Photo: Florian Pépellin · CC BY-SA 4.0Modane lies at 1,060 m, with 151 km of mountain footpaths
Protected areas cover 39% of Modane’s land. Modane has 100 km of waymarked hiking routes. Mapped woodland covers 22% of Modane. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
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 outdoors place is Modane?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
What sets Modane apart: the mountains, then its share of Vanoise National Park.
How Modane 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.
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Modane has the 5th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (2,815 to 2,884 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Courchelettes (4.3 km per km²) to La Boixe (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Courchelettes Nord | 4.3 | 6.5% | 0% | 91 km |
| 2 | Burbure Pas-de-Calais | 3 | 3.7% | 0% | 55 km |
| 3 | L'Aiguillon-la-Presqu'île Vendée | 2.3 | 7.9% | 100% | On it |
| 4 | Pérignat-lès-Sarliève Puy-de-Dôme | 2.2 | 3.7% | 4.6% | 251 km |
| 5 | Modane Savoie | 2 | 22% | 39% | 171 km |
| 6 | Saint-Jouan-des-Guérets Ille-et-Vilaine | 2 | 5% | 85% | On it |
| 7 | Montbazin Hérault | 2 | 1.9% | 58% | 11 km |
| 8 | Sainghin-en-Mélantois Nord | 1.8 | 6.5% | 0% | 70 km |
| 9 | Bar-sur-Seine Aube | 1.7 | 40% | 0% | 302 km |
| 10 | Arles-sur-Tech Pyrénées-Orientales | 1.7 | 72% | 6.8% | 36 km |
| 11 | Anzin-Saint-Aubin Pas-de-Calais | 1.7 | 6.2% | 0% | 77 km |
| 12 | Saint-Jean-en-Royans Drôme | 1.7 | 60% | 100% | 177 km |
| 13 | Massieux Ain | 1.6 | 5.1% | 0% | 267 km |
| 14 | Argentat-sur-Dordogne Corrèze | 1.4 | 59% | 2.2% | 199 km |
| 15 | Fraize Vosges | 1.2 | 48% | 100% | 447 km |
| 16 | Saint-Jean-du-Falga Ariège | 1.2 | 3.1% | 2.2% | 117 km |
| 17 | Trélivan Côtes-d'Armor | 1.1 | 18% | 100% | 9.5 km |
| 18 | Rozay-en-Brie Seine-et-Marne | 1.1 | 1.1% | 0.3% | 191 km |
| 19 | Toulenne Gironde | 1.1 | 8.9% | 7.5% | 56 km |
| 20 | Pont-d'Ain Ain | 1 | 22% | 18% | 291 km |
| 21 | L'Étrat Loire | 1 | 19% | 0% | 215 km |
| 22 | Colombier-Saugnieu Rhône | 1 | 2.7% | 0% | 252 km |
| 23 | Ambronay Ain | 1 | 28% | 1.3% | 286 km |
| 24 | Chavanay Loire | 0.8 | 21% | 99% | 213 km |
| 25 | Saint-Clément Yonne | 0.8 | 1.9% | 0% | 248 km |
| 26 | Noailles Oise | 0.8 | 46% | 0% | 101 km |
| 27 | Étaules Charente-Maritime | 0.7 | 9.6% | 39% | On it |
| 28 | Langogne Lozère | 0.7 | 23% | 0.1% | 131 km |
| 29 | Fère-en-Tardenois Aisne | 0.7 | 40% | 0% | 171 km |
| 30 | Seiches-sur-le-Loir Maine-et-Loire | 0.6 | 31% | 0% | 137 km |
| 31 | Aoste Isère | 0.6 | 13% | 4.6% | 245 km |
| 32 | Margaux-Cantenac Gironde | 0.4 | 18% | 100% | On it |
| 33 | Cour-Cheverny Loir-et-Cher | 0.4 | 41% | 29% | 229 km |
| 34 | Blangy-sur-Bresle Seine-Maritime | 0.4 | 32% | 0.5% | 23 km |
| 35 | Vendays-Montalivet Gironde | 0.3 | 74% | 100% | On it |
| 36 | Buchy Seine-Maritime | 0.3 | 4.8% | 0% | 42 km |
| 37 | Lafrançaise Tarn-et-Garonne | 0.3 | 19% | 0.8% | 175 km |
| 38 | Miremont Haute-Garonne | 0.2 | 7.8% | 0.2% | 139 km |
| 39 | Thiviers Dordogne | 0.2 | 27% | 0.1% | 127 km |
| 40 | Précigné Sarthe | 0.1 | 23% | 0% | 123 km |
| 41 | La Boixe Charente | 0.1 | 10% | 23% | 78 km |
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is the commune’s boundary.
39% of Modane lies in protected areas
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Vanoise National Park
Vanoise National Park
Belle Plinier nature reserve
Landes, prairies et habitats rocheux du massif du mont Thabor
La Vanoise
Massif de la Vanoise
Share of the commune’s land
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.
39% of Modane’s land is protected, more than in 85% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Savoie has 4.7%. A national park’s outer area (aire d’adhésion) is made of the communes that signed the park’s charter: it guides how they grow, but it isn’t strict protection like the core.
All 7 protected areas
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods in Modane
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.
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
That is more than in 58% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 65% 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 Modane is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
18 named hiking routes within 2 km
+6 more
3 GR routes pass within 2 km of Modane: GR 55, GR 57 and GR 5 Variante Modane Gare.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
The best walking months in Modane: May to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Avrieux, 4.1 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) | 9.1 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.8 | 15.6 | 15.3 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.9 | 9.4 | 8.8 |
| High (°C) | 3 | 5 | 10 | 14 | 18 | 22 | 25 | 24 | 19 | 15 | 8 | 3 |
| Rain (mm) | 54 | 36 | 37 | 40 | 57 | 54 | 40 | 51 | 48 | 60 | 63 | 61 |
February is the driest month (36 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 25 °C). 63 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 127 nights a year. The climate in Modane →
Next to Modane
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modane | 39% | 22% | 2 |
| Les Belleville 3,498 · 23 km | 71% | 15% | 1.4 |
| Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne 7,524 · 26 km | 0% | 37% | 2.2 |
Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne is more wooded.
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 Modane
Is Modane in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Modane lies in Vanoise National Park (16% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Modane?
OpenStreetMap maps 151 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 2 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 100 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Modane is woodland?
22% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Modane near the sea?
No: the coast is 171 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Modane?
May 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.