Looking for recreational land for sale in Vosges (88) means turning to a department of mid-mountain landscapes, where coniferous forests, high moorland pastures and glacial lakes dominate: fir and spruce woods around Gérardmer and Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, hay meadows in the valley bottoms along the Moselle and the Meurthe, and a more open farmed plain towards Neufchâteau and Mirecourt. On this page, ma-propriete.fr gathers the listings of recreational land for sale in Vosges: a wooded slope, a valley meadow with access, a plot near a lake or a mountain stream.
You will find price benchmarks drawn from actual sales, an overview of the areas where these plots are concentrated and the points to check before buying a parcel in an agricultural or natural zone. Before any viewing, go through our guide on how to turn agricultural land into recreational land: it sums up what the PLU tolerates, what it forbids and the formalities to expect. Many of these wooded plots have been passed down within the same families for several generations, which explains the frequent co-ownership situations that arise when one comes up for sale.
There is no such thing as a "recreational land price" in the French notarial records: the DVF database records sales of agricultural land, woodland and ponds, and a recreational plot is priced against these three benchmarks, higher or lower depending on what it adds (vehicle access, a water point, fencing, an existing shelter, a village nearby). The table below gives, for each benchmark, the sales recorded in 2025 in Vosges (88), the median price and the range between the first decile (floor) and the ninth decile (ceiling), with the national figure for comparison.
| DVF 2025 benchmark | Sales | Median price | Range (P10 – P90) | France median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bare agricultural land (€/ha) | 126 | €3,200/ha | €2,528/ha – €5,000/ha | €5,307/ha |
| Woodland (€/ha) | 96 | €7,024/ha | €3,176/ha – €14,285/ha | €4,934/ha |
| Pond (€/m²) * | 35 | €3.19/m² | €1.74/m² – €8.63/m² | €2.54/m² |
Bare agricultural land is well below the national median (€5,307/ha), with the median price moving -1.1% between 2020 and 2025. Woodland trades well above the national benchmark (€4,934/ha), and a pond, a much rarer asset, is valued per square metre of water and banks. To compare a listing, bring everything back to the square metre: €3,200/ha of bare land is €0.32/m², against €3.19/m² for a pond. Recreational land, almost always classified as an agricultural or natural zone, generally sells slightly above bare agricultural land; but it usually remains subject to the SAFER land agency's right of pre-emption, and the SAFER may pre-empt with a downward price revision if the price is excessive compared with local land prices. These benchmarks therefore also help you avoid paying a price the SAFER would challenge.
Find the detail by department, plot size and year in our agricultural land price observatory and in the forest price observatory. Source: DVF (Demandes de valeurs foncières), 2025 sales, processed by ma-propriete.fr; medians published from 30 sales upwards. * Fewer than 30 sales in the department: the benchmark shown is the regional figure for "Pond".
The Vosges massif covers a large eastern half of the department with woodland of fir, spruce and beech, on slopes of varying steepness, around Gérardmer, La Bresse and Saint-Dié-des-Vosges: these are the most numerous plots, sought after for firewood, hunting and proximity to hiking trails. Meadows are concentrated in the valley bottoms, along the Moselle, the Meurthe and their tributaries, often small and lined with hedges, a legacy of the former Vosges dairy farming.
Ponds and small lakes, some of glacial origin and some man-made, are found mainly around Gérardmer, Longemer and Retournemer, but remain rare on the market and much sought after. To the west, towards Neufchâteau, Mirecourt and Vittel, the terrain flattens into a more open farmed plain, with less woodland but more meadows and land to develop sold in small plots. The Val d'Ajol and the Plombières-les-Bains area, in the south of the department, also offer wooded slopes and modest-altitude meadows, less visited than the High Vosges.
The High Vosges, around Gérardmer, La Bresse and Xonrupt-Longemer, hold most of the wooded slopes and the rare plots with a pond; it is the area most in demand for a mountain recreational project. The Moselle valley, from Remiremont to Épinal, and the Meurthe valley, towards Saint-Dié-des-Vosges and Raon-l'Étape, offer valley-bottom meadows with access and sometimes a watercourse along the plot's edge. Further west, the Bassigny area and the district around Neufchâteau, Mirecourt and Vittel show a more open farmland landscape, with more affordable land and small woods. The A31 motorway serves the Moselle valley as far as Épinal, while the route des Crêtes links the main mountain passes between Gérardmer and Le Bonhomme.
The strongest demand is for the High Vosges and the immediate surroundings of the lakes, where supply stays limited against the area's tourist appeal. Land and woods in the western part of the department, around Neufchâteau and Mirecourt, remain generally more accessible than those in the tourist valleys.
The commune's local planning document (PLU) classifies most of these plots as agricultural (A) or natural (N), which in principle prohibits any new building: a chalet, a cabin or a light leisure dwelling cannot be installed freely, and long-term parking of a caravan is regulated. On a wooded slope, check access (rural track, right of way) and the risk of a landlocked plot, common in mountain areas broken up into small parcels through inheritance. Water and electricity are often missing outside serviced hamlets.
Around the Vosges lakes, site-protection rules and sometimes Natura 2000 status limit development, including for a light shelter. A pond requires knowing its status under the French water law. Finally, on agricultural plots, SAFER may exercise its right of pre-emption if the asking price departs sharply from the local land market. Have the exact cadastral area checked, along with whether a boundary survey exists, particularly for mountain woods broken up into small plots.
The listings of recreational land in Vosges published on ma-propriete.fr come from private sellers, estate agents and notaries. Filter by area, price and the presence of water, then set up an e-mail alert to be notified of new plots. You can also widen your search to recreational land for sale in Grand Est. Support from a local professional remains useful to confirm the exact zoning of a plot before making an offer.
