First pick
Bois de la Masse
Wood or forest · 320 m outside the commune
12 ha
3.2 km north-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Benoît Prieur · CC04.9%of the land protected
Outdoors in Beynost · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Beynost is within 800 m of a park or wood
23 km of footpaths cross Beynost (2.2 km per km²). 10% of Beynost is mapped woodland. 4.9% of Beynost’s land lies in protected areas. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
4.9%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
10%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
23 km
2.2 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
3.6 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
5
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Bois de la Masse
Throughout this page, the Ain 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 Beynost 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 areas4.9%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
65out of 100
Woodland10%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
40out of 100
Footpaths2.2 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
61out of 100
Hiking routes0.3 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
49out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Beynost has the 16th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (5,145 to 5,250 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From L'Étang-la-Ville (8.8 km per km²) to Pauillac (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | L'Étang-la-Ville Yvelines | 8.8 | 62% | 0% | 137 km |
| 2 | Saint-Clément-de-Rivière Hérault | 6.3 | 43% | 2.7% | 18 km |
| 3 | Bassens Savoie | 6.2 | 18% | 0.1% | 234 km |
| 4 | Brou-sur-Chantereine Seine-et-Marne | 5.9 | 62% | 0% | 159 km |
| 5 | Vaux-sur-Seine Yvelines | 5.2 | 57% | 63% | 120 km |
| 6 | Coubron Seine-Saint-Denis | 4.9 | 49% | 41% | 154 km |
| 7 | Valdoie Territoire de Belfort | 4.6 | 52% | 0% | 435 km |
| 8 | Le Rove Bouches-du-Rhône | 4.3 | 0% | 86% | On it |
| 9 | Vernaison Rhône | 4 | 15% | 0% | 239 km |
| 10 | Bauvin Nord | 3.9 | 12% | 0% | 69 km |
| 11 | Séméac Hautes-Pyrénées | 3.2 | 21% | 0.4% | 134 km |
| 12 | Mulsanne Sarthe | 2.8 | 47% | 0% | 143 km |
| 13 | Le Bourget-du-Lac Savoie | 2.8 | 57% | 13% | 244 km |
| 14 | Pont-Sainte-Marie Aube | 2.7 | 7.9% | 0.9% | 272 km |
| 15 | Loison-sous-Lens Pas-de-Calais | 2.3 | 3.6% | 0% | 75 km |
| 16 | Beynost Ain | 2.2 | 10% | 4.9% | 263 km |
| 17 | Baume-les-Dames Doubs | 2.1 | 61% | 19% | 406 km |
| 18 | Nuits-Saint-Georges Côte-d'Or | 2.1 | 25% | 69% | 403 km |
| 19 | Gauchy Aisne | 2 | 12% | 0% | 121 km |
| 20 | Schweighouse-sur-Moder Bas-Rhin | 2 | 40% | 5.4% | 432 km |
| 21 | Nans-les-Pins Var | 2 | 39% | 100% | 23 km |
| 22 | Seichamps Meurthe-et-Moselle | 1.8 | 0.7% | 0% | 367 km |
| 23 | Forcalquier Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 1.8 | 17% | 100% | 76 km |
| 24 | Villerest Loire | 1.7 | 4.2% | 25% | 271 km |
| 25 | L'Hôpital Moselle | 1.6 | 18% | 0.3% | 353 km |
| 26 | Trilport Seine-et-Marne | 1.6 | 47% | 0% | 164 km |
| 27 | Laillé Ille-et-Vilaine | 1.5 | 21% | 0% | 61 km |
| 28 | Pont-l'Évêque Calvados | 1.4 | 3.4% | 0% | 12 km |
| 29 | Farébersviller Moselle | 1.2 | 1.7% | 0% | 363 km |
| 30 | Gorges Loire-Atlantique | 1.1 | 10% | 0% | 52 km |
| 31 | Saint-Saturnin-lès-Avignon Vaucluse | 1.1 | 1.3% | 9.7% | 56 km |
| 32 | Scaër Finistère | 1 | 8.9% | 0% | 19 km |
| 33 | Mignaloux-Beauvoir Vienne | 0.9 | 17% | 0% | 121 km |
| 34 | Tourves Var | 0.9 | 44% | 83% | 32 km |
| 35 | Marquise Pas-de-Calais | 0.7 | 1.2% | 100% | 6.8 km |
| 36 | Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne Ain | 0.7 | 4.1% | 5.8% | 293 km |
| 37 | Surzur Morbihan | 0.7 | 8.8% | 100% | On it |
| 38 | Villars-les-Dombes Ain | 0.7 | 12% | 67% | 281 km |
| 39 | Jonquières Vaucluse | 0.7 | 1.9% | 2.4% | 74 km |
| 40 | Guémené-Penfao Loire-Atlantique | 0.6 | 9.4% | 2.7% | 44 km |
| 41 | Pauillac Gironde | 0.2 | 7.2% | 99% | On it |
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 Beynost
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Bois de la Masse leads, at 12 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Complexe du Mas du Roux
Park or garden
2.5 ha0.5 km of path
Centralin the middle of Beynost
Directionsto a point inside
Parc du Clos de Monderoux
Park or garden
2.4 ha0.3 km of path
Centralin the middle of Beynost
Directionsto a point inside
Domaine de la Sathonette
Park or garden · 330 m outside the commune
3 ha
1.6 km westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
4.9% of Beynost lies in protected areas
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Natura 2000 site
Pelouses, milieux alluviaux et aquatiques de l’île de Miribel-Jonage
4.9% of the commune2.1 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area4.9%
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.
4.9% of Beynost’s land is protected, more than in 65% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Ain has 1.2%.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
23 km of footpaths cross Beynost
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
23 km
2.2 km per km²
Hiking routes
3.6 km
waymarked: 0.3 km per km²
Woodland
10%
about 1.1 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
BeynostAin medianFrance median
Footpaths2.2
Hiking routes0.3
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
BeynostAin medianFrance median
Woodland10%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 61% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 60% 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 Beynost is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
5 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 4221.2 km
Tour de Lyon, du Fort de Vancia au Fort de Bron9 km
Via Lugdunum, Geneva to Lyon7.9 km
Le sentier des Allivoz4.1 km
Sentier du Cloizu0.3 km
GR 422 passes within 2 km of Beynost.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Beynost: April and June to August
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Lyon-Bron, 13 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) | 9.0 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 14.9 | 15.7 | 15.4 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.4 | 8.7 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 9 | 14 | 17 | 22 | 26 | 28 | 28 | 23 | 18 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 50 | 42 | 49 | 69 | 81 | 74 | 67 | 66 | 83 | 100 | 87 | 54 |
February is the driest month (42 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 28 °C). 100 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 42 nights a year. The climate in Beynost →
Gardens
A garden to visit in Beynost
Named gardens in the commune.
Arboretum de BeynostIn Beynost
DirectionsSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) and Wikidata.
Neighbors
Next to Beynost
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Saint-Maurice-de-BeynostLa BoisseMiribelMontluelDagneuxJonageBeynost
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
Saint-Maurice-de-Beynost, Miribel and Montluel have at least twice as much protected land. Saint-Maurice-de-Beynost and Montluel are 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 Beynost
Is Beynost in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 4.9% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Beynost?
OpenStreetMap maps 23 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 2.2 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 4 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Beynost is woodland?
10% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Beynost near the sea?
No: the coast is 263 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Beynost?
April and June to August: 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.