First pick
Bois de l'Épault
Wood or forest
18 ha1.3 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.3 km of path
1 km south-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Jean-Pierre Bazard Jpbazard · CC BY-SA 3.0100%of the land protected
Outdoors in Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais lies inside Marais Poitevin Regional Nature Park
Protected areas cover 100% of Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais’ land. 9 km of footpaths cross Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais (0.3 km per km²). 10% of Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais is mapped woodland. 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
10%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
8.9 km
0.3 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Green space nearby
95%
of residents within 800 m of a park or wood
Compared town: 100%
The sea
23 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 Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais?
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.Few mapped footpaths0.3 km per km², against 1.7 km per km² for the median compared town.
What sets Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais apart: the regional nature park around it. It is shorter on footpaths.
Against French towns
How Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais 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
Woodland10%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
41out of 100
Footpaths0.3 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
8out of 100
Hiking routes0 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
12out of 100
Green space nearby95%Share of residents within 800 m of a mapped park or wood
13out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais has the 11th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (2,777 to 2,838 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Éleu-dit-Leauwette (5.5 km per km²) to Levroux (0 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Éleu-dit-Leauwette Pas-de-Calais | 5.5 | 16% | 0% | 76 km |
| 2 | Burbure Pas-de-Calais | 3 | 3.7% | 0% | 55 km |
| 3 | Pinsaguel Haute-Garonne | 2.8 | 14% | 29% | 146 km |
| 4 | Cosnes-et-Romain Meurthe-et-Moselle | 2.6 | 35% | 0% | 273 km |
| 5 | Montfort-l'Amaury Yvelines | 2.1 | 16% | 100% | 129 km |
| 6 | Candé Maine-et-Loire | 1.9 | 16% | 0% | 91 km |
| 7 | Peyruis Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 1.8 | 53% | 6.2% | 90 km |
| 8 | Arles-sur-Tech Pyrénées-Orientales | 1.7 | 72% | 6.8% | 36 km |
| 9 | Ibos Hautes-Pyrénées | 1.7 | 31% | 0% | 126 km |
| 10 | Anzin-Saint-Aubin Pas-de-Calais | 1.7 | 6.2% | 0% | 77 km |
| 11 | Le Faouët Morbihan | 1.4 | 21% | 7.3% | 24 km |
| 12 | L'Isle-sur-le-Doubs Doubs | 1.4 | 50% | 0% | 413 km |
| 13 | Colombiers Hérault | 1.2 | 1.4% | 0% | 13 km |
| 14 | Saint-Aignan Loir-et-Cher | 1 | 31% | 0% | 218 km |
| 15 | La Fère Aisne | 0.9 | 12% | 11% | 134 km |
| 16 | Ducey-Les Chéris Manche | 0.9 | 13% | 7.8% | 5.3 km |
| 17 | Amancy Haute-Savoie | 0.8 | 14% | 0% | 271 km |
| 18 | Langogne Lozère | 0.7 | 23% | 0.1% | 131 km |
| 19 | Connerré Sarthe | 0.7 | 23% | 0% | 144 km |
| 20 | Ayguesvives Haute-Garonne | 0.7 | 8.4% | 0% | 128 km |
| 21 | Arcis-sur-Aube Aube | 0.7 | 10% | 0% | 256 km |
| 22 | Uzerche Corrèze | 0.7 | 22% | 0.9% | 176 km |
| 23 | Meslay-du-Maine Mayenne | 0.7 | 1% | 0% | 96 km |
| 24 | Fère-en-Tardenois Aisne | 0.7 | 40% | 0% | 171 km |
| 25 | Longny les Villages Orne | 0.5 | 35% | 100% | 104 km |
| 26 | Baixas Pyrénées-Orientales | 0.5 | 0% | 3.9% | 19 km |
| 27 | Saint-Loup-sur-Semouse Haute-Saône | 0.5 | 46% | 46% | 422 km |
| 28 | Cour-Cheverny Loir-et-Cher | 0.4 | 41% | 29% | 229 km |
| 29 | Blangy-sur-Bresle Seine-Maritime | 0.4 | 32% | 0.5% | 23 km |
| 30 | Courville-sur-Eure Eure-et-Loir | 0.4 | 0.2% | 0% | 127 km |
| 31 | Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais Vendée | 0.3 | 10% | 100% | 23 km |
| 32 | Vendays-Montalivet Gironde | 0.3 | 74% | 100% | On it |
| 33 | Grandvilliers Oise | 0.3 | 0.4% | 0% | 60 km |
| 34 | Rosières-aux-Salines Meurthe-et-Moselle | 0.3 | 24% | 0% | 381 km |
| 35 | Buchy Seine-Maritime | 0.3 | 4.8% | 0% | 42 km |
| 36 | Miremont Haute-Garonne | 0.2 | 7.8% | 0.2% | 139 km |
