First pick
Bois du Chay
Wood or forest
43 ha1.5 km of path
20 minto walk all 1.5 km of path
1.6 km south-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Cobber17 · CC BY-SA 3.08.5%of the land protected
Outdoors in Échillais · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Échillais is on the coast
9% of Échillais is mapped woodland. Waymarked hiking routes add up to 8 km in Échillais. 19 km of footpaths cross Échillais (1.2 km per km²). France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
8.5%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
9%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
19 km
1.2 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
8.3 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Green space nearby
93%
of residents within 800 m of a park or wood
Compared town: 100%
The sea
On it
the commune touches the coast, 1.7 km from its center
Throughout this page, the Charente-Maritime 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 Échillais 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 areas8.5%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
70out of 100
Woodland9%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
37out of 100
Footpaths1.2 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
39out of 100
Hiking routes0.6 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
65out of 100
Green space nearby93%Share of residents within 800 m of a mapped park or wood
10out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Échillais has the 19th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (3,734 to 3,796 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Barby (6.7 km per km²) to Courtenay (0 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barby Savoie | 6.7 | 35% | 39% | 232 km |
| 2 | Bruyères-le-Châtel Essonne | 4.2 | 64% | 0.1% | 163 km |
| 3 | Doussard Haute-Savoie | 2.7 | 53% | 100% | 244 km |
| 4 | Lourches Nord | 2.5 | 5.6% | 0% | 103 km |
| 5 | Grand-Aigueblanche Savoie | 2.4 | 63% | 0.1% | 208 km |
| 6 | Les Rousses Jura | 2.3 | 52% | 100% | 321 km |
| 7 | Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort Gard | 2.2 | 38% | 58% | 47 km |
| 8 | Sospel Alpes-Maritimes | 2 | 57% | 100% | 12 km |
| 9 | Saint-Symphorien-sur-Coise Rhône | 1.9 | 1.9% | 0% | 232 km |
| 10 | Saint-Mihiel Meuse | 1.8 | 66% | 7.4% | 314 km |
| 11 | Charlieu Loire | 1.7 | 5.4% | 0% | 289 km |
| 12 | Malville Loire-Atlantique | 1.7 | 17% | 1.9% | 24 km |
| 13 | La Bazoge Sarthe | 1.6 | 25% | 0% | 126 km |
| 14 | Alénya Pyrénées-Orientales | 1.5 | 0.1% | 5.7% | 4.4 km |
| 15 | Torreilles Pyrénées-Orientales | 1.5 | 0.4% | 20% | On it |
| 16 | Ploubezre Côtes-d'Armor | 1.3 | 17% | 6.5% | 3.3 km |
| 17 | Saint-Ay Loiret | 1.3 | 6.3% | 10% | 203 km |
| 18 | Varennes-sur-Seine Seine-et-Marne | 1.3 | 1.7% | 38% | 218 km |
| 19 | Échillais Charente-Maritime | 1.2 | 9% | 8.5% | On it |
| 20 | Saint-Clair-du-Rhône Isère | 1.2 | 19% | 0.2% | 216 km |
| 21 | Rœulx Nord | 1.2 | 0.4% | 0% | 103 km |
| 22 | Saïx Tarn | 0.9 | 12% | 3.3% | 93 km |
| 23 | Saint-Martin-la-Plaine Loire | 0.9 | 11% | 0% | 224 km |
| 24 | Brantôme en Périgord Dordogne | 0.8 | 48% | 20% | 104 km |
| 25 | Bapaume Pas-de-Calais | 0.8 | 0.9% | 0% | 84 km |
| 26 | Pujols Lot-et-Garonne | 0.8 | 12% | 0% | 123 km |
| 27 | Bouxwiller Bas-Rhin | 0.7 | 11% | 0.3% | 418 km |
| 28 | Bénesse-Maremne Landes | 0.7 | 42% | 0.1% | 6.6 km |
| 29 | Pannes Loiret | 0.7 | 8.9% | 0% | 233 km |
| 30 | Fougerolles-Saint-Valbert Haute-Saône | 0.7 | 36% | 100% | 429 km |
| 31 | Sartène Corse-du-Sud | 0.4 | 17% | 39% | On it |
| 32 | Labastide-Saint-Pierre Tarn-et-Garonne | 0.4 | 3.4% | 1.5% | 169 km |
| 33 | Puiseux-en-France Val-d'Oise | 0.4 | 2.2% | 0% | 138 km |
| 34 | Chauconin-Neufmontiers Seine-et-Marne | 0.3 | 4.2% | 0% | 158 km |
| 35 | Plémet Côtes-d'Armor | 0.3 | 10% | 0% | 35 km |
| 36 | Nazelles-Négron Indre-et-Loire | 0.3 | 17% | 4.5% | 202 km |
| 37 | Ribérac Dordogne | 0.3 | 9% | 12% | 77 km |
| 38 | Terres-de-Haute-Charente Charente | 0.3 | 23% | 0% | 116 km |
