First pick
Parc de la Pelzinière
Park or garden
1.8 ha0.7 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.7 km of path
1.2 km south-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Profdocdubellay · CC BY-SA 3.0100%of the land protected
Outdoors in Val-au-Perche · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Val-au-Perche lies inside Perche Regional Nature Park
100% of Val-au-Perche’s land lies in protected areas. Footpaths add up to 12 km across Val-au-Perche (0.2 km per km²). 21% of Val-au-Perche is mapped woodland. 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
21%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
12 km
0.2 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
2.7 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
1
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Parc de la Pelzinière
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 Val-au-Perche?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Inside Perche Regional Nature Park100% of the commune is in the regional nature park.Few mapped footpaths0.2 km per km², against 1.7 km per km² for the median compared town.
What sets Val-au-Perche apart: the regional nature park around it. It is shorter on footpaths.
Against French towns
How Val-au-Perche 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
95out of 100
Woodland21%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
64out of 100
Footpaths0.2 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
3out of 100
Hiking routes0 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
27out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Val-au-Perche has the 6th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (3,306 to 3,369 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Collégien (5.9 km per km²) to La Ville-Dieu-du-Temple (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Collégien Seine-et-Marne | 5.9 | 29% | 0% | 165 km |
| 2 | Frépillon Val-d'Oise | 4.3 | 19% | 0.2% | 126 km |
| 3 | Champ-sur-Drac Isère | 3.9 | 51% | 24% | 193 km |
| 4 | Bernin Isère | 3.7 | 28% | 14% | 207 km |
| 5 | Briis-sous-Forges Essonne | 3.5 | 22% | 0.1% | 157 km |
| 6 | Renage Isère | 3.1 | 31% | 0% | 215 km |
| 7 | Saint-Maximin Oise | 3 | 54% | 88% | 120 km |
| 8 | Roscoff Finistère | 3 | 0% | 0.4% | On it |
| 9 | Seilh Haute-Garonne | 3 | 15% | 12% | 156 km |
| 10 | Houplin-Ancoisne Nord | 3 | 4.4% | 0% | 66 km |
| 11 | Buchelay Yvelines | 2.8 | 7.5% | 0% | 108 km |
| 12 | Cocheren Moselle | 2.6 | 36% | 0% | 360 km |
| 13 | Saint-Nicolas-de-Redon Loire-Atlantique | 2.2 | 18% | 31% | 29 km |
| 14 | Ceyzériat Ain | 2 | 41% | 0.6% | 305 km |
| 15 | Doubs Doubs | 2 | 37% | 0% | 361 km |
| 16 | Le Folgoët Finistère | 1.9 | 3.7% | 0% | 8.1 km |
| 17 | Vourles Rhône | 1.8 | 6.6% | 0% | 240 km |
| 18 | Salles-d'Aude Aude | 1.7 | 12% | 19% | 9 km |
| 19 | Merlimont Pas-de-Calais | 1.6 | 28% | 63% | On it |
| 20 | La Roche-Blanche Puy-de-Dôme | 1.5 | 12% | 7.8% | 249 km |
| 21 | Aigues-Vives Gard | 1.3 | 4.2% | 13% | 21 km |
| 22 | Mareuil-lès-Meaux Seine-et-Marne | 1.1 | 18% | 0.6% | 163 km |
| 23 | Boissy-le-Châtel Seine-et-Marne | 1.1 | 20% | 0% | 184 km |
| 24 | Bonifacio Corse-du-Sud | 1.1 | 11% | 18% | On it |
| 25 | Précy-sur-Oise Oise | 1 | 14% | 100% | 119 km |
| 26 | Villelongue-de-la-Salanque Pyrénées-Orientales | 0.8 | 0.1% | 0% | 4.5 km |
| 27 | Montanay Rhône | 0.8 | 7.1% | 0% | 265 km |
| 28 | Wizernes Pas-de-Calais | 0.7 | 6.8% | 100% | 32 km |
| 29 | Louvigné-du-Désert Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.6 | 4.2% | 0% | 24 km |
| 30 | Morhange Moselle | 0.5 | 7% | 0% | 367 km |
| 31 | Veuzain-sur-Loire Loir-et-Cher | 0.5 | 24% | 6.2% | 220 km |
| 32 | Saint-Andiol Bouches-du-Rhône | 0.5 | 0% | 0% | 43 km |
| 33 | Chaumont-en-Vexin Oise | 0.5 | 18% | 0% | 93 km |
| 34 | Évry-Grégy-sur-Yerre Seine-et-Marne | 0.3 | 13% | 0% | 180 km |
| 35 | Palau-del-Vidre Pyrénées-Orientales | 0.2 | 1% | 2.8% | 7.1 km |
| 36 | Val-au-Perche Orne | 0.2 | 21% | 100% | 128 km |
| 37 | Airvault Deux-Sèvres | 0.2 | 13% | 18% | 95 km |
| 38 | Cérans-Foulletourte Sarthe | 0.2 | 34% | 0% | 139 km |
| 39 | Castillon-la-Bataille Gironde | 0.1 | 12% | 1.5% | 47 km |
| 40 | Ambès Gironde | 0.1 | 5.4% | 58% | 4.6 km |
| 41 | La Ville-Dieu-du-Temple Tarn-et-Garonne | 0.1 | 9% | 0% | 180 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 Val-au-Perche
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc de la Pelzinière leads, at 1.8 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 Val-au-Perche
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Regional nature park
Perche 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 Val-au-Perche’s land is protected, more than in 95% 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
12 km of footpaths cross Val-au-Perche
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
12 km
0.2 km per km²
Hiking routes
2.7 km
waymarked: 0 km per km²
Woodland
21%
about 13.1 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Val-au-PercheOrne medianFrance median
Footpaths0.2
Hiking routes0
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Val-au-PercheOrne medianFrance median
Woodland21%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 97% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 64% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 96% of Val-au-Perche’s residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Val-au-Perche: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Preaux-Du-Perche, 6.3 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 | 8.4 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 9 | 12 | 16 | 19 | 23 | 25 | 25 | 22 | 16 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 71 | 58 | 57 | 52 | 65 | 56 | 52 | 55 | 51 | 72 | 72 | 88 |
September is the driest month (51 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 25 °C). 88 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 55 nights a year. The climate in Val-au-Perche →
Neighbors
Next to Val-au-Perche
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
La Ferté-BernardNogent-le-RotrouCherré-AuBonnétableVibrayeMamersVal-au-Perche
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Val-au-Perche | 100% | 21% | 0.2 |
| La Ferté-Bernard 8,740 · 10 km | 0% | 1.2% | 0.9 |
| Nogent-le-Rotrou 9,292 · 10 km | 100% | 7.9% | 0.8 |
| Cherré-Au 2,758 · 11 km | 0% | 12% | 0.3 |
| Bonnétable 3,703 · 22 km | 0% | 34% | 0.6 |
| Vibraye 2,523 · 24 km | 5% | 43% | 1.1 |
| Mamers 4,996 · 26 km | 0.1% | 0.9% | 1.4 |
Bonnétable and Vibraye are 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 Val-au-Perche
Is Val-au-Perche in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Val-au-Perche lies in Perche Regional Nature Park (100% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Val-au-Perche?
OpenStreetMap maps 12 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.2 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 3 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Val-au-Perche is woodland?
21% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Val-au-Perche near the sea?
No: the coast is 128 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Val-au-Perche?
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 9, 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.