First pick
Parc naturel départemental de Trousse-Bois
Park or garden
54 ha1.1 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.1 km of path
2.4 km northfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Alvaro · CC BY-SA 3.07.9%of the land protected
Outdoors in Briare · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Briare is within 800 m of a park or wood
27% of Briare is mapped woodland. 35 km of footpaths cross Briare (0.8 km per km²). Protected areas cover 7.9% of Briare’s land. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
7.9%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
27%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
35 km
0.8 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
15 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
8
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Parc naturel départemental de Trousse-Bois
Throughout this page, the Loiret 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 Briare 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 areas7.9%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
69out of 100
Woodland27%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
72out of 100
Footpaths0.8 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
24out 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
Briare has the 19th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (4,868 to 4,956 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Quiberon (6.6 km per km²) to Charny Orée de Puisaye (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Quiberon Morbihan | 6.6 | 2.8% | 18% | On it |
| 2 | Grand-Fort-Philippe Nord | 4.5 | 0.1% | 0% | On it |
| 3 | Bogny-sur-Meuse Ardennes | 4.3 | 79% | 100% | 200 km |
| 4 | Le Versoud Isère | 3.2 | 18% | 0% | 202 km |
| 5 | Pechbonnieu Haute-Garonne | 2.8 | 15% | 0% | 150 km |
| 6 | Gratentour Haute-Garonne | 2.8 | 1.8% | 0% | 153 km |
| 7 | L'Île-d'Yeu Vendée | 2.8 | 21% | 44% | On it |
| 8 | La Grand-Croix Loire | 2.5 | 15% | 0% | 219 km |
| 9 | Ballainvilliers Essonne | 2.4 | 2.3% | 0% | 164 km |
| 10 | Uchaud Gard | 2.1 | 32% | 2.7% | 26 km |
| 11 | Sainte-Marie-la-Mer Pyrénées-Orientales | 1.9 | 1.4% | 1.3% | On it |
| 12 | Volvic Puy-de-Dôme | 1.9 | 57% | 100% | 269 km |
| 13 | Lambres-lez-Douai Nord | 1.8 | 4.4% | 0% | 90 km |
| 14 | Laigneville Oise | 1.5 | 29% | 0% | 112 km |
| 15 | Le Quesnoy Nord | 1.4 | 2.1% | 100% | 120 km |
| 16 | Montbazon Indre-et-Loire | 1.2 | 29% | 0% | 178 km |
| 17 | Cluny Saône-et-Loire | 1.1 | 42% | 100% | 322 km |
| 18 | Claira Pyrénées-Orientales | 1.1 | 0% | 0% | 7 km |
| 19 | Bruyères-sur-Oise Val-d'Oise | 1 | 3.1% | 0.2% | 122 km |
| 20 | Verneuil-sur-Vienne Haute-Vienne | 1 | 23% | 0% | 154 km |
| 21 | Mourmelon-le-Grand Marne | 1 | 29% | 0.1% | 226 km |
| 22 | Créon Gironde | 0.9 | 24% | 0% | 32 km |
| 23 | Briare Loiret | 0.8 | 27% | 7.9% | 266 km |
| 24 | Souppes-sur-Loing Seine-et-Marne | 0.7 | 19% | 1.4% | 223 km |
| 25 | Sainte-Eulalie Gironde | 0.6 | 7.3% | 0% | 14 km |
| 26 | Heyrieux Isère | 0.6 | 6.6% | 0% | 242 km |
| 27 | Decize Nièvre | 0.6 | 15% | 32% | 355 km |
| 28 | Bégard Côtes-d'Armor | 0.5 | 11% | 0% | 13 km |
| 29 | Nivillac Morbihan | 0.5 | 9.4% | 3.7% | 9.4 km |
| 30 | Écommoy Sarthe | 0.5 | 28% | 0.2% | 151 km |
| 31 | La Côte-Saint-André Isère | 0.5 | 10% | 0% | 218 km |
| 32 | Amplepuis Rhône | 0.4 | 29% | 0% | 269 km |
| 33 | Witry-lès-Reims Marne | 0.4 | 3.6% | 0% | 201 km |
| 34 | Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule Allier | 0.4 | 6.2% | 9.3% | 311 km |
| 35 | Lisle-sur-Tarn Tarn | 0.4 | 30% | 0% | 136 km |
| 36 | Saint-Père-en-Retz Loire-Atlantique | 0.3 | 5.6% | 5.7% | 8.1 km |
| 37 | Saint-Sulpice-et-Cameyrac Gironde | 0.3 | 6.2% | 7.7% | 20 km |
| 38 | Castelnau-de-Médoc Gironde | 0.2 | 82% | 100% | 10 km |
| 39 | Bonneval Eure-et-Loir | 0.1 | 9.3% | 30% | 159 km |
| 40 | Saint-Laurent-Médoc Gironde | 0.1 | 61% | 100% | 7.6 km |
| 41 | Charny Orée de Puisaye Yonne | 0.1 | 22% | 0% | 266 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 Briare
