First pick
Parc des Minguettes
Park or garden · 140 m outside the commune
14 ha3.9 km of path
50 minto walk all 3.9 km of path
1.1 km southfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Frachet · CC BY-SA 3.04.1%woodland
Outdoors in Saint-Fons · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Saint-Fons is within 800 m of a park or wood
Mapped woodland covers 4.1% of Saint-Fons. No protected area reaches Saint-Fons; the nearest, Pelouses, milieux alluviaux et aquatiques de l’île de Miribel-Jonage (Natura 2000), is 9.4 km from the town center. 14 km of footpaths cross Saint-Fons (2.3 km per km²). 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: Pelouses, milieux alluviaux et aquatiques de l’île de Miribel-Jonage, 9.4 km
Woodland
4.1%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
14 km
2.3 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
4
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Parc des Minguettes
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 place
What kind of outdoors place is Saint-Fons?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Protected land nearbyPelouses, milieux alluviaux et aquatiques de l’île de Miribel-Jonage (Natura 2000) is 9.4 km from the town center.Little mapped woodland4.1% of the land, against 13% for the median compared town.
What sets Saint-Fons apart: protected land close by. It is shorter on woodland.
Against French towns
How Saint-Fons 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
Woodland4.1%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
19out of 100
Footpaths2.3 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
62out of 100
Hiking routes0 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
12out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Saint-Fons has the 14th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (18,538 to 20,050 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Meylan (9.2 km per km²) to Mauges-sur-Loire (0.5 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Meylan Isère | 9.2 | 18% | 12% | 205 km |
| 2 | Villefontaine Isère | 9.1 | 21% | 1.7% | 241 km |
| 3 | Gentilly Val-de-Marne | 8 | 1.8% | 0% | 153 km |
| 4 | Le Mée-sur-Seine Seine-et-Marne | 7.9 | 34% | 0% | 190 km |
| 5 | Juvisy-sur-Orge Essonne | 6.4 | 1.3% | 0% | 166 km |
| 6 | Moulins Allier | 6.1 | 3.3% | 11% | 338 km |
| 7 | Chevilly-Larue Val-de-Marne | 5.8 | 3.8% | 0% | 158 km |
| 8 | Chennevières-sur-Marne Val-de-Marne | 5.4 | 6.2% | 0% | 163 km |
| 9 | Bischheim Bas-Rhin | 5.1 | 3.6% | 0.6% | 449 km |
| 10 | Paris 2e Paris | 4.6 | 0% | 0% | 148 km |
| 11 | Faches-Thumesnil Nord | 4.4 | 0.2% | 0% | 66 km |
| 12 | Albertville Savoie | 4.1 | 47% | 0% | 228 km |
| 13 | Mougins Alpes-Maritimes | 4 | 28% | 0% | 5.1 km |
| 14 | Cesson-Sévigné Ille-et-Vilaine | 3.9 | 5.2% | 0% | 50 km |
| 15 | Bruz Ille-et-Vilaine | 3.8 | 14% | 0% | 55 km |
| 16 | Bruges Gironde | 3.7 | 9.3% | 23% | 14 km |
| 17 | Ronchin Nord | 3.7 | 1.8% | 0% | 66 km |
| 18 | Cournon-d'Auvergne Puy-de-Dôme | 3.3 | 6.6% | 6.3% | 251 km |
| 19 | Ploemeur Morbihan | 3.3 | 15% | 4.9% | On it |
| 20 | Saint-Dié-des-Vosges Vosges | 3.2 | 58% | 1.9% | 436 km |
| 21 | Hem Nord | 3 | 5.1% | 0% | 64 km |
| 22 | Le Puy-en-Velay Haute-Loire | 2.9 | 12% | 0% | 165 km |
| 23 | Saint-Lô Manche | 2.9 | 5% | 0% | 26 km |
| 24 | Royan Charente-Maritime | 2.8 | 8.7% | 12% | On it |
| 25 | Louviers Eure | 2.8 | 55% | 0.1% | 64 km |
| 26 | Lisieux Calvados | 2.4 | 1.9% | 0% | 26 km |
| 27 | La Crau Var | 2.3 | 23% | 1.8% | 6.1 km |
| 28 | Saint-Fons Rhône | 2.3 | 4.1% | 0% | 246 km |
| 29 | Sanary-sur-Mer Var | 2.2 | 16% | 0% | On it |
| 30 | Vence Alpes-Maritimes | 2.2 | 28% | 64% | 8.3 km |
| 31 | Vitré Ille-et-Vilaine | 2.2 | 4.2% | 0% | 58 km |
| 32 | Cahors Lot | 1.9 | 42% | 0% | 172 km |
| 33 | Bourg-lès-Valence Drôme | 1.8 | 1.8% | 0% | 166 km |
