First pick
Arboretum de la Grand Prée
Park or garden
3.5 ha
3.1 km north-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Stephvvv alias OldLion · CC BY-SA 3.034%woodland
Outdoors in Ruaudin · protected areas, woods and footpaths
34% of Ruaudin is woodland, more than in 8 in 10 French towns
Waymarked hiking routes add up to 20 km in Ruaudin. No protected area reaches Ruaudin; the nearest, Bas-Marais Tourbeux de la Basse-Goulandière nature reserve, is 4.9 km from the town center. 12 km of footpaths cross Ruaudin (0.9 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: Bas-Marais Tourbeux de la Basse-Goulandière nature reserve, 4.9 km
Woodland
34%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
12 km
0.9 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
20 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
1
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Arboretum de la Grand Prée
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.
What kind of place
What kind of outdoors place is Ruaudin?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
A wooded commune34% mapped woodland, more than in 80% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.On waymarked routes20 km of GR and other hiking routes cross the commune.Protected land nearbyBas-Marais Tourbeux de la Basse-Goulandière nature reserve is 4.9 km from the town center.
What sets Ruaudin apart: its woods, then its hiking routes.
Against French towns
How Ruaudin 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
Woodland34%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
80out of 100
Footpaths0.9 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
27out of 100
Hiking routes1.5 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
92out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Ruaudin has the 20th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (3,450 to 3,512 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Sainte-Catherine (3.3 km per km²) to Crèvecœur-le-Grand (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sainte-Catherine Pas-de-Calais | 3.3 | 6.1% | 0% | 78 km |
| 2 | Moûtiers Savoie | 3.1 | 52% | 0% | 204 km |
| 3 | Lapugnoy Pas-de-Calais | 3 | 42% | 0% | 60 km |
| 4 | Barbazan-Debat Hautes-Pyrénées | 2.6 | 47% | 0% | 136 km |
| 5 | Hérimoncourt Doubs | 2.5 | 57% | 0% | 409 km |
| 6 | La Buisse Isère | 2.4 | 35% | 61% | 218 km |
| 7 | La Forêt-Fouesnant Finistère | 2.3 | 7.6% | 0% | On it |
| 8 | Haucourt-Moulaine Meurthe-et-Moselle | 2 | 34% | 0% | 278 km |
| 9 | Vals-les-Bains Ardèche | 2 | 73% | 100% | 125 km |
| 10 | Montalieu-Vercieu Isère | 1.9 | 25% | 4.2% | 266 km |
| 11 | Culoz-Béon Ain | 1.8 | 57% | 22% | 267 km |
| 12 | Taninges Haute-Savoie | 1.8 | 57% | 28% | 268 km |
| 13 | Sorède Pyrénées-Orientales | 1.6 | 68% | 43% | 7.9 km |
| 14 | La Chapelle-Heulin Loire-Atlantique | 1.6 | 15% | 17% | 51 km |
| 15 | Lampertheim Bas-Rhin | 1.6 | 1.2% | 0% | 443 km |
| 16 | Les Belleville Savoie | 1.4 | 15% | 71% | 194 km |
| 17 | Saint-Jeoire Haute-Savoie | 1.3 | 64% | 0% | 275 km |
| 18 | Langeac Haute-Loire | 1.1 | 48% | 100% | 176 km |
| 19 | Issenheim Haut-Rhin | 1 | 14% | 0.2% | 458 km |
| 20 | Artix Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 0.9 | 15% | 38% | 76 km |
| 21 | Bourcefranc-le-Chapus Charente-Maritime | 0.9 | 7.9% | 46% | On it |
| 22 | Ruaudin Sarthe | 0.9 | 34% | 0% | 142 km |
| 23 | Bréhal Manche | 0.8 | 3.9% | 1.8% | 2.8 km |
| 24 | Mirande Gers | 0.8 | 20% | 0% | 150 km |
| 25 | Saint-Cyr-en-Val Loiret | 0.7 | 33% | 36% | 214 km |
| 26 | Val-de-Cognac Charente | 0.7 | 23% | 8.1% | 45 km |
| 27 | Savigneux Loire | 0.6 | 3% | 66% | 228 km |
| 28 | Chaumes-en-Brie Seine-et-Marne | 0.6 | 29% | 0.1% | 188 km |
| 29 | Chanceaux-sur-Choisille Indre-et-Loire | 0.6 | 17% | 0% | 190 km |
| 30 | Varilhes Ariège | 0.6 | 17% | 2.6% | 116 km |
| 31 | Saint-Éloy-les-Mines Puy-de-Dôme | 0.5 | 23% | 0% | 290 km |
| 32 | Gramat Lot | 0.4 | 39% | 100% | 185 km |
| 33 | Bournezeau Vendée | 0.3 | 9.3% | 0% | 35 km |
| 34 | Le Porge Gironde | 0.3 | 89% | 100% | On it |
| 35 | Le Mérévillois Essonne | 0.3 | 8.2% | 0% | 178 km |
| 36 | Sainte-Geneviève Oise | 0.3 | 17% | 0% | 104 km |
| 37 | Hornaing Nord | 0.3 | 8.8% | 99% | 98 km |
| 38 | Villeneuve-la-Guyard Yonne | 0.2 | 18% | 0.2% | 227 km |
| 39 | Steenwerck Nord | 0.2 | 0.8% | 0% | 47 km |
| 40 | Weyersheim Bas-Rhin | 0.2 | 14% | 0% | 444 km |
| 41 | Crèvecœur-le-Grand Oise | 0.1 | 4.3% | 0% | 70 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 Ruaudin
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Arboretum de la Grand Prée leads, at 3.5 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Bas-Marais Tourbeux de la Basse-Goulandière nature reserve is the nearest protected area, 4.9 km away
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Nature reserve
Bas-Marais Tourbeux de la Basse-Goulandière nature reserve
4.9 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
12 km of footpaths and 20 km of hiking routes cross Ruaudin
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
12 km
0.9 km per km²
Hiking routes
20 km
waymarked: 1.5 km per km²
Woodland
34%
about 4.7 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
RuaudinSarthe medianFrance median
Footpaths0.9
Hiking routes1.5
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
RuaudinSarthe medianFrance median
Woodland34%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 73% 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 Ruaudin is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
4 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
Circuit bleu13 km
Circuit jaune9.1 km
Le circuit du petit chien8.7 km
Circuit rouge6.4 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Ruaudin: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Le Mans, 5.3 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 | 11.7 | 13.6 | 15.1 | 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 Ruaudin →
Neighbors
Next to Ruaudin
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
MulsanneChangéArnageTelochéParigné-l'ÉvêqueMoncé-en-BelinRuaudin
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ruaudin | 0% | 34% | 0.9 |
| Mulsanne 5,244 · 3.8 km | 0% | 47% | 2.8 |
| Changé 6,911 · 4.6 km | 0% | 33% | 1.5 |
| Arnage 5,445 · 5.8 km | 0% | 11% | 1.6 |
| Teloché 3,067 · 6.2 km | 0% | 9.3% | 0.3 |
| Parigné-l'Évêque 5,358 · 7 km | 19% | 49% | 0.5 |
| Moncé-en-Belin 3,697 · 7 km | 0% | 34% | 1.1 |
Parigné-l'Évêque has at least twice as much protected land.
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 Ruaudin
Is Ruaudin in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Bas-Marais Tourbeux de la Basse-Goulandière nature reserve, 4.9 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Ruaudin?
OpenStreetMap maps 12 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); 20 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Ruaudin is woodland?
34% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Ruaudin near the sea?
No: the coast is 142 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Ruaudin?
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.