Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: oatsy40 · CC BY 2.023% of Bretignolles-sur-Mer’s land lies in protected areas. Waymarked hiking routes add up to 18 km in Bretignolles-sur-Mer. 67 km of footpaths cross Bretignolles-sur-Mer (2.5 km per km²). France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Throughout this page, the Vendée median and the France median are the median of compared communes (those with an overall grade), each figure its own median.
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.
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (5,282 to 5,401 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Cormelles-le-Royal (7.2 km per km²) to Plessé (0.3 km per km²).
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cormelles-le-Royal Calvados | 7.2 | 2.2% | 0% | 15 km |
| 2 | Mériel Val-d'Oise | 6 | 41% | 9.5% | 124 km |
| 3 | Barberaz Savoie | 4.4 | 26% | 50% | 232 km |
| 4 | Bethoncourt Doubs | 4.4 | 38% | 0% | 420 km |
| 5 | Mundolsheim Bas-Rhin | 3.5 | 6.5% | 0% | 445 km |
| 6 | Levens Alpes-Maritimes | 3 | 64% | 12% | 17 km |
| 7 | Charbonnières-les-Bains Rhône | 2.8 | 16% | 0% | 252 km |
| 8 | La Balme-de-Sillingy Haute-Savoie | 2.6 | 41% | 0% | 269 km |
| 9 | Bretignolles-sur-Mer Vendée | 2.5 | 9.6% | 23% | On it |
| 10 | Dechy Nord | 2.3 | 13% | 0% | 92 km |
| 11 | Plouhinec Morbihan | 2 | 24% | 32% | On it |
| 12 | Villers-le-Lac Doubs | 2 | 45% | 100% | 370 km |
| 13 | Calonne-Ricouart Pas-de-Calais | 1.8 | 1.5% | 0% | 56 km |
| 14 | Saint-Pierre-lès-Nemours Seine-et-Marne | 1.8 | 45% | 29% | 214 km |
| 15 | Erquinghem-Lys Nord | 1.7 | 2.6% | 0% | 51 km |
| 16 | Cruseilles Haute-Savoie | 1.6 | 40% | 21% | 273 km |
| 17 | Idron Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 1.6 | 15% | 4.1% | 100 km |
| 18 | Tresses Gironde | 1.5 | 9.1% | 0% | 20 km |
| 19 | Gray Haute-Saône | 1.4 | 47% | 28% | 418 km |
| 20 | Bordères-sur-l'Échez Hautes-Pyrénées | 1.4 | 22% | 0% | 128 km |
| 21 | Commercy Meuse | 1.3 | 64% | 5.6% | 324 km |
| 22 | Vic-le-Comte Puy-de-Dôme | 1.2 | 19% | 100% | 241 km |
| 23 | Saint-Astier Dordogne | 1 | 33% | 8% | 89 km |
| 24 | Trèbes Aude | 1 | 9.6% | 0% | 54 km |
| 25 | Le Lion-d'Angers Maine-et-Loire | 1 | 5.4% | 0.8% | 115 km |
| 26 | Brebières Pas-de-Calais | 1 | 8% | 0% | 90 km |
| 27 | Gambsheim Bas-Rhin | 0.9 | 13% | 13% | 450 km |
| 28 | Valence Tarn-et-Garonne | 0.9 | 8.2% | 0.6% | 154 km |
| 29 | Mouy Oise | 0.8 | 34% | 0% | 106 km |
| 30 | Drusenheim Bas-Rhin | 0.8 | 29% | 17% | 449 km |
| 31 | Chagny Saône-et-Loire | 0.8 | 38% | 0.8% | 376 km |
| 32 | Blotzheim Haut-Rhin | 0.8 | 16% | 0% | 424 km |
| 33 | Le Pellerin Loire-Atlantique | 0.7 | 2.7% | 64% | 24 km |
| 34 | Audruicq Pas-de-Calais | 0.7 | 0.2% | 0% | 12 km |
| 35 | Bléré Indre-et-Loire | 0.6 | 11% | 8.4% | 197 km |
| 36 | Garons Gard | 0.5 | 0.1% | 0% | 35 km |
| 37 | Parigné-l'Évêque Sarthe | 0.5 | 49% | 19% | 149 km |
| 38 | Reyrieux Ain | 0.4 | 11% | 2.2% | 270 km |
| 39 | Saint-Lyphard Loire-Atlantique | 0.4 | 6.2% | 100% | 8.4 km |
| 40 | Vindry-sur-Turdine Rhône | 0.4 | 17% | 0% | 260 km |
| 41 | Plessé Loire-Atlantique | 0.3 | 15% | 0.9% | 35 km |
Tap a number to zoom to a park or wood. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is the commune’s boundary.
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Forêt domaniale d'Olonne leads, at 902 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
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.
23% of Bretignolles-sur-Mer’s land is protected, more than in 80% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Vendée has 0%.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
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.
That is more than in 66% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 61% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 96% of Bretignolles-sur-Mer’s residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at La Mothe Achard, 18 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) | 8.9 | 10.2 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 15.0 | 15.8 | 15.5 | 14.2 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.3 | 8.6 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 20 | 23 | 25 | 25 | 22 | 18 | 13 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 105 | 77 | 69 | 71 | 62 | 45 | 50 | 59 | 82 | 107 | 119 | 114 |
June is the driest month (45 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 25 °C). 119 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 26 nights a year. The climate in Bretignolles-sur-Mer →
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bretignolles-sur-Mer | 23% | 9.6% | 2.5 | On it |
| Brem-sur-Mer 2,993 · 4 km | 5.7% | 11% | 0.5 | 2 km |
| Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie 8,333 · 8.5 km | 5.4% | 3.1% | 4.3 | On it |
| L'Île-d'Olonne 2,802 · 9.3 km | 22% | 2.2% | 0.3 | 4.2 km |
| Le Fenouiller 4,978 · 9.7 km | 9.9% | 4.1% | 1 | 3.5 km |
| Coëx 3,428 · 11 km | 0% | 4.5% | 0.3 | 12 km |
| Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez 13,074 · 13 km | 48% | 12% | 2.3 | On it |
Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez has at least twice as much protected land.
No, but 23% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
OpenStreetMap maps 67 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 2.5 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 18 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
9.6% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Yes: the commune touches the coast, 0.8 km from its center.
April to September: long days, mild highs and little rain, from Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at the nearest suitable station.
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.