First pick
Domaine de Melchior
Park or garden
7.4 ha1.4 km of path
20 minto walk all 1.4 km of path
0.8 km westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Jean-Baptiste Drevet · Public domain15%woodland
Outdoors in Vernaison · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Vernaison has more footpaths per km² than 8 in 10 French towns
Footpaths add up to 17 km across Vernaison (4 km per km²). No protected area reaches Vernaison; the nearest, Pilat Regional Nature Park, is 8.8 km from the town center. 15% of Vernaison is mapped woodland. 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: Pilat Regional Nature Park, 8.8 km
Woodland
15%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
17 km
4 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
2
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Domaine de Melchior
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 Vernaison?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
A place of footpaths4 km per km² of mapped footpath, against 1.7 km per km² for the median compared town.Protected land nearbyPilat Regional Nature Park is 8.8 km from the town center.
What sets Vernaison apart: its footpaths, then protected land close by.
Against French towns
How Vernaison 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
Woodland15%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
54out of 100
Footpaths4 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
85out 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
Vernaison has the 9th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (5,157 to 5,264 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From L'Étang-la-Ville (8.8 km per km²) to Pauillac (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | L'Étang-la-Ville Yvelines | 8.8 | 62% | 0% | 137 km |
| 2 | Saint-Clément-de-Rivière Hérault | 6.3 | 43% | 2.7% | 18 km |
| 3 | Bassens Savoie | 6.2 | 18% | 0.1% | 234 km |
| 4 | Brou-sur-Chantereine Seine-et-Marne | 5.9 | 62% | 0% | 159 km |
| 5 | Vaux-sur-Seine Yvelines | 5.2 | 57% | 63% | 120 km |
| 6 | Coubron Seine-Saint-Denis | 4.9 | 49% | 41% | 154 km |
| 7 | Valdoie Territoire de Belfort | 4.6 | 52% | 0% | 435 km |
| 8 | Le Rove Bouches-du-Rhône | 4.3 | 0% | 86% | On it |
| 9 | Vernaison Rhône | 4 | 15% | 0% | 239 km |
| 10 | Bauvin Nord | 3.9 | 12% | 0% | 69 km |
| 11 | Séméac Hautes-Pyrénées | 3.2 | 21% | 0.4% | 134 km |
| 12 | Mulsanne Sarthe | 2.8 | 47% | 0% | 143 km |
| 13 | Le Bourget-du-Lac Savoie | 2.8 | 57% | 13% | 244 km |
| 14 | Pont-Sainte-Marie Aube | 2.7 | 7.9% | 0.9% | 272 km |
| 15 | Loison-sous-Lens Pas-de-Calais | 2.3 | 3.6% | 0% | 75 km |
| 16 | Beynost Ain | 2.2 | 10% | 4.9% | 263 km |
| 17 | Nuits-Saint-Georges Côte-d'Or | 2.1 | 25% | 69% | 403 km |
| 18 | Gauchy Aisne | 2 | 12% | 0% | 121 km |
| 19 | Schweighouse-sur-Moder Bas-Rhin | 2 | 40% | 5.4% | 432 km |
| 20 | Nans-les-Pins Var | 2 | 39% | 100% | 23 km |
| 21 | Valleiry Haute-Savoie | 1.9 | 30% | 0% | 286 km |
| 22 | Seichamps Meurthe-et-Moselle | 1.8 | 0.7% | 0% | 367 km |
| 23 | Forcalquier Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 1.8 | 17% | 100% | 76 km |
| 24 | Villerest Loire | 1.7 | 4.2% | 25% | 271 km |
| 25 | L'Hôpital Moselle | 1.6 | 18% | 0.3% | 353 km |
| 26 | Laillé Ille-et-Vilaine | 1.5 | 21% | 0% | 61 km |
| 27 | Farébersviller Moselle | 1.2 | 1.7% | 0% | 363 km |
| 28 | Gorges Loire-Atlantique | 1.1 | 10% | 0% | 52 km |
| 29 | Saint-Saturnin-lès-Avignon Vaucluse | 1.1 | 1.3% | 9.7% | 56 km |
| 30 | Scaër Finistère | 1 | 8.9% | 0% | 19 km |
| 31 | Cazouls-lès-Béziers Hérault | 0.9 | 5.7% | 0% | 22 km |
| 32 | Mignaloux-Beauvoir Vienne | 0.9 | 17% | 0% | 121 km |
| 33 | Tourves Var | 0.9 | 44% | 83% | 32 km |
| 34 | Marquise Pas-de-Calais | 0.7 | 1.2% | 100% | 6.8 km |
| 35 | Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne Ain | 0.7 | 4.1% | 5.8% | 293 km |
| 36 | Surzur Morbihan | 0.7 | 8.8% | 100% | On it |
| 37 | Villars-les-Dombes Ain | 0.7 | 12% | 67% | 281 km |
| 38 | Jonquières Vaucluse | 0.7 | 1.9% | 2.4% | 74 km |
| 39 | Guémené-Penfao Loire-Atlantique | 0.6 | 9.4% | 2.7% | 44 km |
| 40 | Florensac Hérault | 0.6 | 3.6% | 0.8% | 10 km |
| 41 | Pauillac Gironde | 0.2 | 7.2% | 99% | On it |
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 Vernaison
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Domaine de Melchior leads, at 7.4 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Jardin du 8 mai
Park or garden · 10 m outside the commune
0.4 ha0.2 km of path
1 km westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Pilat Regional Nature Park is the nearest protected area, 8.8 km away
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Regional nature park
Pilat Regional Nature Park
8.8 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
Footpaths and woods in Vernaison
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
17 km
4 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked: 0 km per km²
Woodland
15%
about 0.6 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
VernaisonRhône medianFrance median
Footpaths4
Hiking routes0
02.55 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
VernaisonRhône medianFrance median
Woodland15%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 85% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 54% 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 Vernaison is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
2 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
Tour de Lyon, d'Yvours au Fort de Bruissin6.1 km
Sentier de l'Homme et du Fleuve2.5 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Vernaison: April and June to August
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Lyon-Bron, 14 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 Vernaison →
Neighbors
Next to Vernaison
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
CharlySérézin-du-RhôneMillerySolaizeVourlesIrignyVernaison
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
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 Vernaison
Is Vernaison in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Pilat Regional Nature Park, 8.8 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Vernaison?
OpenStreetMap maps 17 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 4 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²).
How much of Vernaison is woodland?
15% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Vernaison near the sea?
No: the coast is 239 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Vernaison?
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 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.