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc naturel départemental de Trousse-Bois leads, at 54 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Parc du Baraban
Park or garden
1.7 ha0.5 km of path
Centralin the middle of Briare
Directionsto a point inside
Square de la Mairie
Park or garden
0.9 ha0.2 km of path
Centralin the middle of Briare
Directionsto a point inside
Aire du Port aux Pierres
Park or garden
0.5 ha0.4 km of path
0.8 km southfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Square Frédéric Bapterosse
Park or garden
0.6 ha0.3 km of path
Centralin the middle of Briare
Square Frederic Bapterosses
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
7.9% of Briare 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
Vallée de la Loire de Tavers à Belleville-sur-Loire
7.4% of the commune0.5 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Vallée de la Loire du Loiret
5.2% of the commune0.6 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area7.9%
Natura 2000 site7.9%
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.
7.9% of Briare’s land is protected, more than in 69% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Loiret has 4%.
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 15 km of hiking routes cross Briare
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
0.8 km per km²
Hiking routes
15 km
waymarked: 0.3 km per km²
Woodland
27%
about 12.2 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
BriareLoiret medianFrance median
Footpaths0.8
Hiking routes0.3
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
BriareLoiret medianFrance median
Woodland27%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 76% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 72% 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 Briare is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
A named hiking route within 2 km
Other named walk
Tour du Gâtinais-Puisaye7.4 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Briare: April and June to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Nogent-Sur-V., 22 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) | 8.8 | 10.2 | 11.8 | 13.6 | 15.1 | 16.0 | 15.6 | 14.3 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.2 | 8.4 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 20 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 22 | 17 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 62 | 54 | 53 | 55 | 73 | 56 | 61 | 57 | 53 | 72 | 69 | 73 |
March is the driest month (53 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 26 °C). 73 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 53 nights a year. The climate in Briare →
Neighbors
Next to Briare
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Châtillon-sur-LoireGienNogent-sur-VernissonOuzouer-sur-LoireAubigny-sur-NèreBriare
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Briare | 7.9% | 27% | 0.8 |
| Châtillon-sur-Loire 3,065 · 6.2 km | 9.3% | 15% | 0.4 |
| Gien 13,459 · 9.7 km | 1.8% | 35% | 0.3 |
| Nogent-sur-Vernisson 2,559 · 22 km | 0.3% | 46% | 0.2 |
| Ouzouer-sur-Loire 2,543 · 24 km | 44% | 57% | 0.4 |
| Aubigny-sur-Nère 5,451 · 28 km | 24% | 25% | 0.3 |
Ouzouer-sur-Loire and Aubigny-sur-Nère have at least twice as much protected land. Nogent-sur-Vernisson and Ouzouer-sur-Loire 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 Briare
Is Briare in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 7.9% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Briare?
OpenStreetMap maps 35 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.8 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 15 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Briare is woodland?
27% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Briare near the sea?
No: the coast is 266 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Briare?
April and June 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.