First pick
Espace de Leyne
Park or garden · 200 m outside the commune
0.8 ha0.1 km of path
1.4 km south-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Alainauzas · CC BY-SA 4.01.5%of the land protected
Outdoors in Cruas · protected areas, woods and footpaths
47% of Cruas is woodland, more than in 8 in 10 French towns
22 km of footpaths cross Cruas (1.4 km per km²). Protected areas cover 1.5% of Cruas’ land. Waymarked hiking routes add up to 5 km in Cruas. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
1.5%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
47%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
22 km
1.4 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
5.4 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: Espace de Leyne
Throughout this page, the Ardèche 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 Cruas 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 areas1.5%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
57out of 100
Woodland47%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
90out of 100
Footpaths1.4 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
44out of 100
Hiking routes0.4 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
50out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Cruas has the 11th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (2,877 to 2,919 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Batz-sur-Mer (6.4 km per km²) to Précigné (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Batz-sur-Mer Loire-Atlantique | 6.4 | 1.4% | 52% | On it |
| 2 | Gevrey-Chambertin Côte-d'Or | 3.4 | 39% | 30% | 408 km |
| 3 | Giromagny Territoire de Belfort | 3 | 42% | 100% | 443 km |
| 4 | Sainte-Anne-d'Auray Morbihan | 2.9 | 12% | 100% | 2.5 km |
| 5 | Le Pouzin Ardèche | 2.5 | 4.6% | 28% | 142 km |
| 6 | Blaye-les-Mines Tarn | 2.5 | 10% | 0% | 127 km |
| 7 | Fresnoy-le-Grand Aisne | 2.2 | 2.4% | 0% | 127 km |
| 8 | Vitry-sur-Orne Moselle | 2.2 | 63% | 0% | 313 km |
| 9 | Montbazin Hérault | 2 | 1.9% | 58% | 11 km |
| 10 | Charquemont Doubs | 1.5 | 39% | 100% | 385 km |
| 11 | Cruas Ardèche | 1.4 | 47% | 1.5% | 134 km |
| 12 | Argentat-sur-Dordogne Corrèze | 1.4 | 59% | 2.2% | 199 km |
| 13 | Abrest Allier | 1.4 | 19% | 14% | 286 km |
| 14 | Orcet Puy-de-Dôme | 1.4 | 5.6% | 0% | 248 km |
| 15 | Péron Ain | 1.3 | 56% | 100% | 295 km |
| 16 | Megève Haute-Savoie | 1.3 | 40% | 0% | 241 km |
| 17 | Tresserve Savoie | 1.3 | 6.1% | 66% | 245 km |
| 18 | Châteauneuf-du-Rhône Drôme | 1.2 | 16% | 0.8% | 116 km |
| 19 | Cany-Barville Seine-Maritime | 1.1 | 20% | 0% | 7.9 km |
| 20 | Toulenne Gironde | 1.1 | 8.9% | 7.5% | 56 km |
| 21 | L'Étrat Loire | 1 | 19% | 0% | 215 km |
| 22 | Chavanay Loire | 0.8 | 21% | 99% | 213 km |
| 23 | Noailles Oise | 0.8 | 46% | 0% | 101 km |
| 24 | Bourg-Argental Loire | 0.8 | 42% | 100% | 197 km |
| 25 | Joinville Haute-Marne | 0.7 | 61% | 0% | 317 km |
| 26 | Saint-Priest-Taurion Haute-Vienne | 0.6 | 45% | 0% | 175 km |
| 27 | Balbigny Loire | 0.6 | 12% | 5.8% | 251 km |
| 28 | Allonnes Maine-et-Loire | 0.5 | 20% | 100% | 141 km |
| 29 | Argentré Mayenne | 0.5 | 3.1% | 0% | 80 km |
| 30 | Labouheyre Landes | 0.5 | 74% | 100% | 30 km |
| 31 | Dormans Marne | 0.4 | 24% | 0% | 188 km |
| 32 | Neuville-sur-Escaut Nord | 0.4 | 0.8% | 0% | 105 km |
| 33 | Pennautier Aude | 0.3 | 7.6% | 0% | 65 km |
| 34 | Sennecey-le-Grand Saône-et-Loire | 0.3 | 33% | 0% | 348 km |
| 35 | Rosières-en-Santerre Somme | 0.3 | 0.2% | 0% | 84 km |
| 36 | Thiant Nord | 0.3 | 13% | 0% | 107 km |
| 37 | Yvrac Gironde | 0.3 | 7.7% | 0% | 17 km |
| 38 | Rouillac Charente | 0.2 | 11% | 7% | 66 km |
| 39 | Auneuil Oise | 0.2 | 17% | 4.7% | 88 km |
| 40 | Avord Cher | 0.1 | 3.2% | 0% | 300 km |
| 41 | Précigné Sarthe | 0.1 | 23% | 0% | 123 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 Cruas
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Espace de Leyne leads, at 0.8 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
1.5% of Cruas 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
Barrès nature reserve
2.8 km from the town center
Natura 2000 site
Milieux alluviaux du Rhône aval
1.5% of the commune1.3 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area1.5%
Natura 2000 site1.5%
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.
1.5% of Cruas’ land is protected, more than in 57% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Ardèche has 8.6%.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
22 km of footpaths and 5 km of hiking routes cross Cruas
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
22 km
1.4 km per km²
Hiking routes
5.4 km
waymarked: 0.4 km per km²
Woodland
47%
about 7.3 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
CruasArdèche medianFrance median
Footpaths1.4
Hiking routes0.4
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
CruasArdèche medianFrance median
Woodland47%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 56% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 90% 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 Cruas is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
3 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 4215 km
SPHC, étape 186.4 km
SPHC, étape 193.7 km
GR 42 passes within 2 km of Cruas.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Cruas: April and June to August
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Montelimar, 8.8 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) | 9.2 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.8 | 15.5 | 15.2 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.5 | 8.8 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 11 | 15 | 18 | 23 | 27 | 30 | 30 | 24 | 19 | 13 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 69 | 43 | 49 | 74 | 78 | 57 | 55 | 56 | 116 | 133 | 129 | 62 |
February is the driest month (43 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 30 °C). 133 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 24 nights a year. The climate in Cruas →
Neighbors
Next to Cruas
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
ChoméracLe PouzinLoriol-sur-DrômeMontélimarMontboucher-sur-JabronLe TeilCruas
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cruas | 1.5% | 47% | 1.4 |
| Chomérac 3,183 · 9.8 km | 1.3% | 24% | 1.2 |
| Le Pouzin 2,886 · 10 km | 28% | 4.6% | 2.5 |
| Loriol-sur-Drôme 6,614 · 11 km | 4.7% | 12% | 0.7 |
| Montélimar 40,595 · 11 km | 0.9% | 8% | 1.8 |
| Montboucher-sur-Jabron 2,592 · 12 km | 0% | 3.1% | 0.5 |
| Le Teil 8,726 · 14 km | 0% | 37% | 2 |
Le Pouzin 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 Cruas
Is Cruas in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 1.5% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Cruas?
OpenStreetMap maps 22 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.4 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 5 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Cruas is woodland?
47% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Cruas near the sea?
No: the coast is 134 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Cruas?
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 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.