First pick
Bois de Tilly
Wood or forest
319 ha12.5 km of path
2 h 45 minto walk all 12.5 km of path
2.6 km north-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Rovo · Public domain16%woodland
Outdoors in Étain · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Étain is within 800 m of a park or wood
15 km of footpaths cross Étain (0.8 km per km²). No protected area reaches Étain; the nearest, Forêts et zones humides du pays de Spincourt (Natura 2000), is 3 km from the town center. 16% of Étain is mapped woodland. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
0%
of the commune’s land
Nearest: Forêts et zones humides du pays de Spincourt, 3 km
Woodland
16%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
15 km
0.8 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: Bois de Tilly
Throughout this page, the Meuse 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 Étain 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%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
47out of 100
Woodland16%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
56out 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 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
Étain has the 19th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (3,342 to 3,409 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Collégien (5.9 km per km²) to La Ville-Dieu-du-Temple (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Collégien Seine-et-Marne | 5.9 | 29% | 0% | 165 km |
| 2 | Briis-sous-Forges Essonne | 3.5 | 22% | 0.1% | 157 km |
| 3 | Fontanil-Cornillon Isère | 3.5 | 42% | 36% | 210 km |
| 4 | Renage Isère | 3.1 | 31% | 0% | 215 km |
| 5 | Seilh Haute-Garonne | 3 | 15% | 12% | 156 km |
| 6 | Anduze Gard | 2.9 | 49% | 100% | 55 km |
| 7 | Buchelay Yvelines | 2.8 | 7.5% | 0% | 108 km |
| 8 | Cocheren Moselle | 2.6 | 36% | 0% | 360 km |
| 9 | Villiers-Saint-Frédéric Yvelines | 2.5 | 17% | 0% | 131 km |
| 10 | Auribeau-sur-Siagne Alpes-Maritimes | 2.3 | 48% | 16% | 8.4 km |
| 11 | Vals-près-le-Puy Haute-Loire | 2 | 17% | 0% | 164 km |
| 12 | Annet-sur-Marne Seine-et-Marne | 1.8 | 24% | 23% | 158 km |
| 13 | Salles-d'Aude Aude | 1.7 | 12% | 19% | 9 km |
| 14 | Saint-Cast-le-Guildo Côtes-d'Armor | 1.7 | 12% | 100% | On it |
| 15 | Porcheville Yvelines | 1.6 | 11% | 0% | 115 km |
| 16 | Merlimont Pas-de-Calais | 1.6 | 28% | 63% | On it |
| 17 | Hulluch Pas-de-Calais | 1.3 | 7.9% | 0% | 69 km |
| 18 | Mareuil-lès-Meaux Seine-et-Marne | 1.1 | 18% | 0.6% | 163 km |
| 19 | Boissy-le-Châtel Seine-et-Marne | 1.1 | 20% | 0% | 184 km |
| 20 | Bonifacio Corse-du-Sud | 1.1 | 11% | 18% | On it |
| 21 | Narrosse Landes | 1 | 25% | 10% | 34 km |
| 22 | Saint-André Pyrénées-Orientales | 0.9 | 1.3% | 0% | 6.3 km |
| 23 | Étain Meuse | 0.8 | 16% | 0% | 295 km |
| 24 | Thurins Rhône | 0.8 | 31% | 0% | 240 km |
| 25 | Vernet Haute-Garonne | 0.7 | 4.5% | 1.7% | 141 km |
| 26 | Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Landes | 0.7 | 62% | 21% | 34 km |
| 27 | Pont-sur-Yonne Yonne | 0.6 | 20% | 0% | 238 km |
| 28 | Louvigné-du-Désert Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.6 | 4.2% | 0% | 24 km |
| 29 | Mont-près-Chambord Loir-et-Cher | 0.5 | 58% | 23% | 224 km |
| 30 | Saint-Andiol Bouches-du-Rhône | 0.5 | 0% | 0% | 43 km |
| 31 | Landrecies Nord | 0.3 | 1.3% | 100% | 133 km |
| 32 | Saint-André-de-Corcy Ain | 0.3 | 20% | 49% | 272 km |
| 33 | Longages Haute-Garonne | 0.2 | 8% | 0% | 153 km |
| 34 | Descartes Indre-et-Loire | 0.2 | 15% | 0% | 158 km |
| 35 | Vescovato Haute-Corse | 0.2 | 16% | 2.9% | 5.9 km |
| 36 | Durtal Maine-et-Loire | 0.2 | 34% | 0% | 135 km |
| 37 | Traînou Loiret | 0.2 | 33% | 21% | 207 km |
| 38 | Iwuy Nord | 0.2 | 4.4% | 0% | 110 km |
| 39 | Saint-Médard-d'Eyrans Gironde | 0.2 | 29% | 36% | 33 km |
| 40 | Castillon-la-Bataille Gironde | 0.1 | 12% | 1.5% | 47 km |
| 41 | La Ville-Dieu-du-Temple Tarn-et-Garonne | 0.1 | 9% | 0% | 180 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 Étain
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Bois de Tilly leads, at 319 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Le Pénard
Wood or forest · 100 m outside the commune
132 ha
3.4 km northfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Parc Paul Thiery
Park or garden
0.7 ha0.4 km of path
Centralin the middle of Étain
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Forêts et zones humides du pays de Spincourt is the nearest protected area, 3 km away
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Natura 2000 site
Forêts et zones humides du pays de Spincourt
3 km from the town center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area0%
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.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
15 km of footpaths cross Étain
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
15 km
0.8 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked: 0 km per km²
Woodland
16%
about 3.3 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
ÉtainMeuse medianFrance median
Footpaths0.8
Hiking routes0
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
ÉtainMeuse medianFrance median
Woodland16%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 76% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 56% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 95% of Étain’s residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Étain: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Metz-Frescaty, 39 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) | 8.6 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.7 | 15.3 | 16.2 | 15.8 | 14.4 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.0 | 8.2 |
| High (°C) | 5 | 7 | 12 | 16 | 20 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 21 | 15 | 9 | 6 |
| Rain (mm) | 62 | 56 | 51 | 45 | 57 | 56 | 60 | 59 | 62 | 65 | 65 | 77 |
April is the driest month (45 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 26 °C). 77 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 61 nights a year. The climate in Étain →
Neighbors
Next to Étain
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
BoulignyBelleville-sur-MeuseJarnyVerdunThierville-sur-MeuseVal de BrieyÉtain
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Étain | 0% | 16% | 0.8 |
| Bouligny 2,507 · 12 km | 0% | 8.4% | 0.1 |
| Belleville-sur-Meuse 3,013 · 19 km | 39% | 42% | 1.6 |
| Jarny 8,050 · 19 km | 48% | 12% | 0.7 |
| Verdun 16,890 · 19 km | 3.6% | 21% | 1.4 |
| Thierville-sur-Meuse 3,172 · 21 km | 2.4% | 6% | 0.2 |
| Val de Briey 8,130 · 22 km | 0% | 55% | 1.7 |
Belleville-sur-Meuse and Jarny have at least twice as much protected land. Belleville-sur-Meuse and Val de Briey 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 Étain
Is Étain in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Forêts et zones humides du pays de Spincourt, 3 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Étain?
OpenStreetMap maps 15 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).
How much of Étain is woodland?
16% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Étain near the sea?
No: the coast is 295 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Étain?
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.