First pick
Forêt du Krittwald
Wood or forest
284 ha4.5 km of path
1 hto walk all 4.5 km of path
2.1 km north-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Herinstein · CC BY 2.538%of the land protected
Outdoors in Erstein · protected areas, woods and footpaths
38% of Erstein’s land is protected for nature
32% of Erstein is mapped woodland. Footpaths add up to 35 km across Erstein (0.9 km per km²). Erstein has 12 km of waymarked hiking routes. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
38%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
32%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
35 km
0.9 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
12 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
5
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Forêt du Krittwald
Throughout this page, the Bas-Rhin 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 Erstein?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Protected countryside38% of the land lies in protected areas.A wooded commune32% mapped woodland, more than in 78% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.A nature reserveForêt d’Erstein nature reserve covers 5.7% of the commune.
What sets Erstein apart: its protected countryside, then its woods.
Against French towns
How Erstein 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 areas38%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
84out of 100
Woodland32%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
78out of 100
Footpaths0.9 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
30out of 100
Hiking routes0.3 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
49out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Erstein has the 7th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (10,617 to 10,965 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Voisins-le-Bretonneux (13.8 km per km²) to Lavaur (0.3 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Voisins-le-Bretonneux Yvelines | 13.8 | 8.8% | 5.4% | 144 km |
| 2 | Beaumont Puy-de-Dôme | 6 | 2.4% | 0.1% | 255 km |
| 3 | Igny Essonne | 5.5 | 20% | 0% | 156 km |
| 4 | Bondoufle Essonne | 5.3 | 7.9% | 0% | 173 km |
| 5 | Dinard Ille-et-Vilaine | 5 | 7.9% | 100% | On it |
| 6 | Vétraz-Monthoux Haute-Savoie | 4.8 | 18% | 0% | 284 km |
| 7 | Le Pradet Var | 4.6 | 11% | 43% | On it |
| 8 | Chanteloup-les-Vignes Yvelines | 4.4 | 21% | 0% | 126 km |
| 9 | Le Pont-de-Claix Isère | 4.3 | 15% | 2.9% | 198 km |
| 10 | Déville-lès-Rouen Seine-Maritime | 4.3 | 19% | 0.1% | 49 km |
| 11 | Épinay-sur-Orge Essonne | 4.3 | 10% | 0% | 165 km |
| 12 | Chantepie Ille-et-Vilaine | 3.5 | 4% | 0% | 53 km |
| 13 | Maromme Seine-Maritime | 3.4 | 39% | 0% | 48 km |
| 14 | Allonnes Sarthe | 3.2 | 15% | 0% | 134 km |
| 15 | Étaples Pas-de-Calais | 3.2 | 29% | 7% | On it |
| 16 | Stiring-Wendel Moselle | 2.8 | 3.4% | 0% | 360 km |
| 17 | Tinqueux Marne | 2.8 | 2.4% | 0% | 196 km |
| 18 | Héricourt Haute-Saône | 2.8 | 36% | 0% | 425 km |
| 19 | Annœullin Nord | 2.8 | 4.2% | 0% | 68 km |
| 20 | Passy Haute-Savoie | 2.4 | 29% | 44% | 246 km |
| 21 | Amnéville Moselle | 2.3 | 12% | 0% | 315 km |
| 22 | Urrugne Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 2.3 | 23% | 28% | 3.1 km |
| 23 | Châteaugiron Ille-et-Vilaine | 2.2 | 2.3% | 0% | 62 km |
| 24 | Saint-Martin-Boulogne Pas-de-Calais | 1.7 | 8.3% | 0.1% | 2.1 km |
| 25 | Trets Bouches-du-Rhône | 1.7 | 18% | 34% | 28 km |
| 26 | Vieux-Condé Nord | 1.7 | 7.4% | 100% | 96 km |
| 27 | Mainvilliers Eure-et-Loir | 1.4 | 9.3% | 0% | 136 km |
| 28 | Oloron-Sainte-Marie Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 1.3 | 52% | 4.8% | 83 km |
| 29 | Léognan Gironde | 1.2 | 39% | 0% | 30 km |
| 30 | Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone Hérault | 1.2 | 0.7% | 52% | On it |
| 31 | Wittelsheim Haut-Rhin | 1.2 | 34% | 6.2% | 447 km |
| 32 | Fondettes Indre-et-Loire | 1.1 | 15% | 5.3% | 180 km |
| 33 | Saint-Saulve Nord | 1.1 | 8.2% | 0.3% | 105 km |
| 34 | Tarare Rhône | 1.1 | 41% | 0% | 261 km |
| 35 | Erstein Bas-Rhin | 0.9 | 32% | 38% | 459 km |
| 36 | Orthez Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 0.9 | 21% | 25% | 57 km |
| 37 | Parempuyre Gironde | 0.9 | 6.7% | 8.1% | 6.3 km |
