First pick
Parc des Promenades
Park or garden
2.6 ha1 km of path
15 minto walk all 1 km of path
Centralin the middle of Chauny
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Gadmer Frédéric · CC BY-SA 4.010%of the land protected
Outdoors in Chauny · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Parks, woods and footpaths in Chauny
Mapped woodland covers 5.7% of Chauny. 15 km of footpaths cross Chauny (1.2 km per km²). Protected areas cover 10% of Chauny’s land. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
10%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
5.7%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
15 km
1.2 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
Green space nearby
84%
of residents within 800 m of a park or wood
Compared town: 100%
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 Chauny 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 areas10%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
72out of 100
Woodland5.7%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
26out of 100
Footpaths1.2 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
37out of 100
Hiking routes0 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
12out of 100
Green space nearby84%Share of residents within 800 m of a mapped park or wood
4out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Chauny has the 9th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (11,392 to 11,766 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Épinay-sous-Sénart (10.3 km per km²) to Baugé-en-Anjou (0.4 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Épinay-sous-Sénart Essonne | 10.3 | 54% | 0% | 171 km |
| 2 | Seyssinet-Pariset Isère | 6.6 | 60% | 57% | 203 km |
| 3 | Villecresnes Val-de-Marne | 6.5 | 27% | 0% | 170 km |
| 4 | Enghien-les-Bains Val-d'Oise | 5.4 | 0% | 0% | 137 km |
| 5 | Sassenage Isère | 4.6 | 48% | 50% | 205 km |
| 6 | Briançon Hautes-Alpes | 4.4 | 62% | 0% | 142 km |
| 7 | Gravelines Nord | 3.9 | 7.7% | 0% | On it |
| 8 | Gaillard Haute-Savoie | 3.9 | 14% | 8% | 286 km |
| 9 | Hœnheim Bas-Rhin | 3.7 | 0.5% | 0% | 448 km |
| 10 | Dugny Seine-Saint-Denis | 3.5 | 6.8% | 9.5% | 144 km |
| 11 | Arpajon Essonne | 3.3 | 2.4% | 0% | 167 km |
| 12 | Maizières-lès-Metz Moselle | 3.2 | 8.6% | 0% | 319 km |
| 13 | Plan-de-Cuques Bouches-du-Rhône | 3.2 | 0.6% | 59% | 8.8 km |
| 14 | Le Haillan Gironde | 3.2 | 18% | 3.4% | 16 km |
| 15 | Yvetot Seine-Maritime | 3 | 3.5% | 100% | 28 km |
| 16 | Saint-Germain-lès-Arpajon Essonne | 3 | 16% | 0% | 167 km |
| 17 | Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer Var | 2.9 | 30% | 25% | On it |
| 18 | Dourdan Essonne | 2.8 | 58% | 0% | 157 km |
| 19 | Saint-Estève Pyrénées-Orientales | 2.8 | 2.8% | 0.5% | 16 km |
| 20 | Ploufragan Côtes-d'Armor | 2.5 | 13% | 0.2% | 5.7 km |
| 21 | Saverne Bas-Rhin | 2.5 | 65% | 0% | 418 km |
| 22 | Nœux-les-Mines Pas-de-Calais | 2.4 | 4.6% | 0% | 66 km |
| 23 | Vaux-le-Pénil Seine-et-Marne | 2.4 | 27% | 0% | 194 km |
| 24 | Ancenis-Saint-Géréon Loire-Atlantique | 2.4 | 10% | 27% | 71 km |
| 25 | Pacé Ille-et-Vilaine | 2.2 | 3.6% | 0% | 41 km |
| 26 | Bruay-sur-l'Escaut Nord | 2.1 | 14% | 98% | 102 km |
| 27 | Méricourt Pas-de-Calais | 2 | 4.3% | 0% | 79 km |
| 28 | Les Avirons Réunion | 1.7 | 47% | 78% | On it |
| 29 | Fourmies Nord | 1.6 | 48% | 100% | 157 km |
| 30 | Provins Seine-et-Marne | 1.6 | 6.6% | 0% | 215 km |
| 31 | Bolbec Seine-Maritime | 1.5 | 7.1% | 0% | 17 km |
| 32 | Somain Nord | 1.4 | 5.2% | 1.3% | 96 km |
| 33 | Chauny Aisne | 1.2 | 5.7% | 10% | 127 km |
| 34 | Biganos Gironde | 1.1 | 71% | 100% | On it |
| 35 | Thiers Puy-de-Dôme | 1 | 43% | 100% | 259 km |
| 36 | La Hague Manche | 1 | 5.5% | 14% | On it |
| 37 | Saint-Junien Haute-Vienne | 0.8 | 17% | 0% | 139 km |
| 38 | Pontchâteau Loire-Atlantique | 0.6 | 9.4% | 24% | 16 km |
| 39 | Pia Pyrénées-Orientales | 0.5 | 0.2% | 0% | 10 km |
| 40 | Vauvert Gard | 0.4 | 3.1% | 71% | 20 km |
| 41 | Baugé-en-Anjou Maine-et-Loire | 0.4 | 31% | 0.5% | 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 Chauny
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc des Promenades leads, at 2.6 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Parc du Forum
Park or garden
2.8 ha0.7 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.7 km of path
0.8 km north-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Le grand pré
Wood or forest · 320 m outside the commune
6.5 ha
2.7 km south-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Close to home
8 in 10 residents of Chauny live within 800 m of a park or wood
Each square is 1 resident in 100: in green, those within 800 m, as the crow flies, of a mapped park, garden or woodland edge (INSEE’s 200 m population grid against OpenStreetMap).
84% within 800 m16% further
Residents within 800 m of green space · share of residents
ChaunyAisne medianFrance median
Within 800 m84%
0%50%100%
About 1,900 residents live further away. The distance is a straight line to the edge of a mapped park or wood, not a walk to a gate, and a wood can be private.
Protected areas
10% of Chauny 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
Moyenne vallée de l’Oise
9.1% of the commune1.5 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Prairies alluviales de l’Oise de la Fère à Sempigny
2.8% of the commune1.6 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area10%
Natura 2000 site10%
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.
10% of Chauny’s land is protected, more than in 72% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Aisne has 0%.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
15 km of footpaths cross Chauny
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
15 km
1.2 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked: 0 km per km²
Woodland
5.7%
about 0.8 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
ChaunyAisne medianFrance median
Footpaths1.2
Hiking routes0
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
ChaunyAisne medianFrance median
Woodland5.7%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 63% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 74% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Chauny: April to July and September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Chauny, 2.1 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 | 10.0 | 11.7 | 13.7 | 15.3 | 16.3 | 15.9 | 14.4 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 9.0 | 8.2 |
| High (°C) | 6 | 7 | 12 | 16 | 19 | 22 | 25 | 25 | 21 | 16 | 10 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 57 | 54 | 55 | 44 | 62 | 60 | 61 | 69 | 52 | 64 | 58 | 75 |
April is the driest month (44 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 25 °C). 75 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 44 nights a year. The climate in Chauny →
Neighbors
Next to Chauny
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
TergnierBeautorLa FèreNoyonHamGauchyChauny
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
Beautor has at least twice as much protected land.
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 Chauny
Is Chauny in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 10% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Chauny?
OpenStreetMap maps 15 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.2 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²).
How much of Chauny is woodland?
5.7% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Chauny near the sea?
No: the coast is 127 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Chauny?
April to July and 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.