First pick
Parc Baron
Park or garden
2.5 ha1.1 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.1 km of path
Centralin the middle of Fontenay-le-Comte
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Jmdigne · CC BY-SA 4.0100%of the land protected
Outdoors in Fontenay-le-Comte · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Fontenay-le-Comte lies inside Marais Poitevin Regional Nature Park
Protected areas cover 100% of Fontenay-le-Comte’s land. Mapped woodland covers 2% of Fontenay-le-Comte. Fontenay-le-Comte has 1 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
2%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
36 km
1.1 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
1.2 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
6
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Parc Baron
The sea
31 km
from the town center to the coast
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.
What kind of place
What kind of outdoors place is Fontenay-le-Comte?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Inside Marais Poitevin Regional Nature Park100% of the commune is in the regional nature park.Little mapped woodland2% of the land, against 13% for the median compared town.
What sets Fontenay-le-Comte apart: the regional nature park around it. It is shorter on woodland.
Against French towns
How Fontenay-le-Comte 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
93out of 100
Woodland2%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
11out of 100
Footpaths1.1 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
34out of 100
Hiking routes0 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
27out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Fontenay-le-Comte has the 6th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (13,680 to 14,432 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Lieusaint (8.8 km per km²) to Castelsarrasin (0.3 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lieusaint Seine-et-Marne | 8.8 | 6.3% | 0% | 178 km |
| 2 | Valenton Val-de-Marne | 8.7 | 6.6% | 0% | 164 km |
| 3 | Vaires-sur-Marne Seine-et-Marne | 7.7 | 21% | 11% | 161 km |
| 4 | Billère Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 6.7 | 4.2% | 9.2% | 93 km |
| 5 | Chenôve Côte-d'Or | 6.5 | 10% | 17% | 403 km |
| 6 | Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande Ille-et-Vilaine | 5.9 | 8.1% | 0% | 50 km |
| 7 | Audincourt Doubs | 5.3 | 36% | 0% | 414 km |
| 8 | Auray Morbihan | 5 | 8.3% | 100% | On it |
| 9 | Saint-Genis-Pouilly Ain | 4.5 | 17% | 0.3% | 298 km |
| 10 | Fleury-Mérogis Essonne | 4.2 | 35% | 0% | 170 km |
| 11 | Lys-lez-Lannoy Nord | 4.2 | 3.9% | 0% | 64 km |
| 12 | Juvignac Hérault | 4.2 | 4.2% | 0% | 14 km |
| 13 | Ostwald Bas-Rhin | 4 | 10% | 0% | 452 km |
| 14 | Andrésy Yvelines | 3.8 | 23% | 0% | 126 km |
| 15 | Canteleu Seine-Maritime | 3.7 | 64% | 100% | 49 km |
| 16 | Fontenay-le-Fleury Yvelines | 3.3 | 8% | 0% | 141 km |
| 17 | Douarnenez Finistère | 3.3 | 16% | 3.8% | On it |
| 18 | Montataire Oise | 2.9 | 11% | 0.1% | 116 km |
| 19 | Plérin Côtes-d'Armor | 2.9 | 14% | 1.8% | On it |
| 20 | Rixheim Haut-Rhin | 2.8 | 41% | 23% | 441 km |
| 21 | Caudry Nord | 2.8 | 1.8% | 0% | 123 km |
| 22 | Persan Val-d'Oise | 2.5 | 0.3% | 0.1% | 120 km |
| 23 | Carros Alpes-Maritimes | 2.3 | 25% | 64% | 11 km |
| 24 | Roncq Nord | 2.3 | 2.5% | 0% | 53 km |
| 25 | Bollène Vaucluse | 2.2 | 28% | 9.5% | 93 km |
| 26 | Sainte-Maxime Var | 2.1 | 65% | 19% | On it |
| 27 | Morangis Essonne | 2.1 | 0.8% | 0% | 163 km |
| 28 | Crépy-en-Valois Oise | 2 | 16% | 0% | 137 km |
| 29 | Pont-à-Mousson Meurthe-et-Moselle | 1.8 | 31% | 0.4% | 341 km |
| 30 | Flers Orne | 1.6 | 2.5% | 0% | 59 km |
| 31 | Hautmont Nord | 1.6 | 11% | 0% | 130 km |
| 32 | Saint-Omer Pas-de-Calais | 1.6 | 2.8% | 100% | 28 km |
| 33 | Mions Rhône | 1.5 | 1.3% | 0% | 244 km |
| 34 | Berre-l'Étang Bouches-du-Rhône | 1.3 | 1.1% | 15% | 16 km |
| 35 | Belleville-en-Beaujolais Rhône | 1.1 | 5.4% | 7.1% | 288 km |
| 36 | Fontenay-le-Comte Vendée | 1.1 | 2% | 100% | 31 km |
| 37 | Méru Oise | 0.8 | 16% | 0% | 106 km |
| 38 | Pierrelatte Drôme | 0.7 | 2.8% | 4.4% | 103 km |
| 39 | Saint-Martin-de-Crau Bouches-du-Rhône | 0.4 | 3.6% | 91% | 21 km |
| 40 | Thouars Deux-Sèvres | 0.3 | 12% | 0.4% | 102 km |
