Photo: Ocorpace · CC BY-SA 4.0Almost every home in Marcoussis is within 800 m of a park or wood
34% of Marcoussis is mapped woodland. 46 km of footpaths cross Marcoussis (2.7 km per km²). No protected area reaches Marcoussis; the nearest, Haute Vallée de Chevreuse Regional Nature Park, is 2.4 km from the town center. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
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 outdoors place is Marcoussis?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
What sets Marcoussis apart: its woods, then protected land close by.
How Marcoussis 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.
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Marcoussis has the 9th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (8,536 to 8,705 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From L'Île-Saint-Denis (6.6 km per km²) to Coutras (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | L'Île-Saint-Denis Seine-Saint-Denis | 6.6 | 13% | 19% | 142 km |
| 2 | Crolles Isère | 4.6 | 26% | 19% | 207 km |
| 3 | Petit-Couronne Seine-Maritime | 4.2 | 40% | 0% | 49 km |
| 4 | Artigues-près-Bordeaux Gironde | 3.8 | 9.5% | 0% | 18 km |
| 5 | Essey-lès-Nancy Meurthe-et-Moselle | 3.7 | 11% | 0% | 366 km |
| 6 | Rouvroy Pas-de-Calais | 3.3 | 5% | 0% | 81 km |
| 7 | Thorigné-Fouillard Ille-et-Vilaine | 3.1 | 10% | 3.1% | 48 km |
| 8 | Saint-Renan Finistère | 2.9 | 5% | 0% | 8 km |
| 9 | Marcoussis Essonne | 2.7 | 34% | 0% | 163 km |
| 10 | Vendin-le-Vieil Pas-de-Calais | 2.7 | 11% | 0% | 72 km |
| 11 | Varces-Allières-et-Risset Isère | 2.4 | 33% | 32% | 194 km |
| 12 | Sautron Loire-Atlantique | 2.3 | 16% | 0% | 34 km |
| 13 | Privas Ardèche | 2.1 | 32% | 1.6% | 136 km |
| 14 | Bormes-les-Mimosas Var | 2.1 | 38% | 8.3% | On it |
| 15 | Margny-lès-Compiègne Oise | 2.1 | 1.3% | 0% | 117 km |
| 16 | Puget-sur-Argens Var | 1.9 | 9.8% | 54% | 6.5 km |
| 17 | Chamonix-Mont-Blanc Haute-Savoie | 1.8 | 15% | 14% | 243 km |
| 18 | Ergué-Gabéric Finistère | 1.8 | 21% | 0% | 6.3 km |
| 19 | Aulnoye-Aymeries Nord | 1.7 | 1.2% | 100% | 132 km |
| 20 | Soustons Landes | 1.7 | 65% | 9.6% | On it |
| 21 | Lillebonne Seine-Maritime | 1.6 | 18% | 0% | 16 km |
| 22 | Le Grau-du-Roi Gard | 1.6 | 3.9% | 89% | On it |
| 23 | Crest Drôme | 1.2 | 25% | 0% | 142 km |
| 24 | Isbergues Pas-de-Calais | 1.1 | 0.8% | 0% | 47 km |
| 25 | Sérignan Hérault | 1.1 | 0.2% | 34% | On it |
| 26 | Saint-Chamas Bouches-du-Rhône | 1 | 8.1% | 50% | 15 km |
| 27 | Saint-Jory Haute-Garonne | 0.9 | 6.1% | 6.4% | 159 km |
| 28 | Plabennec Finistère | 0.7 | 2.3% | 0% | 7.8 km |
| 29 | Roussillon Isère | 0.6 | 12% | 0% | 209 km |
| 30 | Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône | 0.6 | 1.2% | 81% | On it |
| 31 | Châteauneuf-sur-Loire Loiret | 0.6 | 49% | 22% | 222 km |
| 32 | Le Loroux-Bottereau Loire-Atlantique | 0.6 | 6.4% | 8.8% | 53 km |
| 33 | Souleuvre en Bocage Calvados | 0.6 | 10% | 21% | 45 km |
| 34 | Janzé Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.6 | 2.9% | 0% | 70 km |
| 35 | Thaon-les-Vosges Vosges | 0.6 | 41% | 0% | 406 km |
| 36 | Domérat Allier | 0.5 | 8.5% | 0% | 275 km |
| 37 | Chantonnay Vendée | 0.5 | 12% | 0% | 42 km |
| 38 | Le Poiré-sur-Vie Vendée | 0.4 | 4.9% | 0% | 32 km |
| 39 | Aigues-Mortes Gard | 0.4 | 2.8% | 100% | 6 km |
| 40 | Mauléon Deux-Sèvres | 0.4 | 6.8% | 0% | 76 km |
| 41 | Coutras Gironde | 0.1 | 11% | 19% | 37 km |
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.
Parks and woods to walk in, in and around Marcoussis
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Forêt départementale de la Roche Turpin leads, at 968 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Bois des Bezelles
Bois des Fossés
Bois des Carrés
Forêt Départementale de Bellejame
Parc des Célestins
Voie verte de la Sallemouille
Parc du Chêne Rond
All 9 named parks, gardens and woods
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Haute Vallée de Chevreuse Regional Nature Park is the nearest protected area, 2.4 km away
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Haute Vallée de Chevreuse Regional Nature Park
Share of the commune’s land
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.
46 km of footpaths and 7 km of hiking routes cross Marcoussis
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.
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
That is more than in 70% 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. Every home in Marcoussis is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
A named hiking route within 2 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
The best walking months in Marcoussis: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Bretigny_Sapc, 8.4 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 Marcoussis →
Next to Marcoussis
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marcoussis | 0% | 34% | 2.7 |
| Nozay 4,471 · 2.2 km | 0% | 5.7% | 3.2 |
| Linas 7,987 · 3 km | 0% | 32% | 2.5 |
| Montlhéry 9,772 · 3 km | 0% | 9.8% | 4.1 |
| La Ville-du-Bois 8,161 · 3.6 km | 0% | 28% | 4.4 |
| Leuville-sur-Orge 4,271 · 3.7 km | 0% | 15% | 3.8 |
| Longpont-sur-Orge 6,482 · 4.2 km | 0% | 15% | 3.2 |
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 Marcoussis
Is Marcoussis in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Haute Vallée de Chevreuse Regional Nature Park, 2.4 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Marcoussis?
OpenStreetMap maps 46 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 2.7 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 7 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Marcoussis is woodland?
34% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Marcoussis near the sea?
No: the coast is 163 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Marcoussis?
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 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.