First pick
Parc de la Salamandre
Park or garden
0.9 ha0.1 km of path
1.2 km south-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Dr. Ashley · CC BY-SA 4.049%of the land protected
Outdoors in Saint-Gervais · protected areas, woods and footpaths
49% of Saint-Gervais’ land is protected for nature
3 km of footpaths cross Saint-Gervais (0.1 km per km²). 7.6% of Saint-Gervais is mapped woodland. Waymarked hiking routes add up to 19 km in Saint-Gervais. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
49%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
7.6%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
3.2 km
0.1 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
19 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
1
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Parc de la Salamandre
The sea
6.9 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 Saint-Gervais?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Protected countryside49% of the land lies in protected areas.Near the seaThe coast is 6.9 km from the town center.Few mapped footpaths0.1 km per km², against 1.7 km per km² for the median compared town.
What sets Saint-Gervais apart: its protected countryside, then the sea nearby. It is shorter on footpaths.
Against French towns
How Saint-Gervais 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 areas49%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
86out of 100
Woodland7.6%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
33out of 100
Footpaths0.1 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
0out of 100
Hiking routes0.4 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
58out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Saint-Gervais has the 2nd fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (2,756 to 2,805 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 | Argelès-Gazost Hautes-Pyrénées | 4.3 | 17% | 100% | 130 km |
| 3 | Pabu Côtes-d'Armor | 3.6 | 22% | 0% | 15 km |
| 4 | Collioure Pyrénées-Orientales | 3.4 | 6.3% | 4% | On it |
| 5 | Pinsaguel Haute-Garonne | 2.8 | 14% | 29% | 146 km |
| 6 | Cosnes-et-Romain Meurthe-et-Moselle | 2.6 | 35% | 0% | 273 km |
| 7 | Saint-Lunaire Ille-et-Vilaine | 2.6 | 21% | 100% | On it |
| 8 | Montfort-l'Amaury Yvelines | 2.1 | 16% | 100% | 129 km |
| 9 | Malaucène Vaucluse | 2.1 | 57% | 100% | 83 km |
| 10 | Saint-Saturnin Sarthe | 1.9 | 8.9% | 0% | 129 km |
| 11 | Candé Maine-et-Loire | 1.9 | 16% | 0% | 91 km |
| 12 | Peyruis Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 1.8 | 53% | 6.2% | 90 km |
| 13 | Ampuis Rhône | 1.7 | 36% | 95% | 222 km |
| 14 | Les Adrets-de-l'Estérel Var | 1.6 | 80% | 0% | 9.2 km |
| 15 | Venette Oise | 1.4 | 7.3% | 0% | 117 km |
| 16 | L'Isle-sur-le-Doubs Doubs | 1.4 | 50% | 0% | 413 km |
| 17 | Beaumont-le-Roger Eure | 1.2 | 79% | 2% | 50 km |
| 18 | Charolles Saône-et-Loire | 1.2 | 20% | 0% | 320 km |
| 19 | Mussidan Dordogne | 1.1 | 13% | 1.7% | 75 km |
| 20 | Saint-Aignan Loir-et-Cher | 1 | 31% | 0% | 218 km |
| 21 | La Fère Aisne | 0.9 | 12% | 11% | 134 km |
| 22 | Ducey-Les Chéris Manche | 0.9 | 13% | 7.8% | 5.3 km |
| 23 | Orgon Bouches-du-Rhône | 0.8 | 17% | 100% | 40 km |
| 24 | Amancy Haute-Savoie | 0.8 | 14% | 0% | 271 km |
| 25 | Connerré Sarthe | 0.7 | 23% | 0% | 144 km |
| 26 | Arcis-sur-Aube Aube | 0.7 | 10% | 0% | 256 km |
| 27 | Meslay-du-Maine Mayenne | 0.7 | 1% | 0% | 96 km |
| 28 | Marigny-Le-Lozon Manche | 0.7 | 0.2% | 46% | 21 km |
| 29 | Bourron-Marlotte Seine-et-Marne | 0.7 | 42% | 22% | 211 km |
| 30 | Dieuze Moselle | 0.6 | 21% | 24% | 380 km |
| 31 | Montignac-Lascaux Dordogne | 0.5 | 52% | 1.6% | 138 km |
| 32 | Baixas Pyrénées-Orientales | 0.5 | 0% | 3.9% | 19 km |
| 33 | Wassy Haute-Marne | 0.5 | 61% | 0% | 302 km |
| 34 | Courville-sur-Eure Eure-et-Loir | 0.4 | 0.2% | 0% | 127 km |
| 35 | Grandvilliers Oise | 0.3 | 0.4% | 0% | 60 km |
