Photo: Apultier · CC BY-SA 3.063% of Bras is woodland, more than in 9 in 10 French towns
No protected area reaches Bras; the nearest, Sainte-Baume Regional Nature Park, is 4.4 km from the town center. Footpaths add up to 52 km across Bras (1.4 km per km²). Waymarked hiking routes add up to 13 km in Bras. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Throughout this page, the Var 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 Bras?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
What sets Bras apart: its woods, then protected land close by.
How Bras 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.
Bras has the 14th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (2,606 to 2,668 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 Haspres (0.2 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 | La Richardais Ille-et-Vilaine | 3.4 | 9.9% | 100% | On it |
| 3 | Gometz-le-Châtel Essonne | 2.5 | 24% | 0.2% | 155 km |
| 4 | Morzine Haute-Savoie | 2.4 | 33% | 36% | 274 km |
| 5 | Champlan Essonne | 2.2 | 14% | 0% | 161 km |
| 6 | Dorlisheim Bas-Rhin | 2.1 | 12% | 0% | 442 km |
| 7 | Wahagnies Nord | 1.9 | 30% | 0% | 76 km |
| 8 | Les Vans Ardèche | 1.8 | 46% | 78% | 94 km |
| 9 | Coquelles Pas-de-Calais | 1.8 | 1.7% | 0.7% | 2.8 km |
| 10 | Le Bourg-d'Oisans Isère | 1.7 | 33% | 100% | 180 km |
| 11 | Vinassan Aude | 1.7 | 20% | 65% | 9.2 km |
| 12 | Souchez Pas-de-Calais | 1.7 | 9% | 0% | 75 km |
| 13 | Bourguébus Calvados | 1.5 | 1.1% | 0% | 18 km |
| 14 | Bras Var | 1.4 | 63% | 0% | 39 km |
| 15 | Saint-Yorre Allier | 1.4 | 23% | 15% | 283 km |
| 16 | Longeville-sur-Mer Vendée | 1.3 | 18% | 100% | On it |
| 17 | Bessèges Gard | 1.3 | 66% | 100% | 81 km |
| 18 | Foug Meurthe-et-Moselle | 1.3 | 73% | 1.2% | 342 km |
| 19 | Auboué Meurthe-et-Moselle | 1.2 | 21% | 0% | 311 km |
| 20 | Cauffry Oise | 1.2 | 17% | 0% | 110 km |
| 21 | Châteauneuf-en-Thymerais Eure-et-Loir | 1.2 | 57% | 62% | 115 km |
| 22 | Taden Côtes-d'Armor | 1.1 | 19% | 100% | 3.6 km |
| 23 | La Broque Bas-Rhin | 1.1 | 79% | 8% | 432 km |
| 24 | Vendres Hérault | 1 | 1.9% | 60% | On it |
| 25 | Montréjeau Haute-Garonne | 0.9 | 5.7% | 2.6% | 175 km |
| 26 | Ivry-la-Bataille Eure | 0.8 | 2.6% | 3.2% | 101 km |
| 27 | Villeneuve-Saint-Germain Aisne | 0.8 | 11% | 0% | 150 km |
| 28 | Marpent Nord | 0.7 | 15% | 0% | 133 km |
| 29 | Frelinghien Nord | 0.7 | 1% | 0% | 51 km |
| 30 | Le Bugue Dordogne | 0.7 | 53% | 5.1% | 120 km |
| 31 | Soual Tarn | 0.6 | 1.4% | 0% | 95 km |
| 32 | Le Thoronet Var | 0.6 | 49% | 31% | 29 km |
| 33 | Rieux-Volvestre Haute-Garonne | 0.6 | 6.6% | 7% | 154 km |
| 34 | Toury Eure-et-Loir | 0.5 | 0.8% | 0% | 180 km |
| 35 | Beychac-et-Caillau Gironde | 0.4 | 16% | 4.7% | 22 km |
| 36 | Montayral Lot-et-Garonne | 0.4 | 10% | 8.3% | 137 km |
| 37 | Noyers-sur-Cher Loir-et-Cher | 0.3 | 34% | 0.6% | 221 km |
| 38 | Clairac Lot-et-Garonne | 0.3 | 7.7% | 0% | 105 km |
| 39 | Criquetot-l'Esneval Seine-Maritime | 0.3 | 1.2% | 0% | 8.3 km |
| 40 | Ailly-sur-Noye Somme | 0.2 | 22% | 0% | 68 km |
| 41 | Haspres Nord | 0.2 | 1.8% | 0% | 111 km |
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is the commune’s boundary.
Sainte-Baume Regional Nature Park is the nearest protected area, 4.4 km away
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Sainte-Baume Regional Nature Park
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.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
52 km of footpaths and 13 km of hiking routes cross Bras
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 less than in 56% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 96% 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 Bras is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
3 named hiking routes within 2 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
June is the best month for walking in Bras
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Varages, 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) | 9.3 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.1 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 9.0 |
| High (°C) | 11 | 13 | 17 | 20 | 24 | 29 | 32 | 32 | 26 | 21 | 15 | 11 |
| Rain (mm) | 61 | 42 | 45 | 75 | 73 | 55 | 28 | 38 | 91 | 96 | 118 | 64 |
July is the driest month (28 mm) and the warmest (highs of 32 °C). 118 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 49 nights a year. Summer highs reach 32 °C, too hot for the outline. The climate in Bras →
Next to Bras
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bras | 0% | 63% | 1.4 | 39 km |
| Seillons-Source-d'Argens 2,818 · 6.8 km | 0% | 67% | 2 | 39 km |
| Tourves 5,207 · 7.3 km | 83% | 44% | 0.9 | 32 km |
| Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume 17,896 · 7.4 km | 34% | 41% | 1 | 33 km |
| Le Val 4,335 · 10 km | 7.3% | 63% | 1.5 | 37 km |
| Barjols 2,984 · 11 km | 18% | 69% | 0.2 | 49 km |
| Brignoles 17,850 · 11 km | 17% | 48% | 0.9 | 34 km |
Tourves, Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume and Barjols have at least twice as much protected land.
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 Bras
Is Bras in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Sainte-Baume Regional Nature Park, 4.4 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Bras?
OpenStreetMap maps 52 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.4 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 13 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Bras is woodland?
63% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Bras near the sea?
No: the coast is 39 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Bras?
June: 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.