First pick
P'Arcs de Loisirs
Park or garden
1.7 ha0.2 km of path
1.7 km southfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Simon Pléau · CC BY 4.012%of the land protected
Outdoors in Les Arcs · protected areas, woods and footpaths
35% of Les Arcs is woodland, more than in 8 in 10 French towns
61 km of footpaths cross Les Arcs (1.1 km per km²). 12% of Les Arcs’ land lies in protected areas. Waymarked hiking routes add up to 8 km in Les Arcs. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
12%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
35%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
61 km
1.1 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
8.1 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Green space nearby
94%
of residents within 800 m of a park or wood
Compared town: 100%
The sea
21 km
from the town center to the coast
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.
Against French towns
How Les Arcs 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 areas12%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
73out of 100
Woodland35%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
81out of 100
Footpaths1.1 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
35out of 100
Hiking routes0.1 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
33out of 100
Green space nearby94%Share of residents within 800 m of a mapped park or wood
11out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Les Arcs has the 13th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (8,007 to 8,219 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Seyssins (7.1 km per km²) to Donges (0.3 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seyssins Isère | 7.1 | 44% | 45% | 201 km |
| 2 | Boussy-Saint-Antoine Essonne | 6.6 | 28% | 0% | 172 km |
| 3 | Coulaines Sarthe | 5.4 | 5.5% | 0% | 134 km |
| 4 | La Ville-du-Bois Essonne | 4.4 | 28% | 0% | 164 km |
| 5 | Paray-Vieille-Poste Essonne | 3.9 | 0.4% | 0% | 164 km |
| 6 | Mazingarbe Pas-de-Calais | 2.9 | 7.4% | 0% | 68 km |
| 7 | Ballancourt-sur-Essonne Essonne | 2.9 | 28% | 0.1% | 179 km |
| 8 | Vern-sur-Seiche Ille-et-Vilaine | 2.9 | 13% | 0% | 57 km |
| 9 | La Ricamarie Loire | 2.8 | 20% | 3.2% | 206 km |
| 10 | Wintzenheim Haut-Rhin | 2.8 | 51% | 100% | 471 km |
| 11 | Guénange Moselle | 2.7 | 24% | 0% | 315 km |
| 12 | Le Mesnil-Esnard Seine-Maritime | 2.6 | 16% | 0% | 57 km |
| 13 | Rochefort-du-Gard Gard | 2.6 | 40% | 0% | 59 km |
| 14 | Cavalaire-sur-Mer Var | 1.8 | 45% | 0.1% | On it |
| 15 | Aureilhan Hautes-Pyrénées | 1.8 | 12% | 0.7% | 133 km |
| 16 | Sorbiers Loire | 1.8 | 14% | 0% | 217 km |
| 17 | Verrières-en-Anjou Maine-et-Loire | 1.8 | 7.4% | 0% | 127 km |
| 18 | Saint-Vincent-de-Tyrosse Landes | 1.8 | 51% | 0% | 11 km |
| 19 | Val de Briey Meurthe-et-Moselle | 1.7 | 55% | 0% | 305 km |
| 20 | Anse Rhône | 1.7 | 16% | 0% | 269 km |
| 21 | La Colle-sur-Loup Alpes-Maritimes | 1.7 | 39% | 28% | 5.1 km |
| 22 | Champagnole Jura | 1.7 | 48% | 0% | 352 km |
| 23 | Vaujours Seine-Saint-Denis | 1.7 | 26% | 0.9% | 152 km |
| 24 | Talange Moselle | 1.6 | 2.5% | 0% | 318 km |
| 25 | Beaugency Loiret | 1.4 | 6.8% | 24% | 206 km |
| 26 | Tignieu-Jameyzieu Isère | 1.4 | 11% | 0% | 255 km |
| 27 | Vineuil Loir-et-Cher | 1.3 | 27% | 3.4% | 219 km |
| 28 | La Tour-du-Pin Isère | 1.2 | 4.7% | 0% | 240 km |
| 29 | Les Arcs Var | 1.1 | 35% | 12% | 21 km |
| 30 | Gleizé Rhône | 1.1 | 7.7% | 0% | 275 km |
| 31 | Martignas-sur-Jalle Gironde | 1.1 | 48% | 2.8% | 23 km |
| 32 | Linselles Nord | 1 | 0.7% | 0% | 53 km |
| 33 | Chinon Indre-et-Loire | 1 | 15% | 100% | 142 km |
| 34 | Bellegarde Gard | 0.7 | 5.7% | 13% | 33 km |
| 35 | Jarny Meurthe-et-Moselle | 0.7 | 12% | 48% | 311 km |
| 36 | Questembert Morbihan | 0.6 | 19% | 0% | 16 km |
| 37 | Languidic Morbihan | 0.6 | 24% | 0% | 9 km |
| 38 | Monts Indre-et-Loire | 0.5 | 28% | 0% | 173 km |