| 39 | Montreuil-Bellay Maine-et-Loire | 0.2 | 8.5% | 100% | 119 km |
| 40 | Val de Virvée Gironde | 0.1 | 12% | 0% | 16 km |
| 41 | Courtenay Loiret | 0 | 20% | 0% | 253 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 Échillais
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Bois du Chay leads, at 43 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Close to home
9 in 10 residents of Échillais 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).
93% within 800 m7.3% further
Residents within 800 m of green space · share of residents
ÉchillaisCharente-Maritime medianFrance median
Within 800 m93%
0%50%100%
About 300 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
8.5% of Échillais 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
Estuaire et basse vallée de la Charente
8.5% of the commune0.9 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Vallée de la Charente (basse vallée)
8.5% of the commune0.9 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area8.5%
Natura 2000 site8.5%
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.
8.5% of Échillais’ land is protected, more than in 70% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Charente-Maritime has 12%.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
19 km of footpaths and 8 km of hiking routes cross Échillais
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
19 km
1.2 km per km²
Hiking routes
8.3 km
waymarked: 0.6 km per km²
Woodland
9%
about 1.4 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
ÉchillaisCharente-Maritime medianFrance median
Footpaths1.2
Hiking routes0.6
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
ÉchillaisCharente-Maritime medianFrance median
Woodland9%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 61% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 63% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them.
3 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
De Saint-Savinien à Saint-Agnant13 km
Tour de Saintonge, accès gare de Rochefort11 km
De Saint-Agnant à Meursac3.4 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Échillais: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at St Agnant, 2.8 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) | 9.0 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 14.9 | 15.7 | 15.4 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.4 | 8.7 |
| High (°C) | 10 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 23 | 19 | 14 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 77 | 57 | 58 | 65 | 58 | 47 | 37 | 44 | 62 | 83 | 98 | 93 |
July is the driest month (37 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 26 °C). 98 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 23 nights a year. The climate in Échillais →
Neighbors
Next to Échillais
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Saint-AgnantRochefortSoubiseTonnay-CharenteFourasMarennes-Hiers-BrouageÉchillais
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Échillais | 8.5% | 9% | 1.2 | On it |
| Saint-Agnant 2,780 · 3.7 km | 27% | 14% | 0.6 | 5.1 km |
| Rochefort 23,460 · 4.6 km | 38% | 1.4% | 3.5 | On it |
| Soubise 3,316 · 4.7 km | 14% | 8.5% | 1.8 | On it |
| Tonnay-Charente 8,289 · 7.3 km | 17% | 3.3% | 0.6 | 6.9 km |
| Fouras 4,148 · 14 km | 43% | 2.8% | 2.8 | On it |
| Marennes-Hiers-Brouage 6,163 · 14 km | 75% | 3.2% | 0.6 | On it |
Saint-Agnant, Rochefort and Tonnay-Charente have 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 Échillais
Is Échillais in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 8.5% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Échillais?
OpenStreetMap maps 19 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); 8 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Échillais is woodland?
9% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Échillais near the sea?
Yes: the commune touches the coast, 1.7 km from its center.
When is the best time for walking in Échillais?
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 8, 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.