First pick
Forêt du Noyer
Wood or forest
189 ha2 km of path
25 minto walk all 2 km of path
5.5 km north-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Benoît Prieur · CC035%of the land protected
Outdoors in Montluel · protected areas, woods and footpaths
35% of Montluel’s land is protected for nature
27% of Montluel is mapped woodland. Footpaths add up to 20 km across Montluel (0.5 km per km²). Montluel has 2 km of waymarked hiking routes. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
35%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
27%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
20 km
0.5 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
2 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: Forêt du Noyer
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 Montluel?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Protected countryside35% of the land lies in protected areas.Few mapped footpaths0.5 km per km², against 1.7 km per km² for the median compared town.
What sets Montluel apart: its protected countryside. It is shorter on footpaths.
Against French towns
How Montluel 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 areas35%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
84out of 100
Woodland27%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
73out of 100
Footpaths0.5 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
14out of 100
Hiking routes0.1 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
28out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Montluel has the 10th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (6,816 to 6,969 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Jacou (10.3 km per km²) to Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacou Hérault | 10.3 | 16% | 0% | 13 km |
| 2 | Noyelles-sous-Lens Pas-de-Calais | 5 | 10% | 0% | 77 km |
| 3 | Saint-Thibault-des-Vignes Seine-et-Marne | 4.3 | 11% | 0% | 164 km |
| 4 | Lésigny Seine-et-Marne | 4.2 | 42% | 0% | 171 km |
| 5 | Domène Isère | 3.8 | 24% | 0% | 202 km |
| 6 | Lutterbach Haut-Rhin | 3.7 | 43% | 12% | 442 km |
| 7 | Cognin Savoie | 3.6 | 16% | 44% | 234 km |
| 8 | Castries Hérault | 3.6 | 9.3% | 0.1% | 14 km |
| 9 | Luisant Eure-et-Loir | 3.4 | 11% | 6.4% | 139 km |
| 10 | Carnoux-en-Provence Bouches-du-Rhône | 3.4 | 31% | 0% | 5 km |
| 11 | Fontaines-sur-Saône Rhône | 3 | 14% | 0% | 259 km |
| 12 | Nyons Drôme | 2.5 | 44% | 100% | 103 km |
| 13 | Escalquens Haute-Garonne | 2.5 | 1.9% | 0% | 134 km |
| 14 | Les Essarts-le-Roi Yvelines | 1.8 | 34% | 100% | 137 km |
| 15 | Houdain Pas-de-Calais | 1.7 | 7% | 0% | 60 km |
| 16 | Auvers-sur-Oise Val-d'Oise | 1.7 | 19% | 100% | 122 km |
| 17 | Changé Sarthe | 1.5 | 33% | 0% | 142 km |
| 18 | Acigné Ille-et-Vilaine | 1.4 | 11% | 0% | 52 km |
| 19 | Le Coteau Loire | 1.4 | 0% | 0% | 274 km |
| 20 | Bourbourg Nord | 1.4 | 0.3% | 0% | 6.1 km |
| 21 | Laudun-l'Ardoise Gard | 1.3 | 19% | 2.1% | 73 km |
| 22 | Saint-Pol-de-Léon Finistère | 1.2 | 2% | 4% | On it |
| 23 | Saint-Maurice-l'Exil Isère | 1.2 | 11% | 5.4% | 211 km |
| 24 | Morteau Doubs | 1.2 | 28% | 100% | 371 km |
| 25 | Trans-en-Provence Var | 1.1 | 26% | 0% | 23 km |
| 26 | Plédran Côtes-d'Armor | 1.1 | 8.8% | 0% | 6.7 km |
| 27 | Surgères Charente-Maritime | 0.9 | 5% | 0% | 24 km |
| 28 | Veigné Indre-et-Loire | 0.7 | 35% | 0% | 179 km |
| 29 | Les Abrets en Dauphiné Isère | 0.7 | 17% | 0% | 238 km |
| 30 | Sénas Bouches-du-Rhône | 0.6 | 2.8% | 100% | 36 km |
| 31 | Valognes Manche | 0.5 | 4.7% | 0% | 12 km |
| 32 | Montluel Ain | 0.5 | 27% | 35% | 267 km |
| 33 | La Plaine-des-Palmistes Réunion | 0.5 | 64% | 100% | 14 km |
| 34 | Lucciana Haute-Corse | 0.4 | 4.8% | 3% | On it |
| 35 | Chabeuil Drôme | 0.4 | 5.6% | 0% | 162 km |
| 36 | Loudun Vienne | 0.3 | 6.4% | 0% | 122 km |
| 37 | Essarts-en-Bocage Vendée | 0.3 | 4.1% | 0% | 46 km |
| 38 | Beaufort-en-Anjou Maine-et-Loire | 0.3 | 12% | 100% | 141 km |
| 39 | Cadaujac Gironde | 0.2 | 14% | 45% | 29 km |
| 40 | Le Controis-en-Sologne Loir-et-Cher | 0.2 | 24% | 6.7% | 229 km |
| 41 | Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche Haute-Vienne | 0.1 | 24% | 0% | 151 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 Montluel
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Forêt du Noyer leads, at 189 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Bois l'Épine
Wood or forest · 390 m outside the commune
20 ha
8.5 km north-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Square Jolion
Park or garden
0.3 ha0.2 km of path
1.1 km south-eastfrom the center
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 Montluel
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Natura 2000 site
La Dombes
35% of the commune2.7 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
La Dombes
35% of the commune2.7 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area35%
Natura 2000 site35%
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.
35% of Montluel’s land is protected, more than in 84% 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
20 km of footpaths cross Montluel
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
20 km
0.5 km per km²
Hiking routes
2 km
waymarked: 0.1 km per km²
Woodland
27%
about 10.8 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
MontluelAin medianFrance median
Footpaths0.5
Hiking routes0.1
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
MontluelAin medianFrance median
Woodland27%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 86% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 73% 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 Montluel is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
3 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
Via Lugdunum, Geneva to Lyon11 km
Chemin d'Assise, Cluny - Montcenis6.9 km
Beaujolais au Bugey, de Trévoux à Souclin6.4 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Montluel: April and June to August
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Lyon-St Exupery, 15 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 | 8 | 13 | 17 | 21 | 25 | 28 | 27 | 23 | 17 | 11 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 55 | 47 | 54 | 72 | 83 | 71 | 67 | 71 | 87 | 101 | 92 | 63 |
February is the driest month (47 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 28 °C). 101 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 43 nights a year. The climate in Montluel →
Neighbors
Next to Montluel
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
DagneuxLa BoisseBeynostBalanBéligneuxSaint-Maurice-de-BeynostMontluel
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 Montluel
Is Montluel in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 35% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Montluel?
OpenStreetMap maps 20 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.5 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 2 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Montluel is woodland?
27% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Montluel 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 Montluel?
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.