First pick
Forêt domaniale d'Écouves
Wood or forest
10,556 ha265.4 km of path
59 hto walk all 265.4 km of path
11 km south-westfrom the center
Sommière du BouillonRoute Forestière AubertLaie Sommière des Etangs+5 paths
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Ikmo-ned · CC BY-SA 3.0100%of the land protected
Outdoors in Sées · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Sées lies inside Normandie-Maine Regional Nature Park
Protected areas cover 100% of Sées’ land. Footpaths add up to 13 km across Sées (0.3 km per km²). Mapped woodland covers 5.5% of Sées. 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
5.5%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
13 km
0.3 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
2.5 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
7
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Forêt domaniale d'Écouves
Throughout this page, the Orne 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 Sées?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Inside Normandie-Maine Regional Nature Park100% of the commune is in the regional nature park.Few mapped footpaths0.3 km per km², against 1.7 km per km² for the median compared town.
What sets Sées apart: the regional nature park around it. It is shorter on footpaths.
Against French towns
How Sées 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
94out of 100
Woodland5.5%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
25out of 100
Footpaths0.3 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
7out of 100
Hiking routes0.1 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
28out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Sées has the 6th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (4,133 to 4,203 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Montferrier-sur-Lez (5.3 km per km²) to Vieillevigne (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montferrier-sur-Lez Hérault | 5.3 | 33% | 8.3% | 16 km |
| 2 | Indre Loire-Atlantique | 4.7 | 7.9% | 41% | 30 km |
| 3 | Le Pouliguen Loire-Atlantique | 4.4 | 1.6% | 5.1% | On it |
| 4 | Herserange Meurthe-et-Moselle | 3.9 | 47% | 0% | 276 km |
| 5 | Mareil-Marly Yvelines | 3.8 | 24% | 0% | 136 km |
| 6 | Bray-Dunes Nord | 3.6 | 0% | 41% | On it |
| 7 | Thumeries Nord | 3.3 | 37% | 12% | 77 km |
| 8 | Le Plessis-Pâté Essonne | 3.2 | 4.8% | 0% | 170 km |
| 9 | Fouras Charente-Maritime | 2.8 | 2.8% | 43% | On it |
| 10 | Turckheim Haut-Rhin | 2.7 | 56% | 7.9% | 469 km |
| 11 | Escautpont Nord | 2.6 | 41% | 99% | 100 km |
| 12 | Salouël Somme | 2.6 | 2% | 0% | 54 km |
| 13 | Le Neubourg Eure | 2.3 | 19% | 0% | 51 km |
| 14 | Yvré-l'Évêque Sarthe | 2.2 | 26% | 0% | 138 km |
| 15 | Aulnat Puy-de-Dôme | 2.1 | 0.1% | 0% | 258 km |
| 16 | Tourrettes-sur-Loup Alpes-Maritimes | 2.1 | 40% | 100% | 11 km |
| 17 | Marlenheim Bas-Rhin | 2 | 9.8% | 0% | 435 km |
| 18 | Aigrefeuille-sur-Maine Loire-Atlantique | 2 | 5.8% | 0% | 44 km |
| 19 | Carnac Morbihan | 1.7 | 25% | 2.5% | On it |
| 20 | Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier Ille-et-Vilaine | 1.7 | 36% | 2.7% | 41 km |
| 21 | Pont-du-Casse Lot-et-Garonne | 1.7 | 8.3% | 0% | 132 km |
| 22 | Veigy-Foncenex Haute-Savoie | 1.5 | 38% | 0.3% | 293 km |
| 23 | Saint-Romain-le-Puy Loire | 1.4 | 16% | 17% | 222 km |
| 24 | Gondecourt Nord | 1.2 | 4.8% | 0% | 68 km |
| 25 | Sainte-Menehould Marne | 1.2 | 70% | 35% | 263 km |
| 26 | Saint-Donat-sur-l'Herbasse Drôme | 1.1 | 26% | 0% | 186 km |
| 27 | La Destrousse Bouches-du-Rhône | 0.9 | 11% | 6.2% | 19 km |
| 28 | Condé-sur-Vire Manche | 0.9 | 3.4% | 0% | 33 km |
| 29 | Hérin Nord | 0.9 | 1% | 99% | 103 km |
| 30 | Athis-Val de Rouvre Orne | 0.8 | 11% | 2.9% | 56 km |
| 31 | Brionne Eure | 0.6 | 38% | 14% | 38 km |
| 32 | Anneyron Drôme | 0.6 | 14% | 0% | 201 km |
| 33 | Selles-sur-Cher Loir-et-Cher | 0.6 | 20% | 7.9% | 232 km |
| 34 | Porte des Pierres Dorées Rhône | 0.6 | 9.4% | 0% | 271 km |
| 35 | Saint-Florentin Yonne | 0.6 | 10% | 0% | 284 km |
| 36 | Sées Orne | 0.3 | 5.5% | 100% | 79 km |
| 37 | Guignen Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.3 | 11% | 1.2% | 61 km |
