First pick
Forêt du Darbelay
Wood or forest
978 ha25.1 km of path
5 h 35 minto walk all 25.1 km of path
6.6 km northfrom the center
Chemin des GrangetsChemin de DeleanÀ Repérer+3 paths
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Cédric Jay · CC BY-SA 3.037%of the land protected
Outdoors in La Léchère · protected areas, woods and footpaths
47% of La Léchère is woodland, more than in 8 in 10 French towns
Waymarked hiking routes add up to 268 km in La Léchère. 37% of La Léchère’s land lies in protected areas. Footpaths add up to 312 km across La Léchère (2.4 km per km²). France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
37%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
47%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
312 km
2.4 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
268 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: Forêt du Darbelay
Throughout this page, the Savoie 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 La Léchère?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
A wooded commune47% mapped woodland, more than in 90% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.On waymarked routes268 km of GR and other hiking routes cross the commune.Protected countryside37% of the land lies in protected areas.
What sets La Léchère apart: its woods, then its hiking routes.
Against French towns
How La Léchère 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 areas37%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
84out of 100
Woodland47%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
90out of 100
Footpaths2.4 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
65out of 100
Hiking routes2.1 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
96out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
La Léchère has the 4th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (2,507 to 2,582 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From École-Valentin (3.9 km per km²) to Bouligny (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | École-Valentin Doubs | 3.9 | 16% | 0% | 405 km |
| 2 | Sainte-Foy-la-Grande Gironde | 3.7 | 0% | 8.7% | 66 km |
| 3 | Mers-les-Bains Somme | 3.5 | 10% | 100% | On it |
| 4 | La Léchère Savoie | 2.4 | 47% | 37% | 211 km |
| 5 | Villejust Essonne | 2.4 | 4.4% | 0% | 160 km |
| 6 | Sainte-Feyre Creuse | 2.1 | 30% | 0% | 222 km |
| 7 | Camiers Pas-de-Calais | 2 | 30% | 32% | On it |
| 8 | Sain-Bel Rhône | 1.9 | 12% | 0% | 253 km |
| 9 | La Rivière-Saint-Sauveur Calvados | 1.8 | 14% | 29% | On it |
| 10 | Fareins Ain | 1.8 | 8.8% | 0.1% | 279 km |
| 11 | Entzheim Bas-Rhin | 1.7 | 1.5% | 0% | 449 km |
| 12 | Mornas Vaucluse | 1.5 | 35% | 5% | 84 km |
| 13 | Watten Nord | 1.4 | 24% | 100% | 18 km |
| 14 | Rantigny Oise | 1.4 | 18% | 0% | 109 km |
| 15 | Beautor Aisne | 1.3 | 3.6% | 40% | 133 km |
| 16 | Conques-sur-Orbiel Aude | 1.3 | 8.1% | 0% | 60 km |
| 17 | Barcelonnette Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 1.3 | 46% | 100% | 91 km |
| 18 | Granges-Aumontzey Vosges | 1.1 | 70% | 90% | 436 km |
| 19 | Cattenom Moselle | 1.1 | 37% | 0% | 308 km |
| 20 | Prayssac Lot | 1 | 42% | 0% | 151 km |
| 21 | Chatte Isère | 0.7 | 24% | 0% | 190 km |
| 22 | Arelaune-en-Seine Seine-Maritime | 0.7 | 69% | 100% | 29 km |
| 23 | La Croix-en-Touraine Indre-et-Loire | 0.7 | 24% | 0% | 199 km |
| 24 | Criel-sur-Mer Seine-Maritime | 0.7 | 4.9% | 7% | On it |
| 25 | Lusignan Vienne | 0.7 | 17% | 0% | 97 km |
| 26 | Avelin Nord | 0.6 | 6.1% | 0% | 72 km |
| 27 | Civray Vienne | 0.5 | 19% | 0% | 101 km |
| 28 | Le Cailar Gard | 0.4 | 2% | 68% | 17 km |
| 29 | Vervins Aisne | 0.4 | 1.1% | 0% | 164 km |
| 30 | Port-Sainte-Foy-et-Ponchapt Dordogne | 0.4 | 13% | 2.1% | 65 km |
| 31 | Frans Ain | 0.4 | 4% | 0% | 275 km |
| 32 | Toucy Yonne | 0.4 | 24% | 0% | 288 km |
| 33 | Auxi-le-Château Pas-de-Calais | 0.3 | 25% | 1% | 31 km |
