First pick
Parc du Vourlat
Park or garden
1.8 ha0.7 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.7 km of path
0.7 km southfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: CHABERT Louis · CC BY-SA 4.013%woodland
Outdoors in Messimy · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Messimy is within 800 m of a park or wood
No protected area reaches Messimy; the nearest, Mine du Verdy nature reserve, is 8.3 km from the town center. 13 km of footpaths cross Messimy (1.1 km per km²). Waymarked hiking routes add up to 4 km in Messimy. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
0%
of the commune’s land
Nearest: Mine du Verdy nature reserve, 8.3 km
Woodland
13%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
13 km
1.1 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
3.6 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 du Vourlat
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.
Against French towns
How Messimy 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 areas0%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
22out of 100
Woodland13%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
48out of 100
Footpaths1.1 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
36out of 100
Hiking routes0.3 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
48out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Messimy has the 20th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (3,527 to 3,565 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Deauville (5.5 km per km²) to Réalmont (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Deauville Calvados | 5.5 | 1.1% | 0% | On it |
| 2 | Tosse Landes | 3.3 | 56% | 6.7% | 8.7 km |
| 3 | Quissac Gard | 2.8 | 46% | 0% | 39 km |
| 4 | Sainte-Tulle Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 2.8 | 24% | 100% | 60 km |
| 5 | Mérignies Nord | 2.6 | 7.7% | 0% | 76 km |
| 6 | Amélie-les-Bains-Palalda Pyrénées-Orientales | 2.4 | 82% | 1.8% | 32 km |
| 7 | Allennes-les-Marais Nord | 2.2 | 7.5% | 0% | 68 km |
| 8 | Servon Seine-et-Marne | 2.2 | 12% | 0% | 172 km |
| 9 | La Bernerie-en-Retz Loire-Atlantique | 2.1 | 2.2% | 0.8% | On it |
| 10 | Rubelles Seine-et-Marne | 2 | 19% | 0% | 190 km |
| 11 | Saint-Julien-lès-Metz Moselle | 1.9 | 36% | 0% | 328 km |
| 12 | Crémieu Isère | 1.9 | 36% | 24% | 254 km |
| 13 | Portiragnes Hérault | 1.9 | 5% | 80% | On it |
| 14 | Olemps Aveyron | 1.8 | 17% | 0% | 135 km |
| 15 | Laragne-Montéglin Hautes-Alpes | 1.5 | 37% | 77% | 114 km |
| 16 | Lécousse Ille-et-Vilaine | 1.5 | 1.4% | 0% | 31 km |
| 17 | Fargues-Saint-Hilaire Gironde | 1.4 | 23% | 1.7% | 24 km |
| 18 | Cerny Essonne | 1.2 | 41% | 100% | 179 km |
| 19 | Châteauneuf-sur-Charente Charente | 1.1 | 12% | 21% | 58 km |
| 20 | Messimy Rhône | 1.1 | 13% | 0% | 242 km |
| 21 | Pleumeleuc Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.9 | 1.9% | 0% | 35 km |
| 22 | Vertaizon Puy-de-Dôme | 0.9 | 9% | 2.1% | 253 km |
| 23 | Saint-Georges-d'Espéranche Isère | 0.9 | 18% | 0% | 234 km |
| 24 | Béligneux Ain | 0.9 | 14% | 6.3% | 268 km |
| 25 | Échiré Deux-Sèvres | 0.8 | 2.6% | 0% | 56 km |
| 26 | Carcès Var | 0.7 | 51% | 25% | 39 km |
| 27 | Varangéville Meurthe-et-Moselle | 0.7 | 12% | 0% | 377 km |
| 28 | Saint-Soupplets Seine-et-Marne | 0.7 | 9.4% | 0% | 151 km |
| 29 | Le Breuil Saône-et-Loire | 0.6 | 17% | 0% | 362 km |
| 30 | Bellac Haute-Vienne | 0.6 | 20% | 0.4% | 158 km |
| 31 | Avesnes-les-Aubert Nord | 0.6 | 0.8% | 0% | 116 km |
| 32 | Loyettes Ain | 0.5 | 5.9% | 12% | 260 km |
| 33 | Saint-Maur Indre | 0.5 | 33% | 2.1% | 220 km |
| 34 | Gallardon Eure-et-Loir | 0.5 | 8.3% | 0% | 140 km |
| 35 | Clamecy Nièvre | 0.5 | 34% | 3% | 321 km |
| 36 | Puygouzon Tarn | 0.5 | 1.3% | 0% | 115 km |
| 37 | Montmirail Marne | 0.4 | 27% | 0% | 198 km |
| 38 | Nogent Haute-Marne | 0.4 | 38% | 36% | 359 km |
| 39 | Varennes-sur-Allier Allier | 0.3 | 6.2% | 39% | 311 km |
| 40 | Isigny-sur-Mer Calvados | 0.2 | 1.4% | 75% | 5 km |
| 41 | Réalmont Tarn | 0.1 | 5.9% | 0% | 105 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 Messimy
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc du Vourlat 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
Mine du Verdy nature reserve is the nearest protected area, 8.3 km away
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Nature reserve
Mine du Verdy nature reserve
8.3 km from the town center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area0%
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.
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 Messimy
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
1.1 km per km²
Hiking routes
3.6 km
waymarked: 0.3 km per km²
Woodland
13%
about 1.4 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
MessimyRhône medianFrance median
Footpaths1.1
Hiking routes0.3
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
MessimyRhône medianFrance median
Woodland13%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 64% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 52% 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 Messimy is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
4 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
Via Lugdunum, Lyon to Le Puy-en-Velay9.5 km
De Champonost à Mornant9.2 km
Chemin de Montaigne de Lyon à Brussieu3.9 km
Tour de Lyon, d'Yvours au Fort de Bruissin1.6 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Messimy: April to August
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Mornant, 9.3 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) | 9.1 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 14.9 | 15.7 | 15.4 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.4 | 8.7 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 9 | 14 | 17 | 21 | 26 | 28 | 28 | 23 | 18 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 48 | 35 | 43 | 60 | 71 | 70 | 69 | 62 | 77 | 87 | 86 | 50 |
February is the driest month (35 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 28 °C). 87 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 65 nights a year. The climate in Messimy →
Neighbors
Next to Messimy
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Soucieu-en-JarrestThurinsBrindasVaugnerayOrliénasGrézieu-la-VarenneMessimy
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Messimy | 0% | 13% | 1.1 |
| Soucieu-en-Jarrest 4,660 · 2.8 km | 0% | 15% | 1 |
| Thurins 3,404 · 3.2 km | 0% | 31% | 0.8 |
| Brindas 6,775 · 3.3 km | 0% | 8.6% | 1.2 |
| Vaugneray 6,304 · 4.1 km | 0% | 31% | 1.5 |
| Orliénas 2,675 · 5.4 km | 0% | 22% | 1.1 |
| Grézieu-la-Varenne 6,472 · 5.6 km | 0% | 9.3% | 1.7 |
Thurins, Vaugneray and Orliénas 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 Messimy
Is Messimy in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Mine du Verdy nature reserve, 8.3 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Messimy?
OpenStreetMap maps 13 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.1 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 4 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Messimy is woodland?
13% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Messimy near the sea?
No: the coast is 242 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Messimy?
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 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.