First pick
Jardin Botanique de Basse-Terre
Park or garden
1.3 ha0.5 km of path
5 minto walk all 0.5 km of path
0.9 km eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Enrevseluj · CC BY-SA 4.097%of the land protected
Outdoors in Basse-Terre · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Basse-Terre lies in the outer area of Guadeloupe National Park
97% of Basse-Terre’s land lies in protected areas. Footpaths add up to 8 km across Basse-Terre (1.9 km per km²). Mapped woodland covers 12% of Basse-Terre. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
97%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
12%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
8.4 km
1.9 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 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: Jardin Botanique de Basse-Terre
The sea
On it
the commune touches the coast, 0.1 km from its center
Throughout this page, the Guadeloupe 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 Basse-Terre?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
In the outer area of Guadeloupe National Park97% of the commune is in the park’s outer area, whose communes signed its charter.On the coastThe commune touches the sea; the coast is 0.1 km from its center.
What sets Basse-Terre apart: the national park next door, then the sea.
Against French towns
How Basse-Terre 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 areas97%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
91out of 100
Woodland12%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
46out of 100
Footpaths1.9 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
55out of 100
Hiking routes0 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
12out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Basse-Terre has the 17th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (9,275 to 9,554 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Bures-sur-Yvette (8.5 km per km²) to Tonneins (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bures-sur-Yvette Essonne | 8.5 | 26% | 0.2% | 155 km |
| 2 | Ville-la-Grand Haute-Savoie | 6 | 14% | 0% | 287 km |
| 3 | La Ravoire Savoie | 5.3 | 14% | 0% | 231 km |
| 4 | Poisy Haute-Savoie | 5 | 33% | 0% | 263 km |
| 5 | Jarville-la-Malgrange Meurthe-et-Moselle | 4.6 | 2.7% | 0% | 369 km |
| 6 | Magny-les-Hameaux Yvelines | 4.1 | 29% | 100% | 149 km |
| 7 | Carqueiranne Var | 3.9 | 28% | 0.1% | On it |
| 8 | Vert-Saint-Denis Seine-et-Marne | 3.9 | 23% | 0% | 187 km |
| 9 | Redon Ille-et-Vilaine | 3.8 | 10% | 32% | 28 km |
| 10 | Liffré Ille-et-Vilaine | 3.4 | 61% | 20% | 45 km |
| 11 | Séné Morbihan | 3.3 | 10% | 90% | On it |
| 12 | Arques Pas-de-Calais | 3.3 | 37% | 76% | 31 km |
| 13 | Rombas Moselle | 3.3 | 53% | 0% | 314 km |
| 14 | Le Passage Lot-et-Garonne | 3.2 | 7.8% | 9% | 131 km |
| 15 | Hagondange Moselle | 3.1 | 11% | 0% | 317 km |
| 16 | Mont-Saint-Martin Meurthe-et-Moselle | 2.9 | 18% | 0% | 274 km |
| 17 | Quincy-sous-Sénart Essonne | 2.8 | 57% | 0% | 174 km |
| 18 | Landivisiau Finistère | 2.8 | 12% | 0.8% | 14 km |
| 19 | Leers Nord | 2.6 | 1.6% | 0% | 64 km |
| 20 | Molsheim Bas-Rhin | 2.5 | 8.8% | 0% | 441 km |
| 21 | Sallaumines Pas-de-Calais | 2.4 | 8.1% | 0% | 77 km |
| 22 | Savenay Loire-Atlantique | 2.3 | 14% | 7.7% | 20 km |
| 23 | Clermont-l'Hérault Hérault | 2 | 22% | 46% | 32 km |
| 24 | Les Sorinières Loire-Atlantique | 2 | 9.8% | 0% | 37 km |
| 25 | Basse-Terre Guadeloupe | 1.9 | 12% | 97% | On it |
| 26 | Guichen Ille-et-Vilaine | 1.8 | 11% | 0% | 60 km |
| 27 | Lescar Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 1.6 | 6.6% | 20% | 89 km |
| 28 | Chaponost Rhône | 1.5 | 12% | 0% | 245 km |
| 29 | Belley Ain | 1.4 | 19% | 0% | 261 km |
| 30 | Paray-le-Monial Saône-et-Loire | 1.3 | 20% | 0% | 321 km |
| 31 | Dombasle-sur-Meurthe Meurthe-et-Moselle | 1 | 17% | 0% | 380 km |
| 32 | Luçon Vendée | 0.9 | 1.1% | 100% | 16 km |
| 33 | Nogent-le-Rotrou Eure-et-Loir | 0.8 | 7.9% | 100% | 127 km |
| 34 | Elne Pyrénées-Orientales | 0.8 | 0.2% | 3% | On it |
| 35 | Livron-sur-Drôme Drôme | 0.8 | 11% | 4.3% | 147 km |
| 36 | Albert Somme | 0.8 | 1.1% | 0% | 72 km |