| 39 | Salles Gironde | 0.5 | 86% | 100% | 17 km |
| 40 | Le Malesherbois Loiret | 0.3 | 11% | 3.6% | 196 km |
| 41 | Donges Loire-Atlantique | 0.3 | 2.8% | 58% | 8.5 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 Les Arcs
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: P'Arcs de Loisirs leads, at 1.7 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Close to home
9 in 10 residents of Les Arcs live within 800 m of a park or wood
Each square is 1 resident in 100: in green, those within 800 m, as the crow flies, of a mapped park, garden or woodland edge (INSEE’s 200 m population grid against OpenStreetMap).
94% within 800 m6.4% further
Residents within 800 m of green space · share of residents
Les ArcsVar medianFrance median
Within 800 m94%
0%50%100%
About 500 residents live further away. The distance is a straight line to the edge of a mapped park or wood, not a walk to a gate, and a wood can be private.
Protected areas
12% of Les Arcs 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
Val d’Argens
12% of the commune1.4 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area12%
Natura 2000 site12%
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.
12% of Les Arcs’ land is protected, more than in 73% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Var has 19%.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
61 km of footpaths and 8 km of hiking routes cross Les Arcs
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
61 km
1.1 km per km²
Hiking routes
8.1 km
waymarked: 0.1 km per km²
Woodland
35%
about 19 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Les ArcsVar medianFrance median
Footpaths1.1
Hiking routes0.1
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Les ArcsVar medianFrance median
Woodland35%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 65% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 81% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Les Arcs: April to June and September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Les Arcs_Sapc, 1.3 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) | 9.3 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.1 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 9.0 |
| High (°C) | 13 | 15 | 18 | 21 | 25 | 30 | 33 | 33 | 28 | 23 | 17 | 13 |
| Rain (mm) | 62 | 53 | 53 | 66 | 57 | 58 | 16 | 33 | 63 | 117 | 147 | 79 |
July is the driest month (16 mm) and the warmest (highs of 33 °C). 147 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 44 nights a year. Summer highs reach 33 °C, too hot for the outline. The climate in Les Arcs →
Neighbors
Next to Les Arcs
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Trans-en-ProvenceVidaubanLe MuyLa MotteDraguignanLorguesLes Arcs
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Les Arcs | 12% | 35% | 1.1 | 21 km |
| Trans-en-Provence 6,905 · 4.7 km | 0% | 26% | 1.1 | 23 km |
| Vidauban 12,608 · 6.1 km | 34% | 22% | 0.7 | 20 km |
| Le Muy 10,118 · 6.6 km | 46% | 35% | 1.7 | 16 km |
| La Motte 3,071 · 6.7 km | 25% | 34% | 1.3 | 18 km |
| Draguignan 40,826 · 8.2 km | 0% | 29% | 1.5 | 26 km |
| Lorgues 9,849 · 10 km | 6.3% | 53% | 0.6 | 30 km |
Vidauban, Le Muy and La Motte have at least twice as much protected land. Lorgues is more wooded.
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 Les Arcs
Is Les Arcs in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 12% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Les Arcs?
OpenStreetMap maps 61 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.1 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 8 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Les Arcs is woodland?
35% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Les Arcs near the sea?
No: the coast is 21 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Les Arcs?
April to June and 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.