Photo: A.BourgeoisP · CC BY-SA 4.058% of La Machine’s land is protected for nature
65% of La Machine is mapped woodland. 26 km of footpaths cross La Machine (1.5 km per km²). Waymarked hiking routes add up to 5 km in La Machine. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Throughout this page, the Nièvre 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 Machine?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
What sets La Machine apart: its protected countryside, then its woods.
How La Machine 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 Machine has the 17th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (3,173 to 3,210 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Fonbeauzard (4.4 km per km²) to Saint-Ciers-sur-Gironde (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fonbeauzard Haute-Garonne | 4.4 | 10% | 0% | 151 km |
| 2 | Saint-Michel Aisne | 3.4 | 55% | 62% | 170 km |
| 3 | Gagnac-sur-Garonne Haute-Garonne | 3 | 15% | 38% | 156 km |
| 4 | Voujeaucourt Doubs | 2.5 | 44% | 0% | 414 km |
| 5 | Saint-Michel Charente | 2.3 | 12% | 3.2% | 71 km |
| 6 | Saint-Gervais-la-Forêt Loir-et-Cher | 2.2 | 63% | 0% | 220 km |
| 7 | Lissieu Rhône | 2 | 19% | 0% | 260 km |
| 8 | Dolus-d'Oléron Charente-Maritime | 1.9 | 31% | 40% | On it |
| 9 | Knutange Moselle | 1.9 | 64% | 0% | 303 km |
| 10 | Proville Nord | 1.6 | 15% | 9.5% | 109 km |
| 11 | Salomé Nord | 1.6 | 3% | 0% | 65 km |
| 12 | Lozanne Rhône | 1.6 | 17% | 0% | 259 km |
| 13 | Châteaugay Puy-de-Dôme | 1.6 | 4.7% | 5.2% | 265 km |
| 14 | Nay Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 1.6 | 14% | 8.5% | 109 km |
| 15 | Fontoy Moselle | 1.5 | 48% | 0% | 300 km |
| 16 | Toussieu Rhône | 1.5 | 6.8% | 0% | 243 km |
| 17 | La Machine Nièvre | 1.5 | 65% | 58% | 357 km |
| 18 | Marsac-sur-l'Isle Dordogne | 1.2 | 33% | 0% | 99 km |
| 19 | Davézieux Ardèche | 1.2 | 4.3% | 0% | 195 km |
| 20 | Saint-Paul-de-Vence Alpes-Maritimes | 1.1 | 32% | 0% | 5 km |
| 21 | Saône Doubs | 1.1 | 43% | 28% | 397 km |
| 22 | Druelle Balsac Aveyron | 1.1 | 22% | 0% | 140 km |
| 23 | Breuil-le-Vert Oise | 1 | 31% | 0% | 105 km |
| 24 | Sallèles-d'Aude Aude | 1 | 7.8% | 1.7% | 21 km |
| 25 | La Loupe Eure-et-Loir | 1 | 9.5% | 100% | 118 km |
| 26 | Souillac Lot | 1 | 67% | 6.9% | 163 km |
| 27 | Ploemel Morbihan | 0.9 | 18% | 0% | 3.3 km |
| 28 | Camblanes-et-Meynac Gironde | 0.9 | 12% | 2.8% | 28 km |
| 29 | Baraqueville Aveyron | 0.8 | 13% | 0% | 134 km |
| 30 | Creuzier-le-Vieux Allier | 0.8 | 10% | 3% | 293 km |
| 31 | Saint-Sauveur-Villages Manche | 0.8 | 2% | 35% | 13 km |
| 32 | Meschers-sur-Gironde Charente-Maritime | 0.6 | 7.4% | 60% | On it |
| 33 | Seltz Bas-Rhin | 0.6 | 36% | 57% | 447 km |
| 34 | Imphy Nièvre | 0.6 | 32% | 46% | 343 km |
| 35 | Crêches-sur-Saône Saône-et-Loire | 0.6 | 5.5% | 16% | 303 km |
| 36 | Mayet Sarthe | 0.5 | 38% | 40% | 155 km |
| 37 | Cossé-le-Vivien Mayenne | 0.5 | 0.6% | 0% | 83 km |
| 38 | Saint-Siméon-de-Bressieux Isère | 0.3 | 15% | 0% | 211 km |
| 39 | Montsûrs Mayenne | 0.3 | 15% | 19% | 80 km |
| 40 | Illiers-Combray Eure-et-Loir | 0.3 | 8.1% | 0% | 142 km |
| 41 | Saint-Ciers-sur-Gironde Gironde | 0.1 | 0.8% | 55% | On it |
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is the commune’s boundary.
Protected land in and around La Machine
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Bocage, forêts et milieux humides des Amognes et du bassin de la Machine
Bocages, forêts et milieux humides des Amognes et du bassin de la Machine
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.
58% of La Machine’s land is protected, more than in 88% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Nièvre has 11%.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
26 km of footpaths cross La Machine
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 55% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 97% 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 La Machine 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).
The best walking months in La Machine: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Ourouer, 22 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) | 8.9 | 10.2 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 15.0 | 15.9 | 15.5 | 14.2 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.3 | 8.5 |
| High (°C) | 6 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 | 23 | 26 | 26 | 21 | 16 | 10 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 80 | 68 | 63 | 76 | 75 | 67 | 56 | 67 | 68 | 85 | 92 | 93 |
July is the driest month (56 mm) and the warmest (highs of 26 °C). 93 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 60 nights a year. The climate in La Machine →
Next to La Machine
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| La Machine | 58% | 65% | 1.5 |
| Decize 4,932 · 7.6 km | 32% | 15% | 0.6 |
| Imphy 3,182 · 15 km | 46% | 32% | 0.6 |
| Coulanges-lès-Nevers 3,688 · 25 km | 5.1% | 7.8% | 0.6 |
| Nevers 33,085 · 26 km | 11% | 1.2% | 3.3 |
| Varennes-Vauzelles 9,146 · 28 km | 0% | 20% | 0.9 |
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 Machine
Is La Machine in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 58% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in La Machine?
OpenStreetMap maps 26 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.5 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 5 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of La Machine is woodland?
65% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is La Machine near the sea?
No: the coast is 357 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in La Machine?
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 8, 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.