First pick
Mollard de Vions
Wood or forest · 210 m outside the commune
73 ha2.6 km of path
35 minto walk all 2.6 km of path
3 km south-eastfrom the center
Sentier du Mollard
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Chabe01 · CC BY-SA 4.022%of the land protected
Outdoors in Culoz-Béon · protected areas, woods and footpaths
57% of Culoz-Béon is woodland, more than in 9 in 10 French towns
Culoz-Béon has 43 km of waymarked hiking routes. Protected areas cover 22% of Culoz-Béon’s land. Footpaths add up to 52 km across Culoz-Béon (1.8 km per km²). France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
22%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
57%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
52 km
1.8 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
43 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: Mollard de Vions
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.
What kind of place
What kind of outdoors place is Culoz-Béon?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
A wooded commune57% mapped woodland, more than in 94% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.On waymarked routes43 km of GR and other hiking routes cross the commune.A nature reserveMarais de Lavours nature reserve covers 7.8% of the commune.
What sets Culoz-Béon apart: its woods, then its hiking routes.
Against French towns
How Culoz-Béon 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 areas22%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
79out of 100
Woodland57%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
94out of 100
Footpaths1.8 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
53out of 100
Hiking routes1.5 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
92out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Culoz-Béon has the 9th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (3,424 to 3,486 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Mours-Saint-Eusèbe (3.7 km per km²) to Crèvecœur-le-Grand (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mours-Saint-Eusèbe Drôme | 3.7 | 12% | 0% | 180 km |
| 2 | Sainte-Catherine Pas-de-Calais | 3.3 | 6.1% | 0% | 78 km |
| 3 | Lapugnoy Pas-de-Calais | 3 | 42% | 0% | 60 km |
| 4 | Verquin Pas-de-Calais | 2.9 | 5.5% | 0% | 62 km |
| 5 | Barbazan-Debat Hautes-Pyrénées | 2.6 | 47% | 0% | 136 km |
| 6 | Choisy-au-Bac Oise | 2.5 | 62% | 56% | 119 km |
| 7 | Vals-les-Bains Ardèche | 2 | 73% | 100% | 125 km |
| 8 | Ligugé Vienne | 1.8 | 38% | 0% | 114 km |
| 9 | Culoz-Béon Ain | 1.8 | 57% | 22% | 267 km |
| 10 | Aubin Aveyron | 1.7 | 49% | 2.3% | 166 km |
| 11 | La Boisse Ain | 1.7 | 16% | 0% | 265 km |
| 12 | La Chapelle-Heulin Loire-Atlantique | 1.6 | 15% | 17% | 51 km |
| 13 | Lampertheim Bas-Rhin | 1.6 | 1.2% | 0% | 443 km |
| 14 | Saint-Sulpice-de-Royan Charente-Maritime | 1.6 | 16% | 16% | On it |
| 15 | Saint-Céré Lot | 1.6 | 28% | 0% | 196 km |
| 16 | Saint-Martin-du-Var Alpes-Maritimes | 1.5 | 23% | 16% | 15 km |
| 17 | Mauriac Cantal | 1.4 | 22% | 17% | 227 km |
| 18 | Carpiquet Calvados | 1.4 | 0.2% | 0% | 16 km |
| 19 | Saint-Jeoire Haute-Savoie | 1.3 | 64% | 0% | 275 km |
| 20 | Azay-le-Rideau Indre-et-Loire | 1.2 | 27% | 100% | 162 km |
| 21 | Saint-Ambroix Gard | 1 | 30% | 100% | 78 km |
| 22 | Vic-la-Gardiole Hérault | 1 | 4.8% | 70% | On it |
| 23 | Troarn Calvados | 1 | 19% | 0% | 11 km |
| 24 | Artix Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 0.9 | 15% | 38% | 76 km |
| 25 | Ruffec Charente | 0.9 | 30% | 0% | 91 km |
| 26 | Bourcefranc-le-Chapus Charente-Maritime | 0.9 | 7.9% | 46% | On it |
| 27 | Ruaudin Sarthe | 0.9 | 34% | 0% | 142 km |
| 28 | Mirande Gers | 0.8 | 20% | 0% | 150 km |
| 29 | Saint-Étienne-de-Saint-Geoirs Isère | 0.7 | 12% | 0% | 213 km |
| 30 | Saint-Cyr-en-Val Loiret | 0.7 | 33% | 36% | 214 km |
| 31 | Val-de-Cognac Charente | 0.7 | 23% | 8.1% | 45 km |
| 32 | Andeville Oise | 0.7 | 11% | 0% | 105 km |
| 33 | Moult-Chicheboville Calvados | 0.5 | 8.3% | 6% | 19 km |
