Photo: The original uploader was F5ZV at French Wikipedia . · CC BY-SA 3.070% of Bruyères is woodland, more than in 9 in 10 French towns
Bruyères has 44 km of waymarked hiking routes. Footpaths add up to 23 km across Bruyères (1.4 km per km²). Protected areas cover 2.4% of Bruyères’ land. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Throughout this page, the Vosges median and the France median are the median of compared communes (those with an overall grade), each figure its own median.
What kind of outdoors place is Bruyères?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
What sets Bruyères apart: its woods, then its hiking routes.
How Bruyères 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.
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Bruyères has the 8th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (2,897 to 2,949 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Gevrey-Chambertin (3.4 km per km²) to Avord (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gevrey-Chambertin Côte-d'Or | 3.4 | 39% | 30% | 408 km |
| 2 | Giromagny Territoire de Belfort | 3 | 42% | 100% | 443 km |
| 3 | Saint-Étienne-de-Fontbellon Ardèche | 3 | 30% | 0.6% | 118 km |
| 4 | Blaye-les-Mines Tarn | 2.5 | 10% | 0% | 127 km |
| 5 | Smarves Vienne | 2.3 | 37% | 0% | 116 km |
| 6 | Montblanc Hérault | 1.5 | 18% | 0.1% | 12 km |
| 7 | Charquemont Doubs | 1.5 | 39% | 100% | 385 km |
| 8 | Bruyères Vosges | 1.4 | 70% | 2.4% | 428 km |
| 9 | Abrest Allier | 1.4 | 19% | 14% | 286 km |
| 10 | Orcet Puy-de-Dôme | 1.4 | 5.6% | 0% | 248 km |
| 11 | Péron Ain | 1.3 | 56% | 100% | 295 km |
| 12 | Drocourt Pas-de-Calais | 1.3 | 2.3% | 0% | 82 km |
| 13 | Tresserve Savoie | 1.3 | 6.1% | 66% | 245 km |
| 14 | Willems Nord | 1.3 | 7.6% | 0% | 69 km |
| 15 | Châteauneuf-du-Rhône Drôme | 1.2 | 16% | 0.8% | 116 km |
| 16 | Sérignan-du-Comtat Vaucluse | 1.2 | 28% | 1.7% | 82 km |
| 17 | Cany-Barville Seine-Maritime | 1.1 | 20% | 0% | 7.9 km |
| 18 | Contrexéville Vosges | 1.1 | 34% | 0% | 379 km |
| 19 | Bertrange Moselle | 0.9 | 21% | 0% | 313 km |
| 20 | Grandvillars Territoire de Belfort | 0.8 | 45% | 11% | 419 km |
| 21 | Port-sur-Saône Haute-Saône | 0.7 | 52% | 13% | 423 km |
| 22 | Joinville Haute-Marne | 0.7 | 61% | 0% | 317 km |
| 23 | Saint-Priest-Taurion Haute-Vienne | 0.6 | 45% | 0% | 175 km |
| 24 | Balbigny Loire | 0.6 | 12% | 5.8% | 251 km |
| 25 | Diémoz Isère | 0.5 | 9.8% | 0% | 238 km |
| 26 | Allonnes Maine-et-Loire | 0.5 | 20% | 100% | 141 km |
| 27 | Argentré Mayenne | 0.5 | 3.1% | 0% | 80 km |
| 28 | Labouheyre Landes | 0.5 | 74% | 100% | 30 km |
| 29 | Saint-Didier-sur-Chalaronne Ain | 0.4 | 7.4% | 4% | 297 km |
| 30 | Saint-Calais Sarthe | 0.4 | 2.9% | 0% | 165 km |
| 31 | Neuville-sur-Escaut Nord | 0.4 | 0.8% | 0% | 105 km |
| 32 | La Ferté-en-Ouche Orne | 0.4 | 13% | 1.4% | 65 km |
| 33 | Mauzé-sur-le-Mignon Deux-Sèvres | 0.4 | 10% | 100% | 35 km |
| 34 | Lalinde Dordogne | 0.4 | 44% | 2.8% | 106 km |
| 35 | Thiant Nord | 0.3 | 13% | 0% | 107 km |
| 36 | Yvrac Gironde | 0.3 | 7.7% | 0% | 17 km |
| 37 | Broons Côtes-d'Armor | 0.2 | 9.2% | 0% | 26 km |
| 38 | Rouillac Charente | 0.2 | 11% | 7% | 66 km |
| 39 | Auneuil Oise | 0.2 | 17% | 4.7% | 88 km |
| 40 | Fresnay-sur-Sarthe Sarthe | 0.2 | 6.9% | 0% | 112 km |
| 41 | Avord Cher | 0.1 | 3.2% | 0% | 300 km |
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is the commune’s boundary.
2.4% of Bruyères lies in protected areas
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Massif vosgien
Share of the commune’s land
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.
2.4% of Bruyères’ land is protected, more than in 60% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Vosges has 2.4%.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
23 km of footpaths and 44 km of hiking routes cross Bruyères
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.
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
That is less than in 56% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 98% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. Every home in Bruyères is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
8 named hiking routes within 2 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
The best walking months in Bruyères: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Epinal, 20 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) | 8.8 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.6 | 15.2 | 16.0 | 15.7 | 14.3 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.1 | 8.4 |
| High (°C) | 5 | 7 | 11 | 15 | 19 | 23 | 25 | 25 | 20 | 15 | 9 | 6 |
| Rain (mm) | 77 | 65 | 67 | 62 | 82 | 73 | 72 | 73 | 77 | 89 | 83 | 88 |
April is the driest month (62 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 25 °C). 89 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 78 nights a year. The climate in Bruyères →
Next to Bruyères
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bruyères | 2.4% | 70% | 1.4 |
| Granges-Aumontzey 2,529 · 8.4 km | 90% | 70% | 1.1 |
| Éloyes 3,138 · 15 km | 0% | 59% | 1.8 |
| Rambervillers 5,018 · 16 km | 0% | 38% | 0.2 |
| Anould 3,234 · 17 km | 0.1% | 49% | 0.6 |
| Gérardmer 7,581 · 19 km | 100% | 70% | 6.3 |
| Saint-Dié-des-Vosges 19,251 · 19 km | 1.9% | 58% | 3.2 |
Granges-Aumontzey and Gérardmer have at least twice as much protected land.
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 Bruyères
Is Bruyères in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 2.4% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Bruyères?
OpenStreetMap maps 23 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.4 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 44 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Bruyères is woodland?
70% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Bruyères near the sea?
No: the coast is 428 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Bruyères?
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.