First pick
Bois du Helfau
Wood or forest
154 ha6.4 km of path
1 h 25 minto walk all 6.4 km of path
4.1 km north-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Mairie d'Elven · CC BY-SA 4.0100%of the land protected
Outdoors in Elven · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Elven lies inside Golfe du Morbihan Regional Nature Park
Protected areas cover 100% of Elven’s land. Mapped woodland covers 30% of Elven. Footpaths add up to 47 km across Elven (0.7 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
30%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
47 km
0.7 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
24 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: Bois du Helfau
The sea
13 km
from the town center to the coast
Throughout this page, the Morbihan 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 Elven?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Inside Golfe du Morbihan Regional Nature Park100% of the commune is in the regional nature park.A wooded commune30% mapped woodland, more than in 77% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.
What sets Elven apart: the regional nature park around it, then its woods.
Against French towns
How Elven 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
93out of 100
Woodland30%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
77out of 100
Footpaths0.7 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
23out of 100
Hiking routes0.4 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
52out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Elven has the 8th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (6,571 to 6,730 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Bouffémont (9.6 km per km²) to Fronton (0.4 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bouffémont Val-d'Oise | 9.6 | 54% | 0.9% | 131 km |
| 2 | Grenay Pas-de-Calais | 6.3 | 6.7% | 0% | 71 km |
| 3 | Luxeuil-les-Bains Haute-Saône | 5.7 | 68% | 59% | 432 km |
| 4 | Châtelaillon-Plage Charente-Maritime | 4.6 | 0.5% | 22% | On it |
| 5 | Ceyrat Puy-de-Dôme | 4.6 | 48% | 100% | 254 km |
| 6 | Gémenos Bouches-du-Rhône | 4.1 | 22% | 92% | 11 km |
| 7 | La Bassée Nord | 3.8 | 1.1% | 0% | 64 km |
| 8 | Cassis Bouches-du-Rhône | 3.7 | 28% | 83% | On it |
| 9 | Gigean Hérault | 3.4 | 6.4% | 12% | 8.7 km |
| 10 | Honfleur Calvados | 3.2 | 9.2% | 4.7% | On it |
| 11 | La Penne-sur-Huveaune Bouches-du-Rhône | 2.8 | 41% | 37% | 7.3 km |
| 12 | Saint-Victoret Bouches-du-Rhône | 2.6 | 10% | 0% | 7.1 km |
| 13 | Canohès Pyrénées-Orientales | 2.5 | 0% | 0% | 16 km |
| 14 | Inzinzac-Lochrist Morbihan | 2.5 | 40% | 0% | 2.3 km |
| 15 | Thônes Haute-Savoie | 2.4 | 67% | 29% | 252 km |
| 16 | Bouchemaine Maine-et-Loire | 2.2 | 14% | 11% | 113 km |
| 17 | Chasse-sur-Rhône Isère | 2.2 | 12% | 0% | 232 km |
| 18 | Furiani Haute-Corse | 1.9 | 0.6% | 6.3% | On it |
| 19 | Le Lavandou Var | 1.8 | 28% | 0.1% | On it |
| 20 | Laneuveville-devant-Nancy Meurthe-et-Moselle | 1.6 | 0.9% | 0% | 371 km |
| 21 | Labarthe-sur-Lèze Haute-Garonne | 1.6 | 5.1% | 2% | 144 km |
| 22 | Saint-Pierre-d'Oléron Charente-Maritime | 1.5 | 12% | 26% | On it |
| 23 | Labruguière Tarn | 1.4 | 44% | 100% | 84 km |
| 24 | Lentilly Rhône | 1.3 | 15% | 0% | 255 km |
| 25 | Gignac Hérault | 1.2 | 26% | 4.8% | 29 km |
| 26 | Montech Tarn-et-Garonne | 1.1 | 33% | 3.3% | 180 km |
| 27 | Meung-sur-Loire Loiret | 1.1 | 7.2% | 6.4% | 204 km |
| 28 | Montauban-de-Bretagne Ille-et-Vilaine | 1 | 13% | 0% | 32 km |
| 29 | Longuenée-en-Anjou Maine-et-Loire | 1 | 6.8% | 2.3% | 114 km |
| 30 | Migennes Yonne | 0.9 | 8.7% | 0% | 280 km |
| 31 | Chalonnes-sur-Loire Maine-et-Loire | 0.9 | 11% | 33% | 99 km |
| 32 | Othis Seine-et-Marne | 0.8 | 18% | 0.6% | 142 km |
| 33 | Vigneux-de-Bretagne Loire-Atlantique | 0.8 | 20% | 0% | 34 km |
| 34 | Elven Morbihan | 0.7 | 30% | 100% | 13 km |
| 35 | Loriol-sur-Drôme Drôme | 0.7 | 12% | 4.7% | 144 km |
