First pick
Bois de la Tour du Lay
Wood or forest
1,880 ha27.2 km of path
6 h 5 minto walk all 27.2 km of path
4.7 km northfrom the center
Chemin du Bois du LayChemin du Clos PolletChemin du Valmillon+5 paths
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: elisabeth · CC BY-SA 4.0100%of the land protected
Outdoors in Parmain · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Parmain lies inside Vexin Français Regional Nature Park
Protected areas cover 100% of Parmain’s land. Mapped woodland covers 45% of Parmain. Parmain has 9 km of waymarked hiking routes. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
100%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
45%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
19 km
2.1 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
9.1 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: Bois de la Tour du Lay
Throughout this page, the Val-d'Oise 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 Parmain?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Inside Vexin Français Regional Nature Park100% of the commune is in the regional nature park.A wooded commune45% mapped woodland, more than in 89% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.On waymarked routes9 km of GR and other hiking routes cross the commune.
What sets Parmain apart: the regional nature park around it, then its woods.
Against French towns
How Parmain 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 areas100%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
94out of 100
Woodland45%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
89out of 100
Footpaths2.1 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
60out of 100
Hiking routes1 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
84out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Parmain has the 14th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (5,606 to 5,703 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Rungis (6.2 km per km²) to Valdallière (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rungis Val-de-Marne | 6.2 | 3.6% | 0% | 159 km |
| 2 | Montbonnot-Saint-Martin Isère | 4.6 | 9.5% | 0% | 205 km |
| 3 | Carry-le-Rouet Bouches-du-Rhône | 4.3 | 19% | 59% | On it |
| 4 | Challes-les-Eaux Savoie | 3.9 | 32% | 40% | 229 km |
| 5 | Cancale Ille-et-Vilaine | 3.8 | 10% | 22% | On it |
| 6 | Mourenx Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 3.6 | 20% | 9.2% | 73 km |
| 7 | L'Isle-d'Espagnac Charente | 3.4 | 13% | 0% | 78 km |
| 8 | Santes Nord | 3 | 11% | 0% | 62 km |
| 9 | La Ville-aux-Dames Indre-et-Loire | 2.9 | 19% | 13% | 189 km |
| 10 | Lèves Eure-et-Loir | 2.7 | 24% | 0% | 135 km |
| 11 | Saint-Georges-d'Orques Hérault | 2.7 | 0.3% | 0% | 14 km |
| 12 | Longueau Somme | 2.6 | 0.4% | 4% | 60 km |
| 13 | Saleilles Pyrénées-Orientales | 2.3 | 1.4% | 0% | 7.1 km |
| 14 | Parmain Val-d'Oise | 2.1 | 45% | 100% | 120 km |
| 15 | La Roquette-sur-Siagne Alpes-Maritimes | 2.1 | 22% | 0% | 4.6 km |
| 16 | Dainville Pas-de-Calais | 2 | 4.1% | 0% | 75 km |
| 17 | Delle Territoire de Belfort | 1.8 | 32% | 20% | 416 km |
| 18 | Rocbaron Var | 1.8 | 53% | 0% | 24 km |
| 19 | Altkirch Haut-Rhin | 1.6 | 23% | 0% | 427 km |
| 20 | Sainghin-en-Weppes Nord | 1.5 | 4.8% | 0% | 64 km |
| 21 | Saint-Privat-des-Vieux Gard | 1.4 | 24% | 0% | 65 km |
| 22 | Caumont-sur-Durance Vaucluse | 1.4 | 16% | 18% | 50 km |
| 23 | Montrond-les-Bains Loire | 1.2 | 3.1% | 17% | 231 km |
| 24 | Mondelange Moselle | 1.2 | 2% | 0% | 316 km |
| 25 | Marcheprime Gironde | 1.2 | 83% | 100% | 14 km |
| 26 | Pouzauges Vendée | 1.1 | 8.4% | 0% | 57 km |
| 27 | Sauvian Hérault | 1 | 0.4% | 0.3% | 6 km |
| 28 | Sausheim Haut-Rhin | 1 | 30% | 25% | 445 km |
| 29 | Montval-sur-Loir Sarthe | 1 | 5.9% | 0% | 168 km |
| 30 | Sigean Aude | 0.9 | 6.3% | 98% | 7.1 km |
| 31 | Saint-Xandre Charente-Maritime | 0.9 | 1.2% | 7.3% | 5.2 km |
| 32 | La Gorgue Nord | 0.8 | 0.8% | 0% | 51 km |
| 33 | Gannat Allier | 0.8 | 13% | 0% | 290 km |
| 34 | Wallers Nord | 0.8 | 28% | 99% | 99 km |
| 35 | La Crèche Deux-Sèvres | 0.6 | 3.7% | 0% | 63 km |
| 36 | Gan Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 0.5 | 38% | 4.7% | 97 km |
| 37 | Tournus Saône-et-Loire | 0.4 | 9.6% | 6.5% | 340 km |
