First pick
Forêt de Sainte-Apolline
Wood or forest
636 ha48.3 km of path
10 h 45 minto walk all 48.3 km of path
1.7 km eastfrom the center
Route de Pré PolletRoute des chênesPiste Olympique+5 paths
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Lionel Allorge · CC BY-SA 3.0100%of the land protected
Outdoors in Jouars-Pontchartrain · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Jouars-Pontchartrain lies inside Haute Vallée de Chevreuse Regional Nature Park
100% of Jouars-Pontchartrain’s land lies in protected areas. 20% of Jouars-Pontchartrain is mapped woodland. Footpaths add up to 13 km across Jouars-Pontchartrain (1.4 km per km²). France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
100%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
20%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
13 km
1.4 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
0.1 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
2
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Forêt de Sainte-Apolline
Throughout this page, the Yvelines 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 Jouars-Pontchartrain 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 areas100%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
92out of 100
Woodland20%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
62out of 100
Footpaths1.4 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
42out of 100
Hiking routes0 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
25out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Jouars-Pontchartrain has the 21st fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (5,982 to 6,097 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Clapiers (9.8 km per km²) to Mesnils-sur-Iton (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clapiers Hérault | 9.8 | 42% | 3.1% | 14 km |
| 2 | Ablon-sur-Seine Val-de-Marne | 5.8 | 6.2% | 0% | 165 km |
| 3 | Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux Isère | 5.7 | 52% | 71% | 207 km |
| 4 | La Verrière Yvelines | 5.3 | 14% | 1.3% | 139 km |
| 5 | Fouquières-lès-Lens Pas-de-Calais | 4.7 | 22% | 0% | 78 km |
| 6 | Pecquencourt Nord | 4 | 24% | 9.5% | 93 km |
| 7 | Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer Var | 3.9 | 35% | 0% | On it |
| 8 | Noyelles-Godault Pas-de-Calais | 3.5 | 6.9% | 0.2% | 81 km |
| 9 | Mutzig Bas-Rhin | 3.4 | 44% | 0% | 439 km |
| 10 | Ostricourt Nord | 3.2 | 34% | 0% | 78 km |
| 11 | Esbly Seine-et-Marne | 3 | 12% | 0% | 164 km |
| 12 | Bois-le-Roi Seine-et-Marne | 2.8 | 31% | 18% | 199 km |
| 13 | Mondonville Haute-Garonne | 2.8 | 27% | 0% | 161 km |
| 14 | Saint-Jean-de-Boiseau Loire-Atlantique | 2.4 | 15% | 29% | 26 km |
| 15 | Trith-Saint-Léger Nord | 2.1 | 6.9% | 0% | 106 km |
| 16 | Lavelanet Ariège | 2 | 40% | 0% | 97 km |
| 17 | Haute-Goulaine Loire-Atlantique | 1.6 | 12% | 31% | 46 km |
| 18 | Hersin-Coupigny Pas-de-Calais | 1.6 | 15% | 0% | 68 km |
| 19 | Pierrefeu-du-Var Var | 1.6 | 24% | 28% | 13 km |
| 20 | Saint-Girons Ariège | 1.5 | 36% | 100% | 155 km |
| 21 | Jouars-Pontchartrain Yvelines | 1.4 | 20% | 100% | 133 km |
| 22 | Le Castellet Var | 1.3 | 18% | 81% | 7.5 km |
| 23 | Mortagne-sur-Sèvre Vendée | 1.3 | 7.8% | 0% | 77 km |
| 24 | Sainte-Sigolène Haute-Loire | 1.3 | 40% | 1.3% | 188 km |
| 25 | Donzère Drôme | 1.2 | 22% | 8.5% | 110 km |
| 26 | Vaison-la-Romaine Vaucluse | 1.2 | 29% | 100% | 90 km |
| 27 | Pavilly Seine-Maritime | 1 | 21% | 0% | 36 km |
| 28 | Marly-la-Ville Val-d'Oise | 0.9 | 5.5% | 0% | 135 km |
| 29 | Gévezé Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.9 | 4% | 0% | 34 km |
| 30 | Saint-Cannat Bouches-du-Rhône | 0.8 | 21% | 34% | 29 km |
| 31 | Luc-la-Primaube Aveyron | 0.8 | 7.6% | 0% | 131 km |
| 32 | Maule Yvelines | 0.7 | 15% | 0% | 124 km |
| 33 | Condé-en-Normandie Calvados | 0.7 | 8.1% | 18% | 52 km |
| 34 | Corbie Somme | 0.6 | 16% | 4.5% | 66 km |
| 35 | Commentry Allier | 0.5 | 13% | 0% | 288 km |
| 36 | Fontenay-Trésigny Seine-et-Marne | 0.5 | 25% | 0% | 185 km |
| 37 | Bouillargues Gard | 0.5 | 0.8% | 29% | 37 km |
| 38 | Noves Bouches-du-Rhône | 0.5 | 5.9% | 7% | 46 km |
| 39 | Beauvoisin Gard | 0.4 | 7.3% | 46% | 25 km |
