Plainfaing lies inside Ballons des Vosges Regional Nature Park
Protected areas cover 100% of Plainfaing’s land. Mapped woodland covers 77% of Plainfaing. Waymarked hiking routes add up to 51 km in Plainfaing. 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 Plainfaing?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
What sets Plainfaing apart: the regional nature park around it, then its woods.
How Plainfaing 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.
Plainfaing has the 17th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (1,569 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 | Villejust Essonne | 2.4 | 4.4% | 0% | 160 km |
| 5 | Sainte-Feyre Creuse | 2.1 | 30% | 0% | 222 km |
| 6 | Camiers Pas-de-Calais | 2 | 30% | 32% | On it |
| 7 | Sain-Bel Rhône | 1.9 | 12% | 0% | 253 km |
| 8 | La Rivière-Saint-Sauveur Calvados | 1.8 | 14% | 29% | On it |
| 9 | Fareins Ain | 1.8 | 8.8% | 0.1% | 279 km |
| 10 | Entzheim Bas-Rhin | 1.7 | 1.5% | 0% | 449 km |
| 11 | Mornas Vaucluse | 1.5 | 35% | 5% | 84 km |
| 12 | Watten Nord | 1.4 | 24% | 100% | 18 km |
| 13 | Rantigny Oise | 1.4 | 18% | 0% | 109 km |
| 14 | Beautor Aisne | 1.3 | 3.6% | 40% | 133 km |
| 15 | Conques-sur-Orbiel Aude | 1.3 | 8.1% | 0% | 60 km |
| 16 | Barcelonnette Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 1.3 | 46% | 100% | 91 km |
| 17 | Plainfaing Vosges | 1.1 | 77% | 100% | 449 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 |
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is the commune’s boundary.
Protected land in and around Plainfaing
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Ballons des Vosges Regional Nature Park
Tanet-Gazon-Du-Faing nature reserve
Haute-Meurthe nature reserve
Deux Lacs nature reserve
Massif vosgien
Secteur du Tanet Gazon du Faing
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.
100% of Plainfaing’s land is protected, more than in 99% 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.
All 10 protected areas
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
43 km of footpaths and 51 km of hiking routes cross Plainfaing
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 65% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 99% 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 Plainfaing is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
31 named hiking routes within 2 km
+19 more
3 GR routes pass within 2 km of Plainfaing: GR 531, GR 5 and GR 532.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
The best walking months in Plainfaing: June to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Trois-Epis_Sapc, 18 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) | 4 | 5 | 9 | 13 | 17 | 21 | 23 | 23 | 18 | 13 | 8 | 5 |
| Rain (mm) | 68 | 57 | 55 | 53 | 82 | 74 | 73 | 69 | 60 | 74 | 61 | 79 |
April is the driest month (53 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 23 °C). 82 mm of rain falls in May, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 71 nights a year. The climate in Plainfaing →
Next to Plainfaing
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plainfaing | 100% | 77% | 1.1 |
| Fraize 2,843 · 2.3 km | 100% | 48% | 1.2 |
| Anould 3,234 · 5.8 km | 0.1% | 49% | 0.6 |
| Orbey 3,429 · 11 km | 100% | 53% | 1.7 |
| Saint-Dié-des-Vosges 19,251 · 14 km | 1.9% | 58% | 3.2 |
| Gérardmer 7,581 · 15 km | 100% | 70% | 6.3 |
| Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines 4,851 · 15 km | 100% | 76% | 2 |
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 Plainfaing
Is Plainfaing in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Plainfaing lies in Ballons des Vosges Regional Nature Park (100% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Plainfaing?
OpenStreetMap maps 43 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.1 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 51 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Plainfaing is woodland?
77% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Plainfaing near the sea?
No: the coast is 449 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Plainfaing?
June 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 October 30, 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.