First pick
Promenade des Isles
Park or garden
7.4 ha0.1 km of path
0.8 km westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Adri08 · CC BY-SA 3.02.9%woodland
Outdoors in Rethel · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Rethel is within 800 m of a park or wood
2.9% of Rethel is mapped woodland. 11 km of footpaths cross Rethel (0.6 km per km²). No protected area reaches Rethel; the nearest, Prairies de la vallée de l’Aisne (Natura 2000), is 4.6 km from the town center. 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: Prairies de la vallée de l’Aisne, 4.6 km
Woodland
2.9%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
11 km
0.6 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
1.7 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
3
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Promenade des Isles
Throughout this page, the Ardennes 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 Rethel?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Protected land nearbyPrairies de la vallée de l’Aisne (Natura 2000) is 4.6 km from the town center.Little mapped woodland2.9% of the land, against 13% for the median compared town.
What sets Rethel apart: protected land close by. It is shorter on woodland.
Against French towns
How Rethel 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
Woodland2.9%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
14out of 100
Footpaths0.6 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
17out of 100
Hiking routes0.1 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
30out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Rethel has the 3rd fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (7,341 to 7,545 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Gières (7.2 km per km²) to Guipry-Messac (0.5 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gières Isère | 7.2 | 35% | 0% | 202 km |
| 2 | Huningue Haut-Rhin | 4.9 | 0.9% | 0% | 423 km |
| 3 | Saint-Germain-lès-Corbeil Essonne | 4.8 | 28% | 0% | 177 km |
| 4 | Lisses Essonne | 3.8 | 22% | 2.9% | 176 km |
| 5 | Soisy-sur-Seine Essonne | 3.6 | 64% | 0% | 173 km |
| 6 | Remiremont Vosges | 3.5 | 70% | 18% | 432 km |
| 7 | Cournonterral Hérault | 3.4 | 3.1% | 62% | 13 km |
| 8 | Saint-Benoît Vienne | 3.3 | 25% | 0% | 116 km |
| 9 | Saint-Apollinaire Côte-d'Or | 3.3 | 0.4% | 0% | 403 km |
| 10 | Clisson Loire-Atlantique | 3.1 | 9% | 0% | 54 km |
| 11 | Audun-le-Tiche Moselle | 3 | 42% | 0% | 288 km |
| 12 | Fabrègues Hérault | 2.9 | 7.6% | 8.4% | 9.4 km |
| 13 | Saint-Didier-au-Mont-d'Or Rhône | 2.7 | 20% | 0% | 256 km |
| 14 | Saint-Yrieix-sur-Charente Charente | 2.5 | 20% | 8.7% | 74 km |
| 15 | Faverges-Seythenex Haute-Savoie | 2.4 | 65% | 100% | 239 km |
| 16 | Crozon Finistère | 2.4 | 15% | 100% | On it |
| 17 | Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne Savoie | 2.2 | 37% | 0% | 190 km |
| 18 | Châteaubourg Ille-et-Vilaine | 2.1 | 16% | 0% | 57 km |
| 19 | Pontcharra Isère | 2 | 39% | 0% | 217 km |
| 20 | Carhaix-Plouguer Finistère | 1.9 | 12% | 0% | 40 km |
| 21 | Paimpol Côtes-d'Armor | 1.9 | 12% | 12% | On it |
| 22 | Saujon Charente-Maritime | 1.8 | 4% | 14% | 4.1 km |
| 23 | Villard-Bonnot Isère | 1.7 | 28% | 0% | 203 km |
| 24 | Céret Pyrénées-Orientales | 1.7 | 61% | 2.7% | 26 km |
| 25 | Toulouges Pyrénées-Orientales | 1.6 | 0.2% | 0% | 17 km |
| 26 | Fresnes-sur-Escaut Nord | 1.5 | 24% | 100% | 100 km |
| 27 | Saint-Berthevin Mayenne | 1.5 | 17% | 0% | 74 km |
| 28 | Langres Haute-Marne | 1.2 | 9.7% | 0.1% | 371 km |
| 29 | Pordic Côtes-d'Armor | 1.2 | 8.1% | 0% | On it |
| 30 | Yssingeaux Haute-Loire | 1.2 | 39% | 15% | 176 km |
| 31 | Lagnieu Ain | 1.1 | 35% | 0% | 274 km |
| 32 | Melesse Ille-et-Vilaine | 1.1 | 3.7% | 0% | 38 km |
| 33 | Jaunay-Marigny Vienne | 0.9 | 9.6% | 27% | 123 km |
| 34 | Trélissac Dordogne | 0.9 | 43% | 0% | 109 km |
| 35 | Saint-Nicolas-de-Port Meurthe-et-Moselle | 0.9 | 11% | 0% | 376 km |
| 36 | Ruelle-sur-Touvre Charente | 0.8 | 6.5% | 8% | 81 km |
| 37 | Sucé-sur-Erdre Loire-Atlantique | 0.8 | 13% | 25% | 48 km |
| 38 | Digoin Saône-et-Loire | 0.8 | 12% | 6.1% | 325 km |
| 39 | Rethel Ardennes | 0.6 | 2.9% | 0% | 207 km |
| 40 | Chaumes-en-Retz Loire-Atlantique | 0.5 | 14% | 0% | 9.6 km |
| 41 | Guipry-Messac Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.5 | 8.9% | 0% | 55 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 Rethel
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Promenade des Isles leads, at 7.4 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Jardin du Clos Lapierre
Park or garden
1.3 ha
Centralin the middle of Rethel
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Prairies de la vallée de l’Aisne is the nearest protected area, 4.6 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
Prairies de la vallée de l’Aisne
4.6 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
11 km of footpaths cross Rethel
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
11 km
0.6 km per km²
Hiking routes
1.7 km
waymarked: 0.1 km per km²
Woodland
2.9%
about 0.5 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
RethelArdennes medianFrance median
Footpaths0.6
Hiking routes0.1
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
RethelArdennes medianFrance median
Woodland2.9%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 83% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 86% 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 Rethel 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
Sentier Nature de Rethel11 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Rethel: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Juniville, 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) | 8.6 | 10.0 | 11.7 | 13.7 | 15.3 | 16.3 | 15.9 | 14.4 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.0 | 8.2 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 | 23 | 26 | 25 | 21 | 16 | 10 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 60 | 51 | 53 | 45 | 60 | 65 | 58 | 63 | 53 | 61 | 60 | 77 |
April is the driest month (45 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 26 °C). 77 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 70 nights a year. The climate in Rethel →
Neighbors
Next to Rethel
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
WarmerivilleVouziersRethel
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rethel | 0% | 2.9% | 0.6 |
| Warmeriville 2,749 · 21 km | 0% | 11% | 0.5 |
| Vouziers 3,825 · 27 km | 18% | 14% | 0.5 |
Vouziers 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 Rethel
Is Rethel in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Prairies de la vallée de l’Aisne, 4.6 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Rethel?
OpenStreetMap maps 11 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.6 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 2 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Rethel is woodland?
2.9% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Rethel near the sea?
No: the coast is 207 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Rethel?
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.