First pick
Forêt de la Coudraye
Wood or forest
88 ha3.7 km of path
50 minto walk all 3.7 km of path
3.1 km eastfrom the center
Sentier MalvoisineSentier des Roches
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Poudou99 · CC BY 3.028%woodland
Outdoors in Ballancourt-sur-Essonne · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Ballancourt-sur-Essonne is within 800 m of a park or wood
Ballancourt-sur-Essonne has 11 km of waymarked hiking routes. Mapped woodland covers 28% of Ballancourt-sur-Essonne. 33 km of footpaths cross Ballancourt-sur-Essonne (2.9 km per km²). France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
0.1%
of the commune’s land
Nearest: Gâtinais Français Regional Nature Park, 1.5 km
Woodland
28%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
33 km
2.9 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
11 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: Forêt de la Coudraye
Throughout this page, the Essonne 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 Ballancourt-sur-Essonne?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
On waymarked routes11 km of GR and other hiking routes cross the commune.Protected land nearbyGâtinais Français Regional Nature Park is 1.5 km from the town center.
What sets Ballancourt-sur-Essonne apart: its hiking routes, then protected land close by.
Against French towns
How Ballancourt-sur-Essonne 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 areas0.1%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
50out of 100
Woodland28%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
73out of 100
Footpaths2.9 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
72out of 100
Hiking routes1 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
83out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Ballancourt-sur-Essonne has the 8th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (8,080 to 8,306 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Seyssins (7.1 km per km²) to Donges (0.3 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seyssins Isère | 7.1 | 44% | 45% | 201 km |
| 2 | Boussy-Saint-Antoine Essonne | 6.6 | 28% | 0% | 172 km |
| 3 | Coulaines Sarthe | 5.4 | 5.5% | 0% | 134 km |
| 4 | La Ville-du-Bois Essonne | 4.4 | 28% | 0% | 164 km |
| 5 | Harfleur Seine-Maritime | 4.1 | 14% | 0% | 6.6 km |
| 6 | Paray-Vieille-Poste Essonne | 3.9 | 0.4% | 0% | 164 km |
| 7 | Mazingarbe Pas-de-Calais | 2.9 | 7.4% | 0% | 68 km |
| 8 | Ballancourt-sur-Essonne Essonne | 2.9 | 28% | 0.1% | 179 km |
| 9 | Guilers Finistère | 2.9 | 11% | 0% | 5.1 km |
| 10 | Vern-sur-Seiche Ille-et-Vilaine | 2.9 | 13% | 0% | 57 km |
| 11 | Téteghem-Coudekerque-Village Nord | 2.8 | 9.1% | 0% | 4.1 km |
| 12 | Brunstatt-Didenheim Haut-Rhin | 2.7 | 25% | 0% | 438 km |
| 13 | Guénange Moselle | 2.7 | 24% | 0% | 315 km |
| 14 | Souffelweyersheim Bas-Rhin | 2.7 | 1.7% | 0% | 447 km |
| 15 | Le Mesnil-Esnard Seine-Maritime | 2.6 | 16% | 0% | 57 km |
| 16 | Rochefort-du-Gard Gard | 2.6 | 40% | 0% | 59 km |
| 17 | Charnay-lès-Mâcon Saône-et-Loire | 2.4 | 5.7% | 0% | 311 km |
| 18 | Bandol Var | 1.8 | 30% | 0% | On it |
| 19 | Cavalaire-sur-Mer Var | 1.8 | 45% | 0.1% | On it |
| 20 | Sorbiers Loire | 1.8 | 14% | 0% | 217 km |
| 21 | Verrières-en-Anjou Maine-et-Loire | 1.8 | 7.4% | 0% | 127 km |
| 22 | Val de Briey Meurthe-et-Moselle | 1.7 | 55% | 0% | 305 km |
| 23 | Anse Rhône | 1.7 | 16% | 0% | 269 km |
| 24 | La Colle-sur-Loup Alpes-Maritimes | 1.7 | 39% | 28% | 5.1 km |
| 25 | Talange Moselle | 1.6 | 2.5% | 0% | 318 km |
| 26 | Saint-Pierre-lès-Elbeuf Seine-Maritime | 1.5 | 5.4% | 1.3% | 53 km |
| 27 | La Tour-du-Pin Isère | 1.2 | 4.7% | 0% | 240 km |
| 28 | Les Arcs Var | 1.1 | 35% | 12% | 21 km |
| 29 | Pégomas Alpes-Maritimes | 1 | 49% | 0% | 6.4 km |
| 30 | Linselles Nord | 1 | 0.7% | 0% | 53 km |
| 31 | Chinon Indre-et-Loire | 1 | 15% | 100% | 142 km |
| 32 | Meximieux Ain | 1 | 12% | 2.7% | 274 km |
| 33 | Thuir Pyrénées-Orientales | 0.9 | 0.4% | 0% | 23 km |
| 34 | Tournan-en-Brie Seine-et-Marne | 0.8 | 17% | 0% | 178 km |
| 35 | Malemort Corrèze | 0.7 | 27% | 0% | 171 km |
| 36 | Tonnay-Charente Charente-Maritime | 0.6 | 3.3% | 17% | 6.9 km |
| 37 | Questembert Morbihan | 0.6 | 19% | 0% | 16 km |
| 38 | Monts Indre-et-Loire | 0.5 | 28% | 0% | 173 km |
