First pick
Prairie Saint-Nicolas
Park or garden
115 ha7.8 km of path
1 h 45 minto walk all 7.8 km of path
2.1 km northfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: K7J714 - JH1053 · CC BY-SA 4.06%woodland
Outdoors in Saint-Marcel · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Saint-Marcel is within 800 m of a park or wood
No protected area reaches Saint-Marcel; the nearest, Prairies alluviales et milieux associés de Saône-et-Loire (Natura 2000), is 3.1 km from the town center. 6% of Saint-Marcel is mapped woodland. 20 km of footpaths cross Saint-Marcel (2 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: Prairies alluviales et milieux associés de Saône-et-Loire, 3.1 km
Woodland
6%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
20 km
2 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: Prairie Saint-Nicolas
Throughout this page, the Saône-et-Loire 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 Saint-Marcel 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
Woodland6%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
27out of 100
Footpaths2 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
57out 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-Marcel has the 16th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (6,155 to 6,267 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Menucourt (5.4 km per km²) to Livarot-Pays-d'Auge (0.3 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Menucourt Val-d'Oise | 5.4 | 40% | 0.3% | 119 km |
| 2 | Saint-Mitre-les-Remparts Bouches-du-Rhône | 4.2 | 25% | 30% | 5.2 km |
| 3 | Prades-le-Lez Hérault | 4 | 37% | 7.8% | 18 km |
| 4 | Wimereux Pas-de-Calais | 3.9 | 3.6% | 100% | On it |
| 5 | Jassans-Riottier Ain | 3.9 | 9.6% | 0% | 274 km |
| 6 | Petite-Rosselle Moselle | 3.3 | 33% | 0% | 356 km |
| 7 | Saint-Pryvé-Saint-Mesmin Loiret | 2.7 | 7% | 20% | 206 km |
| 8 | Cuges-les-Pins Bouches-du-Rhône | 2.6 | 37% | 100% | 10 km |
| 9 | Saint-Quentin-Fallavier Isère | 2.5 | 13% | 0% | 243 km |
| 10 | Behren-lès-Forbach Moselle | 2.4 | 14% | 0% | 363 km |
| 11 | Bruguières Haute-Garonne | 2.3 | 11% | 0% | 154 km |
| 12 | Homécourt Meurthe-et-Moselle | 2.3 | 28% | 0% | 311 km |
| 13 | Aurec-sur-Loire Haute-Loire | 2.3 | 55% | 47% | 201 km |
| 14 | Saint-Genest-Lerpt Loire | 2 | 20% | 0% | 211 km |
| 15 | Franqueville-Saint-Pierre Seine-Maritime | 2 | 5.6% | 0.9% | 58 km |
| 16 | Saint-Marcel Saône-et-Loire | 2 | 6% | 0% | 363 km |
| 17 | Pluneret Morbihan | 1.8 | 19% | 100% | On it |
| 18 | Feytiat Haute-Vienne | 1.6 | 27% | 0% | 167 km |
| 19 | Châtenoy-le-Royal Saône-et-Loire | 1.5 | 16% | 0% | 364 km |
| 20 | Oraison Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 1.4 | 45% | 29% | 78 km |
| 21 | Pont-Évêque Isère | 1.4 | 17% | 0% | 229 km |
| 22 | Saint-Symphorien-d'Ozon Rhône | 1.3 | 7.2% | 0% | 239 km |
| 23 | Loches Indre-et-Loire | 0.9 | 17% | 5% | 186 km |
| 24 | Terrasson-Lavilledieu Dordogne | 0.9 | 39% | 7.1% | 149 km |
| 25 | Bellevigny Vendée | 0.9 | 7.1% | 0% | 38 km |
| 26 | Saint-Denis-lès-Bourg Ain | 0.9 | 5.5% | 0% | 306 km |
| 27 | Mer Loir-et-Cher | 0.8 | 8.5% | 22% | 211 km |
| 28 | Malaunay Seine-Maritime | 0.7 | 24% | 0% | 43 km |
| 29 | Saint-Martin-de-Seignanx Landes | 0.7 | 51% | 33% | 9.2 km |
| 30 | Mallemort Bouches-du-Rhône | 0.7 | 4.4% | 20% | 38 km |
| 31 | Saint-Marcel-lès-Valence Drôme | 0.7 | 3.2% | 0% | 169 km |
| 32 | Guer Morbihan | 0.7 | 20% | 0% | 50 km |
| 33 | Octeville-sur-Mer Seine-Maritime | 0.6 | 0.3% | 5.1% | On it |
| 34 | Marennes-Hiers-Brouage Charente-Maritime | 0.6 | 3.2% | 75% | On it |
| 35 | Thue et Mue Calvados | 0.6 | 1.2% | 0% | 15 km |
| 36 | Fayence Var | 0.6 | 46% | 9.6% | 22 km |