| 34 | Saint-Éloy-les-Mines Puy-de-Dôme | 0.5 | 23% | 0% | 290 km |
| 35 | Bournezeau Vendée | 0.3 | 9.3% | 0% | 35 km |
| 36 | Le Porge Gironde | 0.3 | 89% | 100% | On it |
| 37 | Le Mérévillois Essonne | 0.3 | 8.2% | 0% | 178 km |
| 38 | Villeneuve-la-Guyard Yonne | 0.2 | 18% | 0.2% | 227 km |
| 39 | Steenwerck Nord | 0.2 | 0.8% | 0% | 47 km |
| 40 | Bellevigne-les-Châteaux Maine-et-Loire | 0.2 | 28% | 100% | 128 km |
| 41 | Crèvecœur-le-Grand Oise | 0.1 | 4.3% | 0% | 70 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 Culoz-Béon
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Mollard de Vions leads, at 73 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
22% of Culoz-Béon lies in protected areas
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Nature reserve
Marais de Lavours nature reserve
7.8% of the commune1 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Forêts alluviales et lônes du Haut Rhône
8.9% of the commune1.3 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Forêts alluviales et lônes du Haut Rhône
8.9% of the commune1.3 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Marais de Lavours
8.4% of the commune0.9 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Marais de Lavours
8.4% of the commune0.9 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Plateau du Retord et chaîne du Grand Colombier
4.6% of the commune2.2 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area22%
Nature reserve7.8%
Natura 2000 site22%
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.
22% of Culoz-Béon’s land is protected, more than in 79% 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
52 km of footpaths and 43 km of hiking routes cross Culoz-Béon
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
52 km
1.8 km per km²
Hiking routes
43 km
waymarked: 1.5 km per km²
Woodland
57%
about 16.7 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Culoz-BéonAin medianFrance median
Footpaths1.8
Hiking routes1.5
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Culoz-BéonAin medianFrance median
Woodland57%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 53% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 94% 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 Culoz-Béon is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
8 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 599.1 km
Balcon du Valromey23 km
Le Grand Colombier depuis Culoz13 km
Circuit des Sarrasins8.6 km
Sentier de Parnaud4.4 km
Circuit des cascades de la Magnine2.9 km
Le Jugeant2.2 km
Sentier sur pilotis2.1 km
GR 59 passes within 2 km of Culoz-Béon.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Culoz-Béon: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Bloye, 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) | 6 | 8 | 13 | 18 | 22 | 26 | 28 | 27 | 23 | 17 | 10 | 6 |
| Rain (mm) | 99 | 83 | 90 | 91 | 99 | 99 | 86 | 100 | 104 | 118 | 117 | 121 |
February is the driest month (83 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 28 °C). 121 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 83 nights a year. The climate in Culoz-Béon →
Neighbors
Next to Culoz-Béon
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
BelleyRumillyVallières-sur-FierEntrelacsLa BiolleYenneCuloz-Béon
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
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 Culoz-Béon
Is Culoz-Béon in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 22% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Culoz-Béon?
OpenStreetMap maps 52 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.8 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 43 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Culoz-Béon is woodland?
57% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Culoz-Béon near the sea?
No: the coast is 267 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Culoz-Béon?
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 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.