk all 0.5 km of path
Centralin the middle of Valognes
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, 4.7 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
4.7 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
9 km of footpaths cross Valognes
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
8.6 km
0.5 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked: 0 km per km²
Woodland
4.7%
about 0.7 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
ValognesManche medianFrance median
Footpaths0.5
Hiking routes0
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
ValognesManche medianFrance median
Woodland4.7%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 85% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 78% 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 Valognes is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Valognes: May to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Cherbourg-Homet, 20 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 | 10.7 | 9.0 | 8.2 |
| 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 Valognes →
Neighbors
Next to Valognes
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Bricquebec-en-CotentinPicauvilleSainte-Mère-ÉgliseCherbourg-en-CotentinLes PieuxLa HayeValognes
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valognes | 0% | 4.7% | 0.5 | 12 km |
| Bricquebec-en-Cotentin 5,893 · 13 km | 0% | 13% | 0.4 | 13 km |
| Picauville 3,228 · 16 km | 100% | 2.9% | 0.2 | 15 km |
| Sainte-Mère-Église 2,896 · 16 km | 100% | 0.5% | 0.2 | 8.7 km |
| Cherbourg-en-Cotentin 78,258 · 18 km | 0% | 10% | 3.1 | On it |
| Les Pieux 3,249 · 25 km | 0% | 2.6% | 1 | On it |
| La Haye 4,029 · 25 km | 51% | 3.6% | 0.7 | On it |
Picauville, Sainte-Mère-Église and La Haye 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 Valognes
Is Valognes in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Marais du Cotentin et du Bessin Regional Nature Park, 4.7 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Valognes?
OpenStreetMap maps 9 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.5 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²).
How much of Valognes is woodland?
4.7% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Valognes near the sea?
No: the coast is 12 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Valognes?
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.