Photo: Benoît Prieur · CC0Loire-sur-Rhône lies inside Pilat Regional Nature Park
Protected areas cover 84% of Loire-sur-Rhône’s land. Mapped woodland covers 44% of Loire-sur-Rhône. Loire-sur-Rhône has 4 km of waymarked hiking routes. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Throughout this page, the Rhône 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 Loire-sur-Rhône?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
What sets Loire-sur-Rhône apart: the regional nature park around it, then its woods.
How Loire-sur-Rhône 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.
Loire-sur-Rhône has the 12th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (2,721 to 2,772 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Andilly (7.1 km per km²) to Sains-du-Nord (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andilly Val-d'Oise | 7.1 | 53% | 0% | 134 km |
| 2 | Chaligny Meurthe-et-Moselle | 5.1 | 72% | 0% | 364 km |
| 3 | Argelès-Gazost Hautes-Pyrénées | 4.3 | 17% | 100% | 130 km |
| 4 | Quintin Côtes-d'Armor | 3.6 | 4.7% | 0% | 19 km |
| 5 | Pabu Côtes-d'Armor | 3.6 | 22% | 0% | 15 km |
| 6 | Collioure Pyrénées-Orientales | 3.4 | 6.3% | 4% | On it |
| 7 | Saint-Lunaire Ille-et-Vilaine | 2.6 | 21% | 100% | On it |
| 8 | Balaruc-le-Vieux Hérault | 2.5 | 5.5% | 19% | 5.4 km |
| 9 | Anet Eure-et-Loir | 2.4 | 48% | 0.1% | 102 km |
| 10 | Chailles Loir-et-Cher | 2.3 | 48% | 4.8% | 222 km |
| 11 | Malaucène Vaucluse | 2.1 | 57% | 100% | 83 km |
| 12 | Loire-sur-Rhône Rhône | 1.9 | 44% | 84% | 229 km |
| 13 | Ampuis Rhône | 1.7 | 36% | 95% | 222 km |
| 14 | Capinghem Nord | 1.7 | 1.8% | 0% | 57 km |
| 15 | Venarey-les-Laumes Côte-d'Or | 1.5 | 18% | 2.2% | 357 km |
| 16 | Venette Oise | 1.4 | 7.3% | 0% | 117 km |
| 17 | Trieux Meurthe-et-Moselle | 1.3 | 31% | 0% | 299 km |
| 18 | Beaumont-le-Roger Eure | 1.2 | 79% | 2% | 50 km |
| 19 | Charolles Saône-et-Loire | 1.2 | 20% | 0% | 320 km |
| 20 | Aouste-sur-Sye Drôme | 1.2 | 40% | 2.3% | 141 km |
| 21 | Saint-Witz Val-d'Oise | 1.2 | 8.3% | 0.1% | 137 km |
| 22 | Mussidan Dordogne | 1.1 | 13% | 1.7% | 75 km |
| 23 | Orgon Bouches-du-Rhône | 0.8 | 17% | 100% | 40 km |
| 24 | Magné Deux-Sèvres | 0.8 | 15% | 100% | 44 km |
| 25 | Ronchamp Haute-Saône | 0.8 | 73% | 100% | 440 km |
| 26 | Vulaines-sur-Seine Seine-et-Marne | 0.8 | 24% | 0% | 205 km |
| 27 | Saleux Somme | 0.7 | 22% | 0% | 53 km |
| 28 | Marigny-Le-Lozon Manche | 0.7 | 0.2% | 46% | 21 km |
| 29 | Confolens Charente | 0.6 | 12% | 3.7% | 127 km |
| 30 | Dieuze Moselle | 0.6 | 21% | 24% | 380 km |
| 31 | Warmeriville Marne | 0.5 | 11% | 0% | 205 km |
| 32 | Montignac-Lascaux Dordogne | 0.5 | 52% | 1.6% | 138 km |
| 33 | Alixan Drôme | 0.5 | 0.2% | 0% | 170 km |
| 34 | Wassy Haute-Marne | 0.5 | 61% | 0% | 302 km |
| 35 | Montrevel-en-Bresse Ain | 0.4 | 7.8% | 0% | 319 km |
| 36 | Huttenheim Bas-Rhin | 0.3 | 32% | 35% | 460 km |
| 37 | Sarre-Union Bas-Rhin | 0.2 | 21% | 1.7% | 389 km |
| 38 | Thuré Vienne | 0.2 | 29% | 0% | 136 km |
| 39 | Yerville Seine-Maritime | 0.2 | 3.2% | 0% | 24 km |
| 40 | Ennezat Puy-de-Dôme | 0.1 | 0.1% | 0% | 268 km |
| 41 | Sains-du-Nord Nord | 0.1 | 34% | 100% | 149 km |
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is the commune’s boundary.
Protected land in and around Loire-sur-Rhône
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Pilat Regional Nature Park
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.
84% of Loire-sur-Rhône’s land is protected, more than in 90% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Rhône has 0%. 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.
31 km of footpaths cross Loire-sur-Rhône
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 more than in 55% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 88% 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 Loire-sur-Rhône 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 Loire-sur-Rhône: April to August
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at St-Genis-Laval, 15 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) | 9.1 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 14.9 | 15.7 | 15.3 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.4 | 8.7 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 9 | 14 | 17 | 21 | 26 | 28 | 28 | 23 | 17 | 11 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 48 | 37 | 47 | 68 | 75 | 68 | 65 | 63 | 80 | 95 | 90 | 49 |
February is the driest month (37 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 28 °C). 95 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 44 nights a year. The climate in Loire-sur-Rhône →
Next to Loire-sur-Rhône
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loire-sur-Rhône | 84% | 44% | 1.9 |
| Chasse-sur-Rhône 6,588 · 2.6 km | 0% | 12% | 2.2 |
| Givors 21,379 · 4.5 km | 0.2% | 27% | 1.7 |
| Ternay 5,596 · 5.1 km | 0% | 18% | 2.7 |
| Grigny-sur-Rhône 10,030 · 5.7 km | 0% | 16% | 3.5 |
| Communay 4,540 · 5.8 km | 0% | 13% | 1.8 |
| Vienne 31,778 · 7 km | 0.1% | 30% | 2.6 |
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 Loire-sur-Rhône
Is Loire-sur-Rhône in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Loire-sur-Rhône lies in Pilat Regional Nature Park (84% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Loire-sur-Rhône?
OpenStreetMap maps 31 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.9 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 4 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Loire-sur-Rhône is woodland?
44% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Loire-sur-Rhône near the sea?
No: the coast is 229 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Loire-sur-Rhône?
April to August: 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.