| 34 | Vivy Maine-et-Loire | 0.3 | 15% | 100% | 140 km |
| 35 | Nogent-sur-Vernisson Loiret | 0.2 | 46% | 0.3% | 249 km |
| 36 | Eymet Dordogne | 0.2 | 8.6% | 0.4% | 86 km |
| 37 | Athies-sous-Laon Aisne | 0.2 | 8.9% | 0% | 159 km |
| 38 | Val-de-Scie Seine-Maritime | 0.1 | 18% | 0% | 23 km |
| 39 | Noyen-sur-Sarthe Sarthe | 0.1 | 28% | 0% | 126 km |
| 40 | Chalamont Ain | 0.1 | 20% | 69% | 284 km |
| 41 | Bouligny Meuse | 0.1 | 8.4% | 0% | 293 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 Léchère
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Forêt du Darbelay leads, at 978 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
37% of La Léchère lies in protected areas
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Natura 2000 site
Massif de la Lauzière
37% of the commune1.2 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Massif de la Lauzière
37% of the commune1.2 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area37%
Natura 2000 site37%
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.
37% of La Léchère’s land is protected, more than in 84% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Savoie has 4.7%.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
312 km of footpaths and 268 km of hiking routes cross La Léchère
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
312 km
2.4 km per km²
Hiking routes
268 km
waymarked: 2.1 km per km²
Woodland
47%
about 60.7 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
La LéchèreSavoie medianFrance median
Footpaths2.4
Hiking routes2.1
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
La LéchèreSavoie medianFrance median
Woodland47%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 65% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 90% 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 Léchère 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
Chemin de Szombathely, Moûtiers - Pontcharra13 km
Boucle du Moulin de Cornet5.5 km
Boucle de la Sauge4.9 km
Boucle de la Belle Balade2.9 km
Boucle de la Maison Blanche1 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in La Léchère: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Moutiers, 7.3 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) | 9.1 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 14.9 | 15.7 | 15.3 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.4 | 8.7 |
| High (°C) | 5 | 8 | 14 | 19 | 22 | 26 | 28 | 28 | 23 | 18 | 10 | 5 |
| Rain (mm) | 97 | 71 | 73 | 59 | 79 | 75 | 77 | 74 | 65 | 75 | 80 | 107 |
April is the driest month (59 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 28 °C). 107 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 76 nights a year. The climate in La Léchère →
Neighbors
Next to La Léchère
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Grand-AigueblancheMoûtiersAime-la-PlagneAlbertvilleGilly-sur-IsèreLa Plagne TarentaiseLa Léchère
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| La Léchère | 37% | 47% | 2.4 |
| Grand-Aigueblanche 3,780 · 3.7 km | 0.1% | 63% | 2.4 |
| Moûtiers 3,487 · 7.1 km | 0% | 52% | 3.1 |
| Aime-la-Plagne 4,385 · 13 km | 2.4% | 33% | 2.2 |
| Albertville 19,978 · 17 km | 0% | 47% | 4.1 |
| Gilly-sur-Isère 3,149 · 17 km | 0.1% | 13% | 1.6 |
| La Plagne Tarentaise 3,836 · 17 km | 2.5% | 30% | 2.7 |
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 Léchère
Is La Léchère in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 37% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in La Léchère?
OpenStreetMap maps 312 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 2.4 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 268 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of La Léchère is woodland?
47% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is La Léchère near the sea?
No: the coast is 211 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in La Léchère?
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.