| 39 | Salles Gironde | 0.5 | 86% | 100% | 17 km |
| 40 | Évron Mayenne | 0.3 | 7.3% | 19% | 88 km |
| 41 | Donges Loire-Atlantique | 0.3 | 2.8% | 58% | 8.5 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 Ballancourt-sur-Essonne
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Forêt de la Coudraye leads, at 88 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Parc Christian Imbert
Park or garden
1.1 ha0.1 km of path
1.2 km westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Jardin de l'Europe
Park or garden
0.4 ha0.1 km of path
0.7 km north-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Gâtinais Français Regional Nature Park is the nearest protected area, 1.5 km away
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Regional nature park
Gâtinais Français Regional Nature Park
1.5 km from the town center
Natura 2000 site
Marais d’Itteville et de Fontenay-le-Vicomte
2 km from the town center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area0.1%
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.
A regional nature park is a charter between communes to look after a landscape: farming, building and hunting go on inside it.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
33 km of footpaths and 11 km of hiking routes cross Ballancourt-sur-Essonne
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
33 km
2.9 km per km²
Hiking routes
11 km
waymarked: 1 km per km²
Woodland
28%
about 3.1 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Ballancourt-sur-EssonneEssonne medianFrance median
Footpaths2.9
Hiking routes1
02.55 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Ballancourt-sur-EssonneEssonne medianFrance median
Woodland28%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 72% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 73% 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 Ballancourt-sur-Essonne is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
6 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 11C11 km
Chemin des Marais15 km
Entre Essonne et Juine12 km
Balade entre Brie de Gâtinais11 km
Du Val d'Yerres à l'Étampois9 km
Grand Tour de Paris, Franchard - Villiers-Saint-Frédéric8.7 km
GR 11C passes within 2 km of Ballancourt-sur-Essonne.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Ballancourt-sur-Essonne: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Bretigny_Sapc, 9.2 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) | 7 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 20 | 23 | 26 | 26 | 22 | 17 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 48 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 61 | 56 | 53 | 58 | 49 | 53 | 55 | 63 |
April is the driest month (45 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 26 °C). 63 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 44 nights a year. The climate in Ballancourt-sur-Essonne →
Neighbors
Next to Ballancourt-sur-Essonne
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
IttevilleVert-le-PetitSaint-VrainLa Ferté-AlaisChampcueilMennecyBallancourt-sur-Essonne
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ballancourt-sur-Essonne | 0.1% | 28% | 2.9 |
| Itteville 6,746 · 2.4 km | 7.1% | 33% | 0.6 |
| Vert-le-Petit 2,714 · 3.1 km | 11% | 17% | 1.1 |
| Saint-Vrain 3,089 · 4.4 km | 0.6% | 31% | 0.9 |
| La Ferté-Alais 3,731 · 5.3 km | 100% | 26% | 2.3 |
| Champcueil 2,854 · 5.4 km | 100% | 44% | 2.5 |
| Mennecy 16,433 · 5.7 km | 8.2% | 19% | 3.3 |
Vert-le-Petit, La Ferté-Alais and Champcueil have at least twice as much protected land. Champcueil is more wooded.
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 Ballancourt-sur-Essonne
Is Ballancourt-sur-Essonne in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Gâtinais Français Regional Nature Park, 1.5 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Ballancourt-sur-Essonne?
OpenStreetMap maps 33 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 2.9 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 11 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Ballancourt-sur-Essonne is woodland?
28% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Ballancourt-sur-Essonne near the sea?
No: the coast is 179 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Ballancourt-sur-Essonne?
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.