| 40 | Vexin-sur-Epte Eure | 0.3 | 16% | 2.2% | 91 km |
| 41 | Mesnils-sur-Iton Eure | 0.2 | 13% | 0% | 82 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 Jouars-Pontchartrain
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Forêt de Sainte-Apolline leads, at 636 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Forêt domaniale de Maurepas
Wood or forest
277 ha17.9 km of path
4 hto walk all 17.9 km of path
2.6 km south-eastfrom the center
Chemin des BruyèresParcours SportifChemin de Saint-Sauveur+2 paths
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Protected land in and around Jouars-Pontchartrain
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Regional nature park
Haute Vallée de Chevreuse Regional Nature Park
100% of the commune
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area100%
Regional nature park100%
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 Jouars-Pontchartrain’s land is protected, more than in 92% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Yvelines has 0%. 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
13 km of footpaths cross Jouars-Pontchartrain
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
13 km
1.4 km per km²
Hiking routes
0.1 km
waymarked: 0 km per km²
Woodland
20%
about 1.9 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Jouars-PontchartrainYvelines medianFrance median
Footpaths1.4
Hiking routes0
02.55 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Jouars-PontchartrainYvelines medianFrance median
Woodland20%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 58% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 62% 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 Jouars-Pontchartrain is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
4 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 116.8 km
Grand Tour de Paris, Franchard - Villiers-Saint-Frédéric11 km
de Versailles à Verneuil8.7 km
Grand Tour de Paris, Villiers-Saint-Frédéric - Courgent0.3 km
GR 11 passes within 2 km of Jouars-Pontchartrain.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Jouars-Pontchartrain: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Trappes, 7.9 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) | 8.7 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.6 | 15.2 | 16.1 | 15.8 | 14.3 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.1 | 8.3 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 12 | 15 | 19 | 22 | 25 | 25 | 21 | 16 | 10 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 56 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 66 | 57 | 56 | 56 | 50 | 62 | 61 | 72 |
September is the driest month (50 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 25 °C). 72 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 39 nights a year. The climate in Jouars-Pontchartrain →
Neighbors
Next to Jouars-Pontchartrain
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Neauphle-le-ChâteauVilliers-Saint-FrédéricMaurepasÉlancourtPlaisirCoignièresJouars-Pontchartrain
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jouars-Pontchartrain | 100% | 20% | 1.4 |
| Neauphle-le-Château 3,250 · 2.2 km | 0.1% | 33% | 3.4 |
| Villiers-Saint-Frédéric 3,395 · 2.9 km | 0% | 17% | 2.5 |
| Maurepas 20,629 · 3.8 km | 0.1% | 29% | 5.8 |
| Élancourt 26,365 · 4.4 km | 3.5% | 26% | 8.2 |
| Plaisir 31,811 · 4.4 km | 0% | 26% | 5.5 |
| Coignières 4,321 · 5 km | 0.1% | 29% | 2.3 |
Neauphle-le-Château is more wooded.
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 Jouars-Pontchartrain
Is Jouars-Pontchartrain in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Jouars-Pontchartrain lies in Haute Vallée de Chevreuse Regional Nature Park (100% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Jouars-Pontchartrain?
OpenStreetMap maps 13 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).
How much of Jouars-Pontchartrain is woodland?
20% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Jouars-Pontchartrain near the sea?
No: the coast is 133 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Jouars-Pontchartrain?
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 9, 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.