| 36 | Thuré Vienne | 0.2 | 29% | 0% | 136 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 | Saint-Gervais Vendée | 0.1 | 7.6% | 49% | 6.9 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 Saint-Gervais
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc de la Salamandre leads, at 0.9 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Protected land in and around Saint-Gervais
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Nature reserve
Marais du Bout de Sac nature reserve
2.5 km from the town center
Natura 2000 site
Marais Breton, baie de Bourgneuf, île de Noirmoutier et forêt de Monts
49% of the commune1.5 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Marais Breton, baie de Bourgneuf, île de Noirmoutier et forêt de Monts
49% of the commune1.5 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area49%
Natura 2000 site49%
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.
49% of Saint-Gervais’ land is protected, more than in 86% 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.
Footpaths and woods
3 km of footpaths and 19 km of hiking routes cross Saint-Gervais
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
3.2 km
0.1 km per km²
Hiking routes
19 km
waymarked: 0.4 km per km²
Woodland
7.6%
about 3.2 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Saint-GervaisVendée medianFrance median
Footpaths0.1
Hiking routes0.4
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Saint-GervaisVendée medianFrance median
Woodland7.6%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 99% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 67% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 97% of Saint-Gervais’ residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
6 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
La Rive du Marais12 km
La Chapelle de Bordevert9.3 km
Sentier du Petit Moulin8.7 km
Chemin des Oiseaux7.9 km
Vers la Mer et les Digues3.8 km
Sentier des Roseaux2 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Saint-Gervais: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Le Perrier, 9.2 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 | 15.9 | 15.5 | 14.2 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.3 | 8.5 |
| High (°C) | 10 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 22 | 18 | 13 | 11 |
| Rain (mm) | 80 | 62 | 51 | 56 | 52 | 43 | 37 | 44 | 63 | 92 | 92 | 89 |
July is the driest month (37 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 24 °C). 92 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 26 nights a year. The climate in Saint-Gervais →
Neighbors
Next to Saint-Gervais
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Beauvoir-sur-MerSallertaineChallansLa GarnacheSoullansSaint-Jean-de-MontsSaint-Gervais
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Gervais | 49% | 7.6% | 0.1 | 6.9 km |
| Beauvoir-sur-Mer 4,035 · 4 km | 83% | 0.3% | 0.3 | On it |
| Sallertaine 3,518 · 6.5 km | 44% | 3.4% | 0.2 | 13 km |
| Challans 22,943 · 12 km | 0.9% | 10% | 0.9 | 15 km |
| La Garnache 5,515 · 12 km | 0% | 9.8% | 0.2 | 18 km |
| Soullans 4,654 · 14 km | 51% | 5.9% | 0.2 | 11 km |
| Saint-Jean-de-Monts 8,868 · 14 km | 73% | 13% | 2.2 | On it |
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 Saint-Gervais
Is Saint-Gervais in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 49% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Saint-Gervais?
OpenStreetMap maps 3 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.1 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 19 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Saint-Gervais is woodland?
7.6% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Saint-Gervais near the sea?
No: the coast is 6.9 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Saint-Gervais?
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 8, 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.