First pick
Forêt d'Aizenay
Wood or forest · 340 m outside the commune
430 ha28.9 km of path
6 h 25 minto walk all 28.9 km of path
6.6 km north-westfrom the center
Sentier du Souvenir
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Père Igor · CC BY-SA 4.06.2%woodland
Outdoors in Venansault · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Venansault is within 800 m of a park or wood
Footpaths add up to 23 km across Venansault (0.5 km per km²). No protected area reaches Venansault; the nearest, Marais Poitevin Regional Nature Park, is 15 km from the town center. Mapped woodland covers 6.2% of Venansault. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
0%
of the commune’s land
Nearest: Marais Poitevin Regional Nature Park, 15 km
Woodland
6.2%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
23 km
0.5 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
6.8 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
5
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Forêt d'Aizenay
The sea
27 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.
Against French towns
How Venansault 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 areas0%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
22out of 100
Woodland6.2%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
27out of 100
Footpaths0.5 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
15out of 100
Hiking routes0.2 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
34out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Venansault has the 7th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (4,720 to 4,804 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Marolles-en-Brie (6.1 km per km²) to Sanilhac (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marolles-en-Brie Val-de-Marne | 6.1 | 42% | 0% | 169 km |
| 2 | Pompey Meurthe-et-Moselle | 5.3 | 68% | 0% | 356 km |
| 3 | Munster Haut-Rhin | 3.6 | 55% | 100% | 464 km |
| 4 | Chasseneuil-du-Poitou Vienne | 3.4 | 6.9% | 30% | 121 km |
| 5 | Teyran Hérault | 3.2 | 11% | 10% | 15 km |
| 6 | Reichstett Bas-Rhin | 2.9 | 18% | 0% | 446 km |
| 7 | L'Hermitage Ille-et-Vilaine | 2.8 | 4.9% | 0% | 43 km |
| 8 | La Chapelle-des-Fougeretz Ille-et-Vilaine | 2.7 | 3% | 0% | 40 km |
| 9 | Dagneux Ain | 2.5 | 18% | 0% | 266 km |
| 10 | Écouflant Maine-et-Loire | 2.1 | 10% | 46% | 123 km |
| 11 | Ingersheim Haut-Rhin | 2 | 17% | 1.3% | 469 km |
| 12 | Soufflenheim Bas-Rhin | 1.8 | 46% | 0.8% | 444 km |
| 13 | La Haie-Fouassière Loire-Atlantique | 1.7 | 12% | 0% | 47 km |
| 14 | La Grand-Combe Gard | 1.7 | 71% | 0% | 73 km |
| 15 | Saint-Martin-des-Champs Finistère | 1.7 | 17% | 1.4% | On it |
| 16 | Locminé Morbihan | 1.6 | 7.8% | 0% | 24 km |
| 17 | Marvejols Lozère | 1.6 | 19% | 0.1% | 125 km |
| 18 | Bourgbarré Ille-et-Vilaine | 1.5 | 5.3% | 0% | 62 km |
| 19 | Limas Rhône | 1.4 | 8.5% | 0% | 273 km |
| 20 | Sadirac Gironde | 1.4 | 37% | 3.6% | 29 km |
| 21 | Saint-Romain-de-Colbosc Seine-Maritime | 1.4 | 3.5% | 0% | 9.6 km |
| 22 | Grésy-sur-Aix Savoie | 1.3 | 26% | 1.2% | 248 km |
| 23 | Verneuil-en-Halatte Oise | 1.3 | 49% | 58% | 117 km |
| 24 | Le Coudray-Montceaux Essonne | 1.2 | 19% | 0% | 182 km |
| 25 | Cléon Seine-Maritime | 1.1 | 16% | 2% | 51 km |
| 26 | Cerizay Deux-Sèvres | 1.1 | 3.5% | 0% | 67 km |
| 27 | Vermelles Pas-de-Calais | 1.1 | 0.5% | 0% | 67 km |
| 28 | Vittel Vosges | 1.1 | 23% | 0% | 381 km |
| 29 | Casteljaloux Lot-et-Garonne | 0.7 | 49% | 0.8% | 94 km |
| 30 | La Plaine-sur-Mer Loire-Atlantique | 0.7 | 6% | 0.1% | On it |
| 31 | Sanguinet Landes | 0.6 | 73% | 21% | 14 km |
| 32 | Maraussan Hérault | 0.6 | 1.3% | 0% | 17 km |
| 33 | Les Monts d'Aunay Calvados | 0.6 | 23% | 25% | 37 km |
| 34 | Saint-Méloir-des-Ondes Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.5 | 4.3% | 0.1% | On it |
| 35 | Venansault Vendée | 0.5 | 6.2% | 0% | 27 km |
| 36 | Salies-de-Béarn Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 0.5 | 34% | 27% | 46 km |
