First pick
Chapeau de paille et bottes de pluie
Park or garden
1.1 ha
1.3 km north-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
5%of the land protected
Outdoors in Le Tholy · protected areas, woods and footpaths
66% of Le Tholy is woodland, more than in 9 in 10 French towns
Waymarked hiking routes add up to 53 km in Le Tholy. Footpaths add up to 79 km across Le Tholy (2.6 km per km²). Protected areas cover 5% of Le Tholy’s land. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
5%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
66%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
79 km
2.6 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
53 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: Chapeau de paille et bottes de pluie
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 place
What kind of outdoors place is Le Tholy?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
A wooded commune66% mapped woodland, more than in 97% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.On waymarked routes53 km of GR and other hiking routes cross the commune.
What sets Le Tholy apart: its woods, then its hiking routes.
Against French towns
How Le Tholy 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 areas5%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
65out of 100
Woodland66%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
97out of 100
Footpaths2.6 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
68out of 100
Hiking routes1.7 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
94out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Le Tholy has the 4th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (1,489 to 2,582 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From École-Valentin (3.9 km per km²) to Bouligny (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | École-Valentin Doubs | 3.9 | 16% | 0% | 405 km |
| 2 | Sainte-Foy-la-Grande Gironde | 3.7 | 0% | 8.7% | 66 km |
| 3 | Mers-les-Bains Somme | 3.5 | 10% | 100% | On it |
| 4 | Le Tholy Vosges | 2.6 | 66% | 5% | 437 km |
| 5 | Villejust Essonne | 2.4 | 4.4% | 0% | 160 km |
| 6 | Sainte-Feyre Creuse | 2.1 | 30% | 0% | 222 km |
| 7 | Camiers Pas-de-Calais | 2 | 30% | 32% | On it |
| 8 | Sain-Bel Rhône | 1.9 | 12% | 0% | 253 km |
| 9 | La Rivière-Saint-Sauveur Calvados | 1.8 | 14% | 29% | On it |
| 10 | Fareins Ain | 1.8 | 8.8% | 0.1% | 279 km |
| 11 | Entzheim Bas-Rhin | 1.7 | 1.5% | 0% | 449 km |
| 12 | Mornas Vaucluse | 1.5 | 35% | 5% | 84 km |
| 13 | Watten Nord | 1.4 | 24% | 100% | 18 km |
| 14 | Rantigny Oise | 1.4 | 18% | 0% | 109 km |
| 15 | Beautor Aisne | 1.3 | 3.6% | 40% | 133 km |
| 16 | Conques-sur-Orbiel Aude | 1.3 | 8.1% | 0% | 60 km |
| 17 | Barcelonnette Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 1.3 | 46% | 100% | 91 km |
| 18 | Granges-Aumontzey Vosges | 1.1 | 70% | 90% | 436 km |
| 19 | Cattenom Moselle | 1.1 | 37% | 0% | 308 km |
| 20 | Prayssac Lot | 1 | 42% | 0% | 151 km |
| 21 | Chatte Isère | 0.7 | 24% | 0% | 190 km |
| 22 | Arelaune-en-Seine Seine-Maritime | 0.7 | 69% | 100% | 29 km |
| 23 | La Croix-en-Touraine Indre-et-Loire | 0.7 | 24% | 0% | 199 km |
| 24 | Criel-sur-Mer Seine-Maritime | 0.7 | 4.9% | 7% | On it |
| 25 | Lusignan Vienne | 0.7 | 17% | 0% | 97 km |
| 26 | Avelin Nord | 0.6 | 6.1% | 0% | 72 km |
| 27 | Civray Vienne | 0.5 | 19% | 0% | 101 km |
| 28 | Le Cailar Gard | 0.4 | 2% | 68% | 17 km |
| 29 | Vervins Aisne | 0.4 | 1.1% | 0% | 164 km |
| 30 | Port-Sainte-Foy-et-Ponchapt Dordogne | 0.4 | 13% | 2.1% | 65 km |
| 31 | Frans Ain | 0.4 | 4% | 0% | 275 km |
| 32 | Toucy Yonne | 0.4 | 24% | 0% | 288 km |
| 33 | Auxi-le-Château Pas-de-Calais | 0.3 | 25% | 1% | 31 km |
| 34 | Vivy Maine-et-Loire | 0.3 | 15% | 100% | 140 km |
| 35 | Nogent-sur-Vernisson Loiret | 0.2 | 46% | 0.3% | 249 km |
| 36 | Eymet Dordogne | 0.2 | 8.6% | 0.4% | 86 km |
| 37 | Athies-sous-Laon Aisne | 0.2 | 8.9% | 0% | 159 km |
| 38 | Val-de-Scie Seine-Maritime | 0.1 | 18% | 0% | 23 km |
| 39 | Noyen-sur-Sarthe Sarthe | 0.1 | 28% | 0% | 126 km |
| 40 | Chalamont Ain | 0.1 | 20% | 69% | 284 km |
| 41 | Bouligny Meuse | 0.1 | 8.4% | 0% | 293 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 Le Tholy