| 34 | Sorgues Vaucluse | 1.7 | 9.7% | 22% | 62 km |
| 35 | Pertuis Vaucluse | 1.5 | 18% | 100% | 40 km |
| 36 | Brie-Comte-Robert Seine-et-Marne | 1.3 | 4.7% | 0% | 176 km |
| 37 | Riom Puy-de-Dôme | 1.1 | 2.4% | 1.3% | 269 km |
| 38 | Sélestat Bas-Rhin | 1 | 40% | 56% | 462 km |
| 39 | Pornic Loire-Atlantique | 1 | 4.4% | 0% | On it |
| 40 | Bressuire Deux-Sèvres | 0.6 | 2.4% | 0% | 77 km |
| 41 | Mauges-sur-Loire Maine-et-Loire | 0.5 | 4.7% | 11% | 88 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 Saint-Fons
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc des Minguettes leads, at 14 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Parc Hélène et Victor Basch
Park or garden
3 ha1.2 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.2 km of path
1.5 km southfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Square des Angousiers
Park or garden
0.7 ha0.3 km of path
1.8 km southfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Pelouses, milieux alluviaux et aquatiques de l’île de Miribel-Jonage is the nearest protected area, 9.4 km away
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Natura 2000 site
Pelouses, milieux alluviaux et aquatiques de l’île de Miribel-Jonage
9.4 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
14 km of footpaths cross Saint-Fons
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
14 km
2.3 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked: 0 km per km²
Woodland
4.1%
about 0.2 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Saint-FonsRhône medianFrance median
Footpaths2.3
Hiking routes0
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Saint-FonsRhône medianFrance median
Woodland4.1%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 62% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 81% 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 Saint-Fons is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
3 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
Tour de Lyon, d'Yvours au Fort de Bruissin3.6 km
Tour de Lyon, du Fort de Bron à Feyzin3.4 km
Sentier des Moissons3 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Saint-Fons: April and June to August
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Lyon-Bron, 7.2 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 | 22 | 26 | 28 | 28 | 23 | 18 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 50 | 42 | 49 | 69 | 81 | 74 | 67 | 66 | 83 | 100 | 87 | 54 |
February is the driest month (42 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 28 °C). 100 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 42 nights a year. The climate in Saint-Fons →
Neighbors
Next to Saint-Fons
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
VénissieuxLyon 8eFeyzinOullins-Pierre-BéniteIrignyLa MulatièreSaint-Fons
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Fons | 0% | 4.1% | 2.3 |
| Vénissieux 65,502 · 1.4 km | 0% | 3.8% | 5 |
| Lyon 8e 85,943 · 3.4 km | 0% | 0.7% | 4.6 |
| Feyzin 10,304 · 3.8 km | 0% | 12% | 3.4 |
| Oullins-Pierre-Bénite 38,168 · 3.9 km | 0% | 2.3% | 4.2 |
| Irigny 9,034 · 4.4 km | 0% | 13% | 2.8 |
| La Mulatière 6,534 · 4.5 km | 0% | 9.1% | 4 |
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 Saint-Fons
Is Saint-Fons in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Pelouses, milieux alluviaux et aquatiques de l’île de Miribel-Jonage, 9.4 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Saint-Fons?
OpenStreetMap maps 14 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 2.3 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²).
How much of Saint-Fons is woodland?
4.1% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Saint-Fons near the sea?
No: the coast is 246 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Saint-Fons?
April and June 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.