First pick
Forêt du Pugle
Wood or forest
1,538 ha0.7 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.7 km of path
10 km southfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Skouame · CC BY-SA 3.011%of the land protected
Outdoors in La Flèche · protected areas, woods and footpaths
34% of La Flèche is woodland, more than in 8 in 10 French towns
Waymarked hiking routes add up to 50 km in La Flèche. 11% of La Flèche’s land lies in protected areas. Footpaths add up to 100 km across La Flèche (1.3 km per km²). France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
11%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
34%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
100 km
1.3 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
50 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: Forêt du Pugle
Throughout this page, the Sarthe 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 La Flèche 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 areas11%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
72out of 100
Woodland34%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
80out of 100
Footpaths1.3 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
40out of 100
Hiking routes0.6 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
69out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
La Flèche has the 6th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (14,539 to 15,396 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Paris 1er (17.1 km per km²) to Saint-Gilles (0.4 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paris 1er Paris | 17.1 | 0% | 0% | 148 km |
| 2 | Lognes Seine-et-Marne | 9.3 | 14% | 0% | 164 km |
| 3 | Verrières-le-Buisson Essonne | 8.5 | 52% | 3.9% | 156 km |
| 4 | Villers-lès-Nancy Meurthe-et-Moselle | 8.4 | 48% | 0% | 365 km |
| 5 | Laxou Meurthe-et-Moselle | 6.9 | 74% | 0% | 364 km |
| 6 | Haubourdin Nord | 6.6 | 10% | 0% | 62 km |
| 7 | Ramonville-Saint-Agne Haute-Garonne | 5.6 | 9.9% | 0% | 141 km |
| 8 | Castanet-Tolosan Haute-Garonne | 5.1 | 12% | 0% | 138 km |
| 9 | Avrillé Maine-et-Loire | 4.9 | 9.1% | 0% | 117 km |
| 10 | Montargis Loiret | 4.8 | 5.7% | 0% | 237 km |
| 11 | Dinan Côtes-d'Armor | 4.7 | 17% | 100% | 5.6 km |
| 12 | Montesson Yvelines | 4.7 | 2.3% | 0% | 136 km |
| 13 | Montmagny Val-d'Oise | 4.4 | 25% | 0% | 139 km |
| 14 | Saint-Avertin Indre-et-Loire | 4.3 | 14% | 0% | 184 km |
| 15 | Bar-le-Duc Meuse | 3.7 | 55% | 0% | 297 km |
| 16 | Bouc-Bel-Air Bouches-du-Rhône | 3.5 | 29% | 0% | 12 km |
| 17 | Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt Val-d'Oise | 3.3 | 24% | 0% | 137 km |
| 18 | Saint-Orens-de-Gameville Haute-Garonne | 3.2 | 6.4% | 0% | 138 km |
| 19 | Vesoul Haute-Saône | 3.1 | 3.3% | 3.6% | 434 km |
| 20 | Woippy Moselle | 3.1 | 12% | 0% | 325 km |
| 21 | Bois-Guillaume Seine-Maritime | 3 | 3.8% | 0% | 50 km |
| 22 | Ollioules Var | 2.9 | 23% | 14% | On it |
| 23 | Pontivy Morbihan | 2.8 | 14% | 0% | 36 km |
| 24 | Saint-Avold Moselle | 2.5 | 53% | 2.9% | 356 km |
| 25 | Saint-Jean-de-Luz Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 2.4 | 28% | 7.6% | On it |
| 26 | Morlaix Finistère | 2.3 | 18% | 3.8% | On it |
| 27 | Carrières-sur-Seine Yvelines | 2.2 | 5% | 0% | 138 km |
| 28 | Fameck Moselle | 2.2 | 32% | 0% | 309 km |
| 29 | Senlis Oise | 2.1 | 48% | 100% | 126 km |
| 30 | Château-Thierry Aisne | 1.9 | 18% | 0% | 176 km |
| 31 | Illzach Haut-Rhin | 1.9 | 2.6% | 0% | 443 km |
| 32 | Rive-de-Gier Loire | 1.7 | 13% | 0.1% | 222 km |
| 33 | Saint-Brevin-les-Pins Loire-Atlantique | 1.6 | 7.3% | 25% | On it |
| 34 | Arnouville Val-d'Oise | 1.6 | 4.6% | 0% | 141 km |
| 35 | Issoire Puy-de-Dôme | 1.4 | 8% | 3.4% | 229 km |
| 36 | La Flèche Sarthe | 1.3 | 34% | 11% | 140 km |
| 37 | Tarascon Bouches-du-Rhône | 0.9 | 16% | 13% | 41 km |
| 38 | Le Raincy Seine-Saint-Denis | 0.8 | 0% | 0.1% | 153 km |
| 39 | Romilly-sur-Seine Aube | 0.8 | 35% | 4.2% | 237 km |
| 40 | Bailleul Nord | 0.7 | 0.9% | 0% | 42 km |
| 41 | Saint-Gilles Gard | 0.4 | 2.5% | 18% | 25 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 La Flèche