| 38 | Pont-Saint-Esprit Gard | 0.8 | 5.3% | 14% | 89 km |
| 39 | Boulazac Isle Manoire Dordogne | 0.7 | 48% | 0% | 108 km |
| 40 | Brissac Loire Aubance Maine-et-Loire | 0.5 | 13% | 39% | 124 km |
| 41 | Lavaur Tarn | 0.3 | 9.6% | 0.8% | 125 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 Erstein
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Forêt du Krittwald leads, at 284 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Schollen
Wood or forest · 140 m outside the commune
362 ha2 km of path
25 minto walk all 2 km of path
6 km eastfrom the center
Schnakenpfad
Directionsto a point inside
Forêt d'Erstein
Wood or forest
707 ha1.1 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.1 km of path
4.5 km eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Parc du musée Würth France
Park or garden
3 ha0.1 km of path
2.9 km westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Jardins Canop'Terre
Park or garden
0.5 ha0.2 km of path
1.4 km westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Protected land in and around Erstein
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Nature reserve
Forêt d’Erstein nature reserve
5.7% of the commune4.6 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Secteur Alluvial Rhin-Ried-Bruch, Bas-Rhin
33% of the commune1.3 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Vallée du Rhin de Strasbourg à Marckolsheim
28% of the commune2.4 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area38%
Nature reserve5.7%
Natura 2000 site38%
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.
38% of Erstein’s land is protected, more than in 84% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Bas-Rhin has 0.1%.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
35 km of footpaths and 12 km of hiking routes cross Erstein
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
35 km
0.9 km per km²
Hiking routes
12 km
waymarked: 0.3 km per km²
Woodland
32%
about 11.6 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
ErsteinBas-Rhin medianFrance median
Footpaths0.9
Hiking routes0.3
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
ErsteinBas-Rhin medianFrance median
Woodland32%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 70% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 78% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 99% of Erstein’s residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
4 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
Sentier de l'Ill12 km
Santier du Rhinland4.1 km
Sentier Au Fil de l'Eau3 km
Gasthaus Rheinlust Ottenheim - Grenzübergang Nonnenweier1.4 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Erstein: April, August and September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Strasbourg-Entzheim, 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) | 8.7 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.6 | 15.2 | 16.1 | 15.7 | 14.3 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.1 | 8.3 |
| High (°C) | 5 | 7 | 12 | 17 | 21 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 22 | 16 | 9 | 6 |
| Rain (mm) | 35 | 34 | 39 | 42 | 77 | 69 | 72 | 61 | 55 | 60 | 48 | 45 |
February is the driest month (34 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 26 °C). 77 mm of rain falls in May, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 60 nights a year. The climate in Erstein →
Neighbors
Next to Erstein
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
GerstheimPlobsheimLipsheimFegersheimEschauBenfeldErstein
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
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 Erstein
Is Erstein in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 38% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Erstein?
OpenStreetMap maps 35 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); 12 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Erstein is woodland?
32% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Erstein near the sea?
No: the coast is 459 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Erstein?
April, August 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 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.