First pick
Parc de la République
Park or garden · 170 m outside the commune
2 ha0.9 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.9 km of path
1.3 km northfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Havang(nl) · CC017%woodland
Outdoors in Belleu · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Belleu is within 800 m of a park or wood
No protected area reaches Belleu; the nearest, Massif forestier de Retz (Natura 2000), is 14 km from the town center. Footpaths add up to 4 km across Belleu (0.9 km per km²). 17% of Belleu is mapped woodland. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
0%
of the commune’s land
Nearest: Massif forestier de Retz, 14 km
Woodland
17%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
4.1 km
0.9 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 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: Parc de la République
Throughout this page, the Aisne 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 Belleu 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 areas0%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
22out of 100
Woodland17%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
57out of 100
Footpaths0.9 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
29out of 100
Hiking routes0 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
12out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Belleu has the 17th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (3,633 to 3,687 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Champhol (3.7 km per km²) to Étrépagny (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Champhol Eure-et-Loir | 3.7 | 9.3% | 0% | 137 km |
| 2 | Ligny-en-Barrois Meuse | 2.7 | 80% | 0% | 312 km |
| 3 | Dampmart Seine-et-Marne | 2.6 | 26% | 18% | 163 km |
| 4 | Saint-Erblon Ille-et-Vilaine | 2.3 | 8.1% | 0% | 58 km |
| 5 | Ézy-sur-Eure Eure | 2.3 | 42% | 8.3% | 100 km |
| 6 | Plestin-les-Grèves Côtes-d'Armor | 2.3 | 16% | 6% | On it |
| 7 | Saint-Léger-du-Bourg-Denis Seine-Maritime | 2.2 | 39% | 4.6% | 55 km |
| 8 | Saint-Vallier-de-Thiey Alpes-Maritimes | 2.1 | 64% | 100% | 19 km |
| 9 | Templemars Nord | 2.1 | 0.6% | 0% | 68 km |
| 10 | Sainte-Gemmes-sur-Loire Maine-et-Loire | 2 | 9.2% | 36% | 116 km |
| 11 | Fillinges Haute-Savoie | 2 | 45% | 3.2% | 280 km |
| 12 | Saint-Germain-du-Corbéis Orne | 1.8 | 11% | 4.1% | 98 km |
| 13 | Forges-les-Eaux Seine-Maritime | 1.7 | 24% | 4.9% | 47 km |
| 14 | Gallargues-le-Montueux Gard | 1.3 | 2% | 2% | 19 km |
| 15 | Viviers Ardèche | 1.3 | 49% | 2.6% | 113 km |
| 16 | La Chapelle-Saint-Ursin Cher | 1.3 | 3.5% | 11% | 277 km |
| 17 | Breteil Ille-et-Vilaine | 1.3 | 1.4% | 0% | 39 km |
| 18 | Gelos Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 1.3 | 37% | 7.4% | 96 km |
| 19 | Champagney Haute-Saône | 1.1 | 76% | 100% | 440 km |
| 20 | Châteauneuf-du-Faou Finistère | 1 | 9.4% | 8% | 20 km |
| 21 | Martillac Gironde | 1 | 18% | 0% | 32 km |
| 22 | Arcangues Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 1 | 32% | 7.3% | 5.2 km |
| 23 | Pont-de-Buis-lès-Quimerch Finistère | 1 | 27% | 100% | On it |
| 24 | Estrées-Saint-Denis Oise | 1 | 2% | 0% | 109 km |
| 25 | Belleu Aisne | 0.9 | 17% | 0% | 150 km |
| 26 | Penta-di-Casinca Haute-Corse | 0.9 | 40% | 0.2% | On it |
| 27 | Salindres Gard | 0.8 | 4.3% | 0% | 68 km |
| 28 | Pont-de-l'Isère Drôme | 0.7 | 2.2% | 0% | 173 km |
| 29 | Saint-Philbert-de-Bouaine Vendée | 0.7 | 2.5% | 0% | 35 km |
| 30 | Champagné Sarthe | 0.7 | 40% | 3.5% | 142 km |
| 31 | Gouffern en Auge Orne | 0.6 | 25% | 33% | 59 km |
| 32 | Quincieux Rhône | 0.5 | 4.2% | 0% | 267 km |
| 33 | Rivery Somme | 0.4 | 6.1% | 9.4% | 56 km |
| 34 | Chauffailles Saône-et-Loire | 0.4 | 32% | 0% | 295 km |
| 35 | Lectoure Gers | 0.4 | 10% | 0% | 154 km |
| 36 | Neuvic Dordogne | 0.3 | 36% | 10% | 84 km |
| 37 | Estrablin Isère | 0.3 | 8.8% | 0% | 228 km |
| 38 | Garchizy Nièvre | 0.3 | 9% | 12% | 333 km |
| 39 | Montoire-sur-le-Loir Loir-et-Cher | 0.3 | 14% | 0.4% | 185 km |
| 40 | Saint-Nicolas-d'Aliermont Seine-Maritime | 0.2 | 14% | 2.4% | 9.8 km |
| 41 | Étrépagny Eure | 0.2 | 12% | 0% | 78 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 Belleu
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc de la République leads, at 2 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Massif forestier de Retz is the nearest protected area, 14 km away
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Natura 2000 site
Massif forestier de Retz
14 km from the town center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area0%
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.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
4 km of footpaths cross Belleu
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
4.1 km
0.9 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked: 0 km per km²
Woodland
17%
about 0.8 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
BelleuAisne medianFrance median
Footpaths0.9
Hiking routes0
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
BelleuAisne medianFrance median
Woodland17%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 71% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 57% 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 Belleu is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
A named hiking route within 2 km
Other named walk
Le Chemin des 3 Clochers7.2 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Belleu: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Braine, 14 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) | 8.6 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.7 | 15.3 | 16.2 | 15.9 | 14.4 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.0 | 8.2 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 | 23 | 25 | 25 | 21 | 16 | 10 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 59 | 47 | 49 | 43 | 60 | 56 | 61 | 61 | 46 | 56 | 54 | 72 |
April is the driest month (43 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 25 °C). 72 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 53 nights a year. The climate in Belleu →
Neighbors
Next to Belleu
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
SoissonsVilleneuve-Saint-GermainCrouyVillers-CotterêtsFère-en-TardenoisFismesBelleu
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belleu | 0% | 17% | 0.9 |
| Soissons 28,046 · 2 km | 0% | 7.5% | 2.7 |
| Villeneuve-Saint-Germain 2,616 · 2 km | 0% | 11% | 0.8 |
| Crouy 3,049 · 4.4 km | 0% | 23% | 0.3 |
| Villers-Cotterêts 10,489 · 22 km | 0% | 73% | 1.8 |
| Fère-en-Tardenois 2,836 · 22 km | 0% | 40% | 0.7 |
| Fismes 5,850 · 26 km | 0% | 21% | 0.4 |
Villers-Cotterêts and Fère-en-Tardenois 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 Belleu
Is Belleu in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Massif forestier de Retz, 14 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Belleu?
OpenStreetMap maps 4 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.9 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²).
How much of Belleu is woodland?
17% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Belleu near the sea?
No: the coast is 150 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Belleu?
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.