| 37 | L'Isle-Jourdain Gers | 0.7 | 7% | 0% | 173 km |
| 38 | Vallet Loire-Atlantique | 0.6 | 7.8% | 0% | 56 km |
| 39 | Saint-Philbert-de-Grand-Lieu Loire-Atlantique | 0.4 | 4.5% | 44% | 26 km |
| 40 | Petit-Caux Seine-Maritime | 0.3 | 4.6% | 1.1% | On it |
| 41 | Tonneins Lot-et-Garonne | 0.2 | 2.8% | 3.5% | 99 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 Basse-Terre
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Jardin Botanique de Basse-Terre leads, at 1.3 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Le Champ d'Arbaud
Park or garden
1.2 ha0.3 km of path
0.7 km south-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Couvent des Carmelites
Park or garden · 40 m outside the commune
1.8 ha
1.8 km eastfrom 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 Basse-Terre
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
National park, outer area
Guadeloupe National Park
97% of the commune
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area97%
National park, outer area97%
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.
97% of Basse-Terre’s land is protected, more than in 91% of compared French towns. A national park’s outer area (aire d’adhésion) is made of the communes that signed the park’s charter: it guides how they grow, but it isn’t strict protection like the core. Natura 2000 doesn’t apply in the overseas départements.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
8 km of footpaths cross Basse-Terre
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
8.4 km
1.9 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked: 0 km per km²
Woodland
12%
about 0.5 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Basse-TerreGuadeloupe medianFrance median
Footpaths1.9
Hiking routes0
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Basse-TerreGuadeloupe medianFrance median
Woodland12%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 55% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 54% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. The center of Basse-Terre is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood (INSEE’s population grid doesn’t cover Guadeloupe).
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The walking year in Basse-Terre
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Le Raizet Aero, 38 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) | 11.3 | 11.6 | 12.0 | 12.5 | 12.9 | 13.1 | 13.0 | 12.7 | 12.2 | 11.7 | 11.4 | 11.2 |
| High (°C) | 29 | 29 | 30 | 30 | 31 | 31 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 31 | 31 | 30 |
| Rain (mm) | 89 | 58 | 72 | 99 | 123 | 105 | 135 | 163 | 198 | 203 | 186 | 127 |
February is the driest month (58 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 32 °C). 203 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 32 °C, too hot for the outline. The climate in Basse-Terre →
Neighbors
Next to Basse-Terre
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
BaillifGourbeyreSaint-ClaudeVieux-HabitantsTrois-RivièresBouillanteBasse-Terre
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basse-Terre | 97% | 12% | 1.9 | On it |
| Baillif 5,096 · 3.1 km | 100% | 58% | 0.4 | On it |
| Gourbeyre 7,307 · 4.3 km | 100% | 57% | 1 | On it |
| Saint-Claude 10,177 · 5.1 km | 36% | 58% | 1.2 | 5.2 km |
| Vieux-Habitants 7,077 · 7.8 km | 100% | 86% | 0.4 | On it |
| Trois-Rivières 7,415 · 9.6 km | 100% | 45% | 0.5 | On it |
| Bouillante 6,127 · 16 km | 100% | 86% | 0.9 | On it |
Baillif, Gourbeyre and Saint-Claude are 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 Basse-Terre
Is Basse-Terre in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Basse-Terre lies in Guadeloupe National Park (97% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Basse-Terre?
OpenStreetMap maps 8 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.9 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²).
How much of Basse-Terre is woodland?
12% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Basse-Terre near the sea?
Yes: the commune touches the coast, 0.1 km from its center.
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.