| 38 | Cloyes-les-Trois-Rivières Eure-et-Loir | 0.3 | 16% | 1.8% | 173 km |
| 39 | Bédarrides Vaucluse | 0.3 | 5.1% | 6.2% | 65 km |
| 40 | Rives-du-Loir-en-Anjou Maine-et-Loire | 0.3 | 17% | 26% | 131 km |
| 41 | Valdallière Calvados | 0.2 | 2% | 12% | 52 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 Parmain
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Bois de la Tour du Lay leads, at 1,880 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Parc Manchez
Park or garden · 260 m outside the commune
5.4 ha1.5 km of path
20 minto walk all 1.5 km of path
0.8 km north-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Place du Patis
Park or garden · 220 m outside the commune
0.6 ha0.4 km of path
Centralin the middle of Parmain
Directionsto a point inside
Potager communautaire
Park or garden · 60 m outside the commune
0.4 ha
2 km southfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Protected land in and around Parmain
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Regional nature park
Vexin Français Regional Nature Park
100% of the commune
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area100%
Regional nature park100%
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.
100% of Parmain’s land is protected, more than in 94% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Val-d'Oise has 0%. A regional nature park is a charter between communes to look after a landscape: farming, building and hunting go on inside it.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
19 km of footpaths and 9 km of hiking routes cross Parmain
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
19 km
2.1 km per km²
Hiking routes
9.1 km
waymarked: 1 km per km²
Woodland
45%
about 4 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
ParmainVal-d'Oise medianFrance median
Footpaths2.1
Hiking routes1
02.55 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
ParmainVal-d'Oise medianFrance median
Woodland45%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 60% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 89% 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 Parmain is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
A named hiking route within 2 km
Other named walk
Découverte du marais de Stors3 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Parmain: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Pontoise -Ville, 12 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) | 8.6 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.6 | 15.3 | 16.2 | 15.8 | 14.4 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.0 | 8.2 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 9 | 13 | 17 | 21 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 22 | 17 | 12 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 58 | 52 | 49 | 45 | 62 | 54 | 49 | 53 | 46 | 64 | 59 | 75 |
April is the driest month (45 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 26 °C). 75 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 35 nights a year. The climate in Parmain →
Neighbors
Next to Parmain
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
L'Isle-AdamChampagne-sur-OiseMérielAuvers-sur-OisePreslesMéry-sur-OiseParmain
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parmain | 100% | 45% | 2.1 |
| L'Isle-Adam 12,493 · 1.2 km | 0.2% | 60% | 5.2 |
| Champagne-sur-Oise 5,036 · 3.8 km | 54% | 33% | 1.8 |
| Mériel 5,347 · 4 km | 9.5% | 41% | 6 |
| Auvers-sur-Oise 6,863 · 5.5 km | 100% | 19% | 1.7 |
| Presles 4,017 · 6 km | 100% | 47% | 3.1 |
| Méry-sur-Oise 9,983 · 6.1 km | 0% | 35% | 3.6 |
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 Parmain
Is Parmain in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Parmain lies in Vexin Français Regional Nature Park (100% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Parmain?
OpenStreetMap maps 19 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 2.1 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 9 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Parmain is woodland?
45% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Parmain near the sea?
No: the coast is 120 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Parmain?
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.