| 41 | Castelsarrasin Tarn-et-Garonne | 0.3 | 5.6% | 6.8% | 173 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 Fontenay-le-Comte
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc Baron leads, at 2.5 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Parc du Porteau
Park or garden
3 ha0.6 km of path
5 minto walk all 0.6 km of path
1.7 km north-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Square du Monument aux Morts
Park or garden
1 ha0.7 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.7 km of path
Centralin the middle of Fontenay-le-Comte
Directionsto a point inside
Jardin Public de l'Hôtel de Ville
Park or garden
0.8 ha0.4 km of path
Centralin the middle of Fontenay-le-Comte
Directionsto a point inside
Parc des Jacobins
Park or garden
0.5 ha0.3 km of path
Centralin the middle of Fontenay-le-Comte
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 Fontenay-le-Comte
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Regional nature park
Marais Poitevin Regional Nature Park
100% of the commune
Natura 2000 site
Marais poitevin
5.7% of the commune1 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Marais Poitevin
5.7% of the commune1 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area100%
Regional nature park100%
Natura 2000 site5.7%
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 Fontenay-le-Comte’s land is protected, more than in 93% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Vendée 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
36 km of footpaths cross Fontenay-le-Comte
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
36 km
1.1 km per km²
Hiking routes
1.2 km
waymarked: 0 km per km²
Woodland
2%
about 0.7 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Fontenay-le-ComteVendée medianFrance median
Footpaths1.1
Hiking routes0
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Fontenay-le-ComteVendée medianFrance median
Woodland2%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 66% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less 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. 98% of Fontenay-le-Comte’s residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
2 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
Boucle du Domaine de Mélusine11 km
Accès Domaine de Mélusine de Fontenay3.6 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Fontenay-le-Comte: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Marans, 23 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) | 9.0 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 15.0 | 15.8 | 15.5 | 14.2 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.3 | 8.6 |
| High (°C) | 10 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 21 | 24 | 26 | 27 | 24 | 19 | 14 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 72 | 55 | 56 | 56 | 55 | 44 | 40 | 45 | 60 | 83 | 89 | 86 |
July is the driest month (40 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 27 °C). 89 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 31 nights a year. The climate in Fontenay-le-Comte →
Neighbors
Next to Fontenay-le-Comte
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
BenetLa ChâtaigneraieSaint-Jean-de-LiversayMaransSaint-Jean-d'HermineMagnéFontenay-le-Comte
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fontenay-le-Comte | 100% | 2% | 1.1 | 31 km |
| Benet 4,089 · 19 km | 100% | 0.7% | 0.2 | 41 km |
| La Châtaigneraie 2,600 · 21 km | 0% | 4.5% | 0.6 | 48 km |
| Saint-Jean-de-Liversay 3,063 · 23 km | 100% | 0.5% | 0.1 | 18 km |
| Marans 4,476 · 23 km | 100% | 0.3% | 0.2 | 11 km |
| Saint-Jean-d'Hermine 3,611 · 23 km | 2.4% | 9.2% | 0.4 | 27 km |
| Magné 2,728 · 26 km | 100% | 15% | 0.8 | 44 km |
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 Fontenay-le-Comte
Is Fontenay-le-Comte in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Fontenay-le-Comte lies in Marais Poitevin Regional Nature Park (100% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Fontenay-le-Comte?
OpenStreetMap maps 36 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); 1 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Fontenay-le-Comte is woodland?
2% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Fontenay-le-Comte near the sea?
No: the coast is 31 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Fontenay-le-Comte?
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.