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Chapeau de paille et bottes de pluie leads, at 1.1 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
5% of Le Tholy lies in protected areas
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Regional nature park
Ballons des Vosges Regional Nature Park
2 km from the town center
Nature reserve
Housseramont - Noir Rupt nature reserve
3.7% of the commune2.6 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Massif vosgien
4.8% of the commune2.6 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Forêt domaniale de Gérardmer ouest (La Morte Femme, Faignes de Noir Rupt)
3.5% of the commune2.6 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area5%
Nature reserve3.7%
Natura 2000 site4.9%
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.
5% of Le Tholy’s land is protected, more than in 65% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Vosges has 2.4%. 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
79 km of footpaths and 53 km of hiking routes cross Le Tholy
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
79 km
2.6 km per km²
Hiking routes
53 km
waymarked: 1.7 km per km²
Woodland
66%
about 20.4 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Le TholyVosges medianFrance median
Footpaths2.6
Hiking routes1.7
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Le TholyVosges medianFrance median
Woodland66%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 68% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 97% 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 Le Tholy is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
20 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 5013.4 km
Circuit de Bouvacôte12 km
Sentier des Cascades7.9 km
Circuit du Grisard7.1 km
Circuit du Trou de l’Enfer6.6 km
Circuit de la Tête de la Violle6 km
Circuit de la Fontaine Saint Augustin4.9 km
Circuit des Croix de chemin — première partie4.5 km
Circuit Laleu Colline4.4 km
Circuit de la cascade de la Pissoire3.8 km
Sentier de la Roche du Blaireau3.6 km
Sentier des 4 communes3.5 km
+8 more
GR 501 passes within 2 km of Le Tholy.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Le Tholy: May to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Sewen - Lac Alfeld_Sapc, 31 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 | 9.2 | 8.4 |
| High (°C) | 4 | 5 | 10 | 14 | 18 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 19 | 14 | 8 | 5 |
| Rain (mm) | 285 | 218 | 215 | 129 | 161 | 121 | 132 | 135 | 140 | 203 | 220 | 324 |
June is the driest month (121 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 24 °C). 324 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 69 nights a year. The climate in Le Tholy →
Gardens
A garden to visit in Le Tholy
Named gardens in the commune.
Chapeau de paille et bottes de pluieIn Le Tholy
DirectionsSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) and Wikidata.
Neighbors
Next to Le Tholy
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Granges-AumontzeyVagneyGérardmerÉloyesSaint-Étienne-lès-RemiremontLa BresseLe Tholy
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Le Tholy | 5% | 66% | 2.6 |
| Granges-Aumontzey 2,529 · 7.9 km | 90% | 70% | 1.1 |
| Vagney 3,843 · 8.5 km | 100% | 59% | 1.9 |
| Gérardmer 7,581 · 9.5 km | 100% | 70% | 6.3 |
| Éloyes 3,138 · 10 km | 0% | 59% | 1.8 |
| Saint-Étienne-lès-Remiremont 3,818 · 12 km | 22% | 73% | 1.6 |
| La Bresse 3,853 · 14 km | 100% | 58% | 3.5 |
Granges-Aumontzey, Vagney and Gérardmer have at least twice as much protected land.
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 Le Tholy
Is Le Tholy in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 5% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Le Tholy?
OpenStreetMap maps 79 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 2.6 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 53 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Le Tholy is woodland?
66% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Le Tholy near the sea?
No: the coast is 437 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Le Tholy?
May 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.