First pick
Parc Municipal
Park or garden
0.5 ha0.3 km of path
Centralin the middle of Ars-sur-Moselle
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: PaulT (Gunther Tschuch) · CC BY-SA 4.0100%of the land protected
Outdoors in Ars-sur-Moselle · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Ars-sur-Moselle lies inside Lorraine Regional Nature Park
100% of Ars-sur-Moselle’s land lies in protected areas. Mapped woodland covers 59% of Ars-sur-Moselle. 43 km of footpaths cross Ars-sur-Moselle (3.7 km per km²). France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
100%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
59%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
43 km
3.7 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
13 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
1
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Parc Municipal
Throughout this page, the Moselle 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 Ars-sur-Moselle?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Inside Lorraine Regional Nature Park100% of the commune is in the regional nature park.A wooded commune59% mapped woodland, more than in 95% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.A place of footpaths3.7 km per km² of mapped footpath, against 1.7 km per km² for the median compared town.On waymarked routes13 km of GR and other hiking routes cross the commune.
What sets Ars-sur-Moselle apart: the regional nature park around it, then its woods.
Against French towns
How Ars-sur-Moselle 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 areas100%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
96out of 100
Woodland59%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
95out of 100
Footpaths3.7 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
82out of 100
Hiking routes1.1 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
87out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Ars-sur-Moselle has the 3rd most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (4,576 to 4,659 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From La Tremblade (4.3 km per km²) to Vayres (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | La Tremblade Charente-Maritime | 4.3 | 72% | 89% | On it |
| 2 | Bizanos Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 3.8 | 12% | 9.4% | 98 km |
| 3 | Ars-sur-Moselle Moselle | 3.7 | 59% | 100% | 327 km |
| 4 | La Tour-de-Salvagny Rhône | 3.3 | 28% | 0% | 255 km |
| 5 | Mandeure Doubs | 3 | 59% | 11% | 410 km |
| 6 | Évin-Malmaison Pas-de-Calais | 2.9 | 19% | 0% | 80 km |
| 7 | Ascain Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 2.6 | 20% | 51% | 5.2 km |
| 8 | Guesnain Nord | 2.3 | 3% | 0% | 93 km |
| 9 | Auchy-les-Mines Pas-de-Calais | 2.2 | 2.3% | 0% | 66 km |
| 10 | Angres Pas-de-Calais | 2.1 | 14% | 0% | 75 km |
| 11 | Auberchicourt Nord | 1.9 | 2% | 0.3% | 97 km |
| 12 | Plouha Côtes-d'Armor | 1.9 | 15% | 0.1% | On it |
| 13 | Saint-Leu-d'Esserent Oise | 1.8 | 22% | 0.3% | 119 km |
| 14 | Trouville-sur-Mer Calvados | 1.8 | 7.9% | 0.5% | On it |
| 15 | Grimaud Var | 1.7 | 41% | 4.5% | On it |
| 16 | Blénod-lès-Pont-à-Mousson Meurthe-et-Moselle | 1.3 | 20% | 11% | 343 km |
| 17 | La Fouillouse Loire | 1.3 | 26% | 0% | 217 km |
| 18 | Saint-Pierre-de-Chandieu Rhône | 1.2 | 14% | 0% | 243 km |
| 19 | Espalion Aveyron | 1.2 | 30% | 3.6% | 144 km |
| 20 | Jargeau Loiret | 1 | 7.3% | 20% | 218 km |
| 21 | Montville Seine-Maritime | 1 | 39% | 0% | 41 km |
| 22 | Bouloc Haute-Garonne | 1 | 22% | 0% | 158 km |
| 23 | Véretz Indre-et-Loire | 1 | 13% | 0% | 188 km |
| 24 | Salaise-sur-Sanne Isère | 0.9 | 13% | 9.2% | 207 km |
| 25 | Bas-en-Basset Haute-Loire | 0.9 | 54% | 97% | 194 km |
| 26 | Puget-Ville Var | 0.9 | 23% | 19% | 20 km |
| 27 | Dieulouard Meurthe-et-Moselle | 0.8 | 24% | 100% | 348 km |
| 28 | Lescure-d'Albigeois Tarn | 0.6 | 16% | 0% | 119 km |
| 29 | Montbard Côte-d'Or | 0.6 | 74% | 0% | 344 km |
| 30 | Macau Gironde | 0.5 | 13% | 100% | On it |
| 31 | Hagetmau Landes | 0.4 | 15% | 0% | 68 km |