| 37 | Rodilhan Gard | 0.2 | 0% | 24% | 40 km |
| 38 | Wignehies Nord | 0.1 | 0.5% | 100% | 156 km |
| 39 | Sérifontaine Oise | 0.1 | 21% | 0% | 80 km |
| 40 | Listrac-Médoc Gironde | 0 | 72% | 100% | 8.3 km |
| 41 | Levroux Indre | 0 | 8.7% | 0% | 222 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 Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Bois de l'Épault leads, at 18 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
La Coulée Verte l'Arborétum
Park or garden
5.3 ha0.4 km of path
Centralin the middle of Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais
Sentier de l'Arborétum
Directionsto 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 Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais 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).
95% within 800 m5.5% further
Residents within 800 m of green space · share of residents
Mareuil-sur-Lay-DissaisVendée medianFrance median
Within 800 m95%
0%50%100%
About 200 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
Protected land in and around Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais
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
1.2% of the commune2.6 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Marais Poitevin
1.2% of the commune2.6 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area100%
Regional nature park100%
Natura 2000 site1.2%
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 Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais’ 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
9 km of footpaths cross Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais
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
8.9 km
0.3 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked: 0 km per km²
Woodland
10%
about 2.6 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Mareuil-sur-Lay-DissaisVendée medianFrance median
Footpaths0.3
Hiking routes0
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Mareuil-sur-Lay-DissaisVendée medianFrance median
Woodland10%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 92% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 59% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them.
A named hiking route within 2 km
Other named walk
Du Tablier à Chantonnay5.8 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais: April to August
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Sainte Gemme la Plaine_Sapc, 13 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 | 10.2 | 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 | 26 | 23 | 19 | 13 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 82 | 61 | 61 | 61 | 58 | 41 | 44 | 47 | 71 | 95 | 94 | 94 |
June is the driest month (41 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 26 °C). 95 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 30 nights a year. The climate in Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais →
Neighbors
Next to Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
LuçonRives de l'YonSaint-Jean-d'HermineBournezeauNesmyLa Chaize-le-VicomteMareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais | 100% | 10% | 0.3 | 23 km |
| Luçon 9,417 · 9.6 km | 100% | 1.1% | 0.9 | 16 km |
| Rives de l'Yon 4,335 · 11 km | 0% | 7.1% | 0.3 | 25 km |
| Saint-Jean-d'Hermine 3,611 · 12 km | 2.4% | 9.2% | 0.4 | 27 km |
| Bournezeau 3,452 · 12 km | 0% | 9.3% | 0.3 | 35 km |
| Nesmy 3,100 · 16 km | 0% | 6.9% | 0.4 | 23 km |
| La Chaize-le-Vicomte 3,948 · 16 km | 0% | 12% | 0.4 | 34 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 Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais
Is Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais lies in Marais Poitevin Regional Nature Park (100% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais?
OpenStreetMap maps 9 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.3 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²).
How much of Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais is woodland?
10% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais near the sea?
No: the coast is 23 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais?
April to August: 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 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.