| 37 | La Ferté-Gaucher Seine-et-Marne | 0.4 | 7.6% | 0% | 195 km |
| 38 | Saint-Germain-du-Puy Cher | 0.4 | 7.4% | 0% | 290 km |
| 39 | Barbezieux-Saint-Hilaire Charente | 0.4 | 3.4% | 7.8% | 46 km |
| 40 | Argenton-sur-Creuse Indre | 0.3 | 25% | 3.9% | 205 km |
| 41 | Sanilhac Dordogne | 0.1 | 56% | 0% | 105 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 Venansault
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Forêt d'Aizenay leads, at 430 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Coulée Verte du Guyon
Park or garden
9.7 ha2.6 km of path
35 minto walk all 2.6 km of path
0.8 km eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Le Bois des Fontenelles
Wood or forest · 0 m outside the commune
48 ha
2.1 km south-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Parc du Guyon
Park or garden
5.6 ha1.2 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.2 km of path
1 km north-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Bois de la Pérette
Wood or forest · 320 m outside the commune
5.8 ha
3.7 km northfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Marais Poitevin Regional Nature Park is the nearest protected area, 15 km away
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
15 km from the town center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area0%
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.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
23 km of footpaths and 7 km of hiking routes cross Venansault
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
23 km
0.5 km per km²
Hiking routes
6.8 km
waymarked: 0.2 km per km²
Woodland
6.2%
about 2.8 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
VenansaultVendée medianFrance median
Footpaths0.5
Hiking routes0.2
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
VenansaultVendée medianFrance median
Woodland6.2%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 85% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 73% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 97% of Venansault’s residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
3 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
De Beaulieu à La Roche s/Yon16 km
De Poiré s/Vie à Beaulieu11 km
Des Sables d'Olonne à Beaulieu2.1 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Venansault: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at La Mothe Achard, 11 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 Venansault →
Gardens
A garden to visit in Venansault
Named gardens in the commune.
Les Jardins du LoriotIn Venansault
DirectionsSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) and Wikidata.
Neighbors
Next to Venansault
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Mouilleron-le-CaptifLa Roche-sur-YonAubigny-Les ClouzeauxSainte-Flaive-des-LoupsLe Poiré-sur-VieAizenayVenansault
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venansault | 0% | 6.2% | 0.5 | 27 km |
| Mouilleron-le-Captif 5,273 · 6.3 km | 0% | 6.8% | 1.8 | 33 km |
| La Roche-sur-Yon 54,849 · 7.3 km | 0% | 7.5% | 2.2 | 30 km |
| Aubigny-Les Clouzeaux 7,191 · 8.1 km | 0% | 2.7% | 0.6 | 24 km |
| Sainte-Flaive-des-Loups 2,585 · 8.9 km | 0% | 8.9% | 0.4 | 20 km |
| Le Poiré-sur-Vie 8,649 · 9 km | 0% | 4.9% | 0.4 | 32 km |
| Aizenay 10,365 · 9.2 km | 0% | 8.2% | 0.8 | 24 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 Venansault
Is Venansault in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Marais Poitevin Regional Nature Park, 15 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Venansault?
OpenStreetMap maps 23 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.5 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 7 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Venansault is woodland?
6.2% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Venansault near the sea?
No: the coast is 27 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Venansault?
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.