First pick
Massif de la Cavayère
Wood or forest
374 ha7.9 km of path
1 h 45 minto walk all 7.9 km of path
4.1 km eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Tylwyth Eldar · CC BY-SA 4.034%woodland
Outdoors in Palaja · protected areas, woods and footpaths
34% of Palaja is woodland, more than in 8 in 10 French towns
No protected area reaches Palaja; the nearest, Corbières occidentales (Natura 2000), is 1.8 km from the town center. Waymarked hiking routes add up to 3 km in Palaja. Footpaths add up to 32 km across Palaja (2.2 km per km²). 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: Corbières occidentales, 1.8 km
Woodland
34%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
32 km
2.2 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
3 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: Massif de la Cavayère
Throughout this page, the Aude 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 Palaja?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
A wooded commune34% mapped woodland, more than in 80% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.Protected land nearbyCorbières occidentales (Natura 2000) is 1.8 km from the town center.
What sets Palaja apart: its woods, then protected land close by.
Against French towns
How Palaja 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
Woodland34%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
80out of 100
Footpaths2.2 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
60out of 100
Hiking routes0.2 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
37out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Palaja has the 10th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (2,687 to 2,756 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Andilly (7.1 km per km²) to Sains-du-Nord (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andilly Val-d'Oise | 7.1 | 53% | 0% | 134 km |
| 2 | Chaligny Meurthe-et-Moselle | 5.1 | 72% | 0% | 364 km |
| 3 | Quintin Côtes-d'Armor | 3.6 | 4.7% | 0% | 19 km |
| 4 | Gassin Var | 3.5 | 46% | 0% | On it |
| 5 | Collioure Pyrénées-Orientales | 3.4 | 6.3% | 4% | On it |
| 6 | Bagnoles de l'Orne Normandie Orne | 3.3 | 39% | 100% | 69 km |
| 7 | Balaruc-le-Vieux Hérault | 2.5 | 5.5% | 19% | 5.4 km |
| 8 | Anet Eure-et-Loir | 2.4 | 48% | 0.1% | 102 km |
| 9 | Chailles Loir-et-Cher | 2.3 | 48% | 4.8% | 222 km |
| 10 | Palaja Aude | 2.2 | 34% | 0% | 57 km |
| 11 | Loire-sur-Rhône Rhône | 1.9 | 44% | 84% | 229 km |
| 12 | Capinghem Nord | 1.7 | 1.8% | 0% | 57 km |
| 13 | Venarey-les-Laumes Côte-d'Or | 1.5 | 18% | 2.2% | 357 km |
| 14 | Marmoutier Bas-Rhin | 1.3 | 28% | 0% | 423 km |
| 15 | Trieux Meurthe-et-Moselle | 1.3 | 31% | 0% | 299 km |
| 16 | Aouste-sur-Sye Drôme | 1.2 | 40% | 2.3% | 141 km |
| 17 | Saint-Witz Val-d'Oise | 1.2 | 8.3% | 0.1% | 137 km |
| 18 | Vert-le-Petit Essonne | 1.1 | 17% | 11% | 177 km |
| 19 | Masnières Nord | 1 | 4% | 0% | 109 km |
| 20 | Bessines-sur-Gartempe Haute-Vienne | 0.9 | 36% | 0.4% | 181 km |
| 21 | Magné Deux-Sèvres | 0.8 | 15% | 100% | 44 km |
| 22 | Ronchamp Haute-Saône | 0.8 | 73% | 100% | 440 km |
| 23 | Vulaines-sur-Seine Seine-et-Marne | 0.8 | 24% | 0% | 205 km |
| 24 | Saleux Somme | 0.7 | 22% | 0% | 53 km |
| 25 | Confolens Charente | 0.6 | 12% | 3.7% | 127 km |
| 26 | Warmeriville Marne | 0.5 | 11% | 0% | 205 km |
| 27 | Alixan Drôme | 0.5 | 0.2% | 0% | 170 km |
| 28 | Caux Hérault | 0.4 | 12% | 0% | 25 km |
| 29 | Cubzac-les-Ponts Gironde | 0.4 | 5.8% | 10% | 12 km |
| 30 | Montrevel-en-Bresse Ain | 0.4 | 7.8% | 0% | 319 km |
| 31 | Magescq Landes | 0.3 | 77% | 2.4% | 16 km |
| 32 | Huttenheim Bas-Rhin | 0.3 | 32% | 35% | 460 km |
| 33 | Chanas Isère | 0.3 | 19% | 0% | 204 km |
| 34 | Montholon Yonne | 0.2 | 36% | 0% | 279 km |
| 35 | Sarre-Union Bas-Rhin | 0.2 | 21% | 1.7% | 389 km |
| 36 | Yerville Seine-Maritime | 0.2 | 3.2% | 0% | 24 km |
| 37 | Essômes-sur-Marne Aisne | 0.2 | 31% | 0% | 176 km |
| 38 | Ouveillan Aude | 0.2 | 1.4% | 0% | 22 km |
| 39 | Ennezat Puy-de-Dôme | 0.1 | 0.1% | 0% | 268 km |
| 40 | Richebourg Pas-de-Calais | 0.1 | 0.9% | 0% | 57 km |
| 41 | Sains-du-Nord Nord | 0.1 | 34% | 100% | 149 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 Palaja
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Massif de la Cavayère leads, at 374 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Corbières occidentales is the nearest protected area, 1.8 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
Corbières occidentales
1.8 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
32 km of footpaths cross Palaja
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
32 km
2.2 km per km²
Hiking routes
3 km
waymarked: 0.2 km per km²
Woodland
34%
about 5.1 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
PalajaAude medianFrance median
Footpaths2.2
Hiking routes0.2
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
PalajaAude medianFrance median
Woodland34%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 60% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 80% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 98% of Palaja’s residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
A named hiking route within 2 km
Other named walk
De la Manche aux Pyrénées 23, Carcassonne - Sournia11 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Palaja: May to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Carcassonne, 9 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) | 9.3 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.1 | 13.9 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 9.0 |
| High (°C) | 10 | 11 | 15 | 18 | 21 | 26 | 29 | 29 | 25 | 20 | 14 | 11 |
| Rain (mm) | 66 | 47 | 58 | 71 | 63 | 47 | 30 | 40 | 48 | 63 | 70 | 61 |
July is the driest month (30 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 29 °C). 71 mm of rain falls in April, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 21 nights a year. The climate in Palaja →
Neighbors
Next to Palaja
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
CarcassonneTrèbesVillemoustaussouPennautierConques-sur-OrbielLimouxPalaja
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palaja | 0% | 34% | 2.2 |
| Carcassonne 46,080 · 5.4 km | 0% | 8.4% | 1.4 |
| Trèbes 5,361 · 6.2 km | 0% | 9.6% | 1 |
| Villemoustaussou 4,401 · 9.1 km | 0% | 4.8% | 0.8 |
| Pennautier 2,895 · 9.8 km | 0% | 7.6% | 0.3 |
| Conques-sur-Orbiel 2,523 · 11 km | 0% | 8.1% | 1.3 |
| Limoux 10,532 · 19 km | 0.1% | 26% | 0.8 |
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 Palaja
Is Palaja in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Corbières occidentales, 1.8 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Palaja?
OpenStreetMap maps 32 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 2.2 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 3 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Palaja is woodland?
34% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Palaja near the sea?
No: the coast is 57 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Palaja?
May 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 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.