First pick
Forêt de la Bazoge
Wood or forest · 220 m outside the commune
163 ha7.8 km of path
1 h 45 minto walk all 7.8 km of path
4.8 km northfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Stephvvv · CC BY-SA 3.011%woodland
Outdoors in La Milesse · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in La Milesse is within 800 m of a park or wood
No protected area reaches La Milesse; the nearest, Bocage à Osmoderma eremita entre Sillé-le-Guillaume et la Grande-Charnie (Natura 2000), is 16 km from the town center. 9 km of footpaths cross La Milesse (0.9 km per km²). La Milesse has 3 km of waymarked hiking routes. 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: Bocage à Osmoderma eremita entre Sillé-le-Guillaume et la Grande-Charnie, 16 km
Woodland
11%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
9.3 km
0.9 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
2.6 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
3
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Forêt de la Bazoge
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 Milesse 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
Woodland11%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
44out of 100
Footpaths0.9 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
28out of 100
Hiking routes0.2 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
42out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
La Milesse has the 21st fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (2,593 to 2,641 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Couzon-au-Mont-d'Or (7.2 km per km²) to Hilsenheim (0 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Couzon-au-Mont-d'Or Rhône | 7.2 | 42% | 0% | 261 km |
| 2 | Gometz-le-Châtel Essonne | 2.5 | 24% | 0.2% | 155 km |
| 3 | Champlan Essonne | 2.2 | 14% | 0% | 161 km |
| 4 | Dorlisheim Bas-Rhin | 2.1 | 12% | 0% | 442 km |
| 5 | Tourville-la-Rivière Seine-Maritime | 2 | 15% | 15% | 55 km |
| 6 | Wahagnies Nord | 1.9 | 30% | 0% | 76 km |
| 7 | Coquelles Pas-de-Calais | 1.8 | 1.7% | 0.7% | 2.8 km |
| 8 | Le Bourg-d'Oisans Isère | 1.7 | 33% | 100% | 180 km |
| 9 | Hardricourt Yvelines | 1.6 | 15% | 0.4% | 118 km |
| 10 | Bourguébus Calvados | 1.5 | 1.1% | 0% | 18 km |
| 11 | Le Palais Morbihan | 1.5 | 5% | 26% | On it |
| 12 | Saint-Yorre Allier | 1.4 | 23% | 15% | 283 km |
| 13 | Longeville-sur-Mer Vendée | 1.3 | 18% | 100% | On it |
| 14 | Bessèges Gard | 1.3 | 66% | 100% | 81 km |
| 15 | Villenauxe-la-Grande Aube | 1.3 | 13% | 0% | 223 km |
| 16 | Foug Meurthe-et-Moselle | 1.3 | 73% | 1.2% | 342 km |
| 17 | Châteauneuf-en-Thymerais Eure-et-Loir | 1.2 | 57% | 62% | 115 km |
| 18 | Taden Côtes-d'Armor | 1.1 | 19% | 100% | 3.6 km |
| 19 | La Broque Bas-Rhin | 1.1 | 79% | 8% | 432 km |
| 20 | Vendres Hérault | 1 | 1.9% | 60% | On it |
| 21 | La Milesse Sarthe | 0.9 | 11% | 0% | 127 km |
| 22 | Ivry-la-Bataille Eure | 0.8 | 2.6% | 3.2% | 101 km |
| 23 | Villeneuve-Saint-Germain Aisne | 0.8 | 11% | 0% | 150 km |
| 24 | Grâces Côtes-d'Armor | 0.8 | 12% | 0% | 17 km |
| 25 | Villages du Lac de Paladru Isère | 0.8 | 21% | 0% | 230 km |
| 26 | La Calmette Gard | 0.7 | 29% | 0% | 43 km |
| 27 | Frelinghien Nord | 0.7 | 1% | 0% | 51 km |
| 28 | Soual Tarn | 0.6 | 1.4% | 0% | 95 km |
| 29 | Le Thoronet Var | 0.6 | 49% | 31% | 29 km |
| 30 | La Châtaigneraie Vendée | 0.6 | 4.5% | 0% | 48 km |
| 31 | Rieux-Volvestre Haute-Garonne | 0.6 | 6.6% | 7% | 154 km |
| 32 | Trélon Nord | 0.6 | 78% | 100% | 156 km |
| 33 | Toury Eure-et-Loir | 0.5 | 0.8% | 0% | 180 km |
| 34 | Beychac-et-Caillau Gironde | 0.4 | 16% | 4.7% | 22 km |
| 35 | Baldersheim Haut-Rhin | 0.4 | 63% | 60% | 446 km |
| 36 | Noyers-sur-Cher Loir-et-Cher | 0.3 | 34% | 0.6% | 221 km |
| 37 | Charly-sur-Marne Aisne | 0.3 | 21% | 0% | 177 km |
| 38 | Clairac Lot-et-Garonne | 0.3 | 7.7% | 0% | 105 km |