| 38 | Bollwiller Haut-Rhin | 0.3 | 26% | 0% | 453 km |
| 39 | Solesmes Nord | 0.3 | 0.7% | 0% | 121 km |
| 40 | Courpière Puy-de-Dôme | 0.2 | 36% | 100% | 248 km |
| 41 | Vieillevigne Loire-Atlantique | 0.2 | 4% | 0% | 42 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 Sées
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Forêt domaniale d'Écouves leads, at 10,556 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Jardin du palais de l'Argentré
Park or garden
1 ha0.8 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.8 km of path
Centralin the middle of Sées
Directionsto a point inside
Cours des Fontaines
Park or garden
1.3 ha0.2 km of path
Centralin the middle of Sées
Directionsto a point inside
Place Crémel
Park or garden
0.6 ha0.2 km of path
0.8 km southfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Square François Mitterrand
Park or garden
0.6 ha
0.7 km south-westfrom 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 Sées
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Regional nature park
Normandie-Maine Regional Nature Park
100% of the commune
Natura 2000 site
Haute vallée de l’Orne et affluents
22% of the commune0.2 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area100%
Regional nature park100%
Natura 2000 site22%
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 Sées’ land is protected, more than in 94% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Orne has 11%. 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
13 km of footpaths cross Sées
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
13 km
0.3 km per km²
Hiking routes
2.5 km
waymarked: 0.1 km per km²
Woodland
5.5%
about 2.2 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
SéesOrne medianFrance median
Footpaths0.3
Hiking routes0.1
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
SéesOrne medianFrance median
Woodland5.5%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 93% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 75% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 97% of Sées’ residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
2 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
La Forêt d'Ecouves3.7 km
Parcours historique de la ville de Sées2.5 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Sées: May to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Pin au Haras-Inrae, 13 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) | 8.7 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.6 | 15.2 | 16.1 | 15.7 | 14.3 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.1 | 8.3 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 21 | 24 | 24 | 20 | 16 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 67 | 56 | 55 | 56 | 67 | 54 | 59 | 58 | 54 | 74 | 75 | 82 |
September is the driest month (54 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 24 °C). 82 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 59 nights a year. The climate in Sées →
Neighbors
Next to Sées
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Gouffern en AugeAlençonArgentanSaint-Germain-du-CorbéisSées
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sées | 100% | 5.5% | 0.3 |
| Gouffern en Auge 3,636 · 20 km | 33% | 25% | 0.6 |
| Alençon 25,490 · 20 km | 5.5% | 2.3% | 4.8 |
| Argentan 13,527 · 21 km | 11% | 2.2% | 1.7 |
| Saint-Germain-du-Corbéis 3,636 · 22 km | 4.1% | 11% | 1.8 |
Gouffern en Auge is more wooded.
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 Sées
Is Sées in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Sées lies in Normandie-Maine Regional Nature Park (100% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Sées?
OpenStreetMap maps 13 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.3 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 2 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Sées is woodland?
5.5% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Sées near the sea?
No: the coast is 79 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Sées?
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.