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Forêt du Pugle leads, at 1,538 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Parc des Carmes
Park or garden
2.6 ha0.9 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.9 km of path
0.8 km southfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Place du Champ de Foire
Park or garden
0.4 ha0.2 km of path
Centralin the middle of La Flèche
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
11% of La Flèche lies in protected areas
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Nature reserve
Marais de Cré-Sur-Loir et la Flèche nature reserve
4.7 km from the town center
Natura 2000 site
Vallée du Loir de Vaas à Bazouges
11% of the commune0.7 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area11%
Nature reserve0.3%
Natura 2000 site11%
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.
11% of La Flèche’s land is protected, more than in 72% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Sarthe has 0%.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
100 km of footpaths and 50 km of hiking routes cross La Flèche
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
100 km
1.3 km per km²
Hiking routes
50 km
waymarked: 0.6 km per km²
Woodland
34%
about 26.7 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
La FlècheSarthe medianFrance median
Footpaths1.3
Hiking routes0.6
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
La FlècheSarthe medianFrance median
Woodland34%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 60% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 80% 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 La Flèche is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
12 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
du Lude à Rochefort30 km
05 - vert13 km
06 - vert13 km
03 - bleu10 km
n°8 - Jaune9.4 km
04 - bleu8.4 km
9 - orange7 km
9 - bleu7 km
n°8 - violet7 km
02 - jaune4.4 km
Grand tour du marais2.2 km
9 - jaune2 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in La Flèche: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Thoree les Pins, 8.8 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) | 8.8 | 10.2 | 11.8 | 13.6 | 15.1 | 16.0 | 15.6 | 14.3 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.2 | 8.4 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 20 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 22 | 17 | 12 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 71 | 57 | 54 | 54 | 58 | 51 | 56 | 52 | 61 | 75 | 75 | 81 |
June is the driest month (51 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 26 °C). 81 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 44 nights a year. The climate in La Flèche →
Gardens
A garden to visit in La Flèche
Named gardens in the commune.
Parc de la TemplerieIn La Flèche
DirectionsSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) and Wikidata.
Neighbors
Next to La Flèche
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
DurtalBaugé-en-AnjouCérans-FoulletourteLe LudeNoyen-sur-SarthePrécignéLa Flèche
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| La Flèche | 11% | 34% | 1.3 |
| Durtal 3,386 · 13 km | 0% | 34% | 0.2 |
| Baugé-en-Anjou 11,712 · 17 km | 0.5% | 31% | 0.4 |
| Cérans-Foulletourte 3,341 · 18 km | 0% | 34% | 0.2 |
| Le Lude 3,983 · 18 km | 7.6% | 23% | 0.5 |
| Noyen-sur-Sarthe 2,556 · 19 km | 0% | 28% | 0.1 |
| Précigné 2,877 · 20 km | 0% | 23% | 0.1 |
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 La Flèche
Is La Flèche in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 11% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in La Flèche?
OpenStreetMap maps 100 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.3 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 50 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of La Flèche is woodland?
34% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is La Flèche near the sea?
No: the coast is 140 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in La Flèche?
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 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.