| 39 | Haspres Nord | 0.2 | 1.8% | 0% | 111 km |
| 40 | Cauchy-à-la-Tour Pas-de-Calais | 0.1 | 0.4% | 0% | 54 km |
| 41 | Hilsenheim Bas-Rhin | 0 | 28% | 18% | 465 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 Milesse
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Forêt de la Bazoge leads, at 163 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Centre du Val de Vray
Park or garden · 140 m outside the commune
11 ha2.4 km of path
30 minto walk all 2.4 km of path
1.4 km eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
square du domaine de Bellevue
Park or garden · 400 m outside the commune
0.7 ha0.2 km of path
1.7 km eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Bocage à Osmoderma eremita entre Sillé-le-Guillaume et la Grande-Charnie is the nearest protected area, 16 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
Bocage à Osmoderma eremita entre Sillé-le-Guillaume et la Grande-Charnie
16 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
9 km of footpaths cross La Milesse
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
9.3 km
0.9 km per km²
Hiking routes
2.6 km
waymarked: 0.2 km per km²
Woodland
11%
about 1.2 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
La MilesseSarthe medianFrance median
Footpaths0.9
Hiking routes0.2
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
La MilesseSarthe medianFrance median
Woodland11%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 72% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 56% 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 Milesse is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
5 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
Le parcours de Saint-Christophe8.4 km
Le Chemin du Pavillon à l'hôtel7.2 km
Les étangs6.3 km
Circuit du bois des îles4.5 km
Circuit des Passerelles1.2 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in La Milesse: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Le Mans, 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) | 8.8 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.6 | 15.2 | 16.0 | 15.7 | 14.3 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.2 | 8.4 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 10 | 13 | 17 | 20 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 22 | 17 | 12 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 66 | 49 | 52 | 51 | 63 | 55 | 49 | 49 | 51 | 66 | 67 | 75 |
August is the driest month (49 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 26 °C). 75 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 40 nights a year. The climate in La Milesse →
Neighbors
Next to La Milesse
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Saint-SaturninLa BazogeCoulainesSargé-lès-le-MansLe MansAllonnesLa Milesse
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| La Milesse | 0% | 11% | 0.9 |
| Saint-Saturnin 2,774 · 1.6 km | 0% | 8.9% | 1.9 |
| La Bazoge 3,796 · 4 km | 0% | 25% | 1.6 |
| Coulaines 8,121 · 6.5 km | 0% | 5.5% | 5.4 |
| Sargé-lès-le-Mans 3,851 · 8.2 km | 0% | 11% | 1.6 |
| Le Mans 146,249 · 8.7 km | 0% | 6.6% | 5.5 |
| Allonnes 10,739 · 11 km | 0% | 15% | 3.2 |
La Bazoge is 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 La Milesse
Is La Milesse in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Bocage à Osmoderma eremita entre Sillé-le-Guillaume et la Grande-Charnie, 16 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in La Milesse?
OpenStreetMap maps 9 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.9 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 3 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of La Milesse is woodland?
11% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is La Milesse near the sea?
No: the coast is 127 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in La Milesse?
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.