| 36 | Le Péage-de-Roussillon Isère | 0.6 | 13% | 28% | 209 km |
| 37 | Feignies Nord | 0.5 | 4.1% | 100% | 126 km |
| 38 | Sury-le-Comtal Loire | 0.5 | 2.4% | 0.6% | 220 km |
| 39 | Héric Loire-Atlantique | 0.4 | 13% | 0% | 42 km |
| 40 | Vallons-de-l'Erdre Loire-Atlantique | 0.4 | 13% | 0% | 81 km |
| 41 | Fronton Haute-Garonne | 0.4 | 12% | 0% | 162 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 Elven
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Bois du Helfau leads, at 154 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Protected land in and around Elven
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Regional nature park
Golfe du Morbihan Regional Nature Park
100% of the commune
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area100%
Regional nature park100%
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 Elven’s land is protected, more than in 93% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Morbihan has 4.4%. 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
47 km of footpaths and 24 km of hiking routes cross Elven
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
47 km
0.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
24 km
waymarked: 0.4 km per km²
Woodland
30%
about 19.6 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
ElvenMorbihan medianFrance median
Footpaths0.7
Hiking routes0.4
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
ElvenMorbihan medianFrance median
Woodland30%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 77% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more 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 Elven is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
10 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 3811 km
Entre bois et cours d’eau18 km
La Noë des Dames10 km
Circuit de la Chapelle de Priziac7.4 km
Circuit du Govéro7.3 km
Circuit de Langroëz6.5 km
La Vallée du Condat6.2 km
Circuit de Kerbiler5.1 km
Circuit des Vieux Villages1.5 km
Sentier de la Croix Irtelle1.4 km
GR 38 passes within 2 km of Elven.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Elven: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Questembert, 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) | 8.8 | 10.2 | 11.8 | 13.6 | 15.1 | 16.0 | 15.6 | 14.3 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.2 | 8.4 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 22 | 17 | 13 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 129 | 94 | 77 | 79 | 75 | 61 | 59 | 61 | 79 | 115 | 126 | 140 |
July is the driest month (59 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 24 °C). 140 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 37 nights a year. The climate in Elven →
Neighbors
Next to Elven
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
TreffléanSaint-NolffSulniacMonterblancPlumelecSérentElven
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elven | 100% | 30% | 0.7 | 13 km |
| Treffléan 2,572 · 6.4 km | 100% | 23% | 1.3 | 7.4 km |
| Saint-Nolff 3,990 · 7.1 km | 100% | 28% | 1 | 6.4 km |
| Sulniac 3,852 · 7.6 km | 100% | 20% | 1.6 | 9.6 km |
| Monterblanc 3,356 · 7.8 km | 100% | 29% | 1.3 | 10 km |
| Plumelec 2,754 · 11 km | 0% | 32% | 0.2 | 21 km |
| Sérent 3,429 · 12 km | 0% | 25% | 0.3 | 25 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 Elven
Is Elven in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Elven lies in Golfe du Morbihan Regional Nature Park (100% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Elven?
OpenStreetMap maps 47 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); 24 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Elven is woodland?
30% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Elven near the sea?
No: the coast is 13 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Elven?
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.