| 32 | Pluméliau-Bieuzy Morbihan | 0.4 | 16% | 0% | 26 km |
| 33 | Dompierre-sur-Yon Vendée | 0.4 | 8.7% | 0% | 39 km |
| 34 | Sézanne Marne | 0.4 | 22% | 1.7% | 220 km |
| 35 | Arnas Rhône | 0.4 | 8.7% | 2.2% | 277 km |
| 36 | Saint-Méen-le-Grand Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.4 | 13% | 0% | 36 km |
| 37 | Tiercé Maine-et-Loire | 0.3 | 12% | 16% | 131 km |
| 38 | Villers-Bretonneux Somme | 0.3 | 8.8% | 0% | 69 km |
| 39 | Cabannes Bouches-du-Rhône | 0.3 | 1.5% | 14% | 46 km |
| 40 | Soullans Vendée | 0.2 | 5.9% | 51% | 11 km |
| 41 | Vayres Gironde | 0.2 | 2.2% | 11% | 24 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 Ars-sur-Moselle
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc Municipal leads, at 0.5 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Protected land in and around Ars-sur-Moselle
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Regional nature park
Lorraine Regional Nature Park
100% of the commune
Natura 2000 site
Pelouses du pays Messin
2.2% of the commune0.8 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Vallons de Gorze et grotte de Robert Fey
3.9 km from the town center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area100%
Regional nature park100%
Natura 2000 site2.2%
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.
100% of Ars-sur-Moselle’s land is protected, more than in 96% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Moselle has 0%. 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
43 km of footpaths and 13 km of hiking routes cross Ars-sur-Moselle
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
43 km
3.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
13 km
waymarked: 1.1 km per km²
Woodland
59%
about 6.9 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Ars-sur-MoselleMoselle medianFrance median
Footpaths3.7
Hiking routes1.1
02.55 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Ars-sur-MoselleMoselle medianFrance median
Woodland59%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 82% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 95% 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 Ars-sur-Moselle 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 511 km
GR 5017 km
Val de Metz: Fèves - Gorze12 km
Circuit de la Vallée de la Mance12 km
Tour entre Côtes de Moselle et Côtes de Meuse11 km
Nancy - Metz7.9 km
2 GR routes pass within 2 km of Ars-sur-Moselle: GR 5 and GR 501.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Ars-sur-Moselle: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Metz-Frescaty, 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) | 8.6 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.6 | 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 Ars-sur-Moselle →
Neighbors
Next to Ars-sur-Moselle
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Moulins-lès-MetzScy-ChazellesMarlyMontigny-lès-MetzLongeville-lès-MetzLe Ban-Saint-MartinArs-sur-Moselle
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ars-sur-Moselle | 100% | 59% | 3.7 |
| Moulins-lès-Metz 5,265 · 4.2 km | 0% | 17% | 3.5 |
| Scy-Chazelles 2,753 · 4.9 km | 16% | 21% | 6.6 |
| Marly 10,286 · 6.4 km | 0% | 4.4% | 3 |
| Montigny-lès-Metz 21,718 · 6.4 km | 0% | 3.4% | 4.9 |
| Longeville-lès-Metz 4,102 · 6.9 km | 0% | 9.3% | 7.3 |
| Le Ban-Saint-Martin 4,684 · 7.5 km | 0% | 27% | 4.6 |
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 Ars-sur-Moselle
Is Ars-sur-Moselle in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Ars-sur-Moselle lies in Lorraine Regional Nature Park (100% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Ars-sur-Moselle?
OpenStreetMap maps 43 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 3.7 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 13 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Ars-sur-Moselle is woodland?
59% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Ars-sur-Moselle near the sea?
No: the coast is 327 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Ars-sur-Moselle?
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.