| 37 | Horbourg-Wihr Haut-Rhin | 0.6 | 5% | 0% | 475 km |
| 38 | Le Blanc Indre | 0.5 | 11% | 100% | 173 km |
| 39 | Aire-sur-l'Adour Landes | 0.4 | 22% | 2.6% | 93 km |
| 40 | Fleurance Gers | 0.4 | 10% | 0% | 161 km |
| 41 | Livarot-Pays-d'Auge Calvados | 0.3 | 14% | 0.9% | 38 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-Marcel
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Prairie Saint-Nicolas leads, at 115 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Parc Georges Nouelle
Park or garden · 340 m outside the commune
3.9 ha1.7 km of path
25 minto walk all 1.7 km of path
2.7 km north-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Prairies alluviales et milieux associés de Saône-et-Loire is the nearest protected area, 3.1 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
Prairies alluviales et milieux associés de Saône-et-Loire
3.1 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
20 km of footpaths cross Saint-Marcel
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
20 km
2 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked: 0 km per km²
Woodland
6%
about 0.6 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Saint-MarcelSaône-et-Loire medianFrance median
Footpaths2
Hiking routes0
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Saint-MarcelSaône-et-Loire medianFrance median
Woodland6%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 57% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 73% 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-Marcel is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
A named hiking route within 2 km
Other named walk
Chemin de l'Orbandale4.3 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Saint-Marcel: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at St-Marcel, 1.1 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) | 8.9 | 10.2 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 15.0 | 15.8 | 15.5 | 14.2 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.3 | 8.6 |
| High (°C) | 6 | 8 | 14 | 18 | 22 | 26 | 28 | 28 | 23 | 17 | 10 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 61 | 48 | 51 | 61 | 76 | 66 | 69 | 70 | 72 | 87 | 91 | 67 |
February is the driest month (48 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 28 °C). 91 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 58 nights a year. The climate in Saint-Marcel →
Neighbors
Next to Saint-Marcel
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Chalon-sur-SaôneSaint-RémyChampforgeuilChâtenoy-le-RoyalOuroux-sur-SaôneGergySaint-Marcel
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Marcel | 0% | 6% | 2 |
| Chalon-sur-Saône 45,102 · 3.8 km | 0% | 4.2% | 6.7 |
| Saint-Rémy 6,410 · 5.2 km | 0% | 9.7% | 1.5 |
| Champforgeuil 2,637 · 6.5 km | 0% | 23% | 1.4 |
| Châtenoy-le-Royal 6,267 · 6.7 km | 0% | 16% | 1.5 |
| Ouroux-sur-Saône 3,214 · 7.1 km | 20% | 20% | 0.5 |
| Gergy 2,566 · 11 km | 0% | 45% | 0.5 |
Ouroux-sur-Saône has at least twice as much protected land. Champforgeuil, Ouroux-sur-Saône and Gergy 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 Saint-Marcel
Is Saint-Marcel in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Prairies alluviales et milieux associés de Saône-et-Loire, 3.1 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Saint-Marcel?
OpenStreetMap maps 20 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 2 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²).
How much of Saint-Marcel is woodland?
6% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Saint-Marcel near the sea?
No: the coast is 363 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Saint-Marcel?
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.