First pick
Bois Duquesnoy
Wood or forest · 200 m outside the commune
63 ha
2.2 km southfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Jérémy-Günther-Heinz Jähnick · CC BY-SA 3.07.5%woodland
Outdoors in Arleux · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Arleux is within 800 m of a park or wood
Arleux has 16 km of waymarked hiking routes. No protected area reaches Arleux; the nearest, Scarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park, is 11 km from the town center. Footpaths add up to 10 km across Arleux (0.9 km per km²). 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: Scarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park, 11 km
Woodland
7.5%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
10 km
0.9 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
16 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
3
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Bois Duquesnoy
Throughout this page, the Nord 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 Arleux 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
22out of 100
Woodland7.5%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
32out of 100
Footpaths0.9 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
30out of 100
Hiking routes1.4 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
91out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Arleux has the 18th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (3,101 to 3,149 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Étiolles (3.7 km per km²) to Chasseneuil-sur-Bonnieure (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Étiolles Essonne | 3.7 | 72% | 0% | 175 km |
| 2 | Sérézin-du-Rhône Rhône | 3.5 | 20% | 0% | 237 km |
| 3 | Spicheren Moselle | 3.1 | 39% | 0% | 362 km |
| 4 | Donville-les-Bains Manche | 3.1 | 2.8% | 0% | On it |
| 5 | Asnières-sur-Oise Val-d'Oise | 3.1 | 51% | 100% | 125 km |
| 6 | La Tranche-sur-Mer Vendée | 2.8 | 18% | 100% | On it |
| 7 | Morainvilliers Yvelines | 2.4 | 32% | 0% | 127 km |
| 8 | Saint-Germain-au-Mont-d'Or Rhône | 2.3 | 24% | 0% | 264 km |
| 9 | Solaize Rhône | 2.3 | 17% | 0% | 239 km |
| 10 | Béthisy-Saint-Pierre Oise | 2.1 | 37% | 21% | 127 km |
| 11 | La Sentinelle Nord | 1.9 | 3.3% | 0.5% | 104 km |
| 12 | Le Touvet Isère | 1.9 | 48% | 58% | 212 km |
| 13 | Éloyes Vosges | 1.8 | 59% | 0% | 428 km |
| 14 | Gilly-sur-Isère Savoie | 1.6 | 13% | 0.1% | 228 km |
| 15 | Chorges Hautes-Alpes | 1.5 | 34% | 16% | 122 km |
| 16 | Arbois Jura | 1.4 | 51% | 12% | 373 km |
| 17 | Plancoët Côtes-d'Armor | 1.4 | 13% | 100% | 3.9 km |
| 18 | Besse-sur-Issole Var | 1.3 | 36% | 0.7% | 26 km |
| 19 | Moyenmoutier Vosges | 1.2 | 72% | 2.8% | 426 km |
| 20 | Champcevinel Dordogne | 1.1 | 51% | 0% | 106 km |
| 21 | Le Plan-de-la-Tour Var | 1.1 | 40% | 0% | 7.3 km |
| 22 | Appoigny Yonne | 1 | 46% | 2.7% | 289 km |
| 23 | Vémars Val-d'Oise | 0.9 | 6.8% | 0% | 139 km |
| 24 | Arleux Nord | 0.9 | 7.5% | 0% | 99 km |
| 25 | Quarouble Nord | 0.9 | 19% | 100% | 106 km |
| 26 | Boussois Nord | 0.9 | 5.1% | 100% | 131 km |
| 27 | Saint-Thibéry Hérault | 0.8 | 6.2% | 0.2% | 12 km |
| 28 | Thézan-lès-Béziers Hérault | 0.8 | 0.9% | 0% | 22 km |
| 29 | Saint-Jacques-sur-Darnétal Seine-Maritime | 0.6 | 26% | 0% | 54 km |
| 30 | Le Molay-Littry Calvados | 0.5 | 10% | 0.1% | 14 km |
| 31 | Montfrin Gard | 0.5 | 3.1% | 14% | 47 km |
| 32 | Valensole Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 0.4 | 44% | 100% | 75 km |
| 33 | Gimont Gers | 0.4 | 6.2% | 0% | 184 km |
| 34 | Château-Landon Seine-et-Marne | 0.4 | 13% | 0.2% | 224 km |
| 35 | Saint-Hippolyte Pyrénées-Orientales | 0.3 | 0% | 68% | 6.1 km |
| 36 | Maringues Puy-de-Dôme | 0.3 | 11% | 40% | 269 km |
| 37 | Merdrignac Côtes-d'Armor | 0.2 | 32% | 0% | 39 km |
| 38 | Lapalisse Allier | 0.2 | 12% | 0% | 301 km |
| 39 | Dissay Vienne | 0.2 | 34% | 24% | 127 km |
| 40 | Lailly-en-Val Loiret | 0.1 | 52% | 60% | 210 km |
| 41 | Chasseneuil-sur-Bonnieure Charente | 0.1 | 23% | 0% | 103 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 Arleux
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Bois Duquesnoy leads, at 63 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Parc Ecoland - Hébergement insolite, micro-ferme
Park or garden · 40 m outside the commune
1.2 ha
1.6 km south-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Espace Émile Beauchmamp
Park or garden
0.2 ha
Centralin the middle of Arleux
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Scarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park is the nearest protected area, 11 km away
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Regional nature park
Scarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park
11 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
10 km of footpaths and 16 km of hiking routes cross Arleux
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
10 km
0.9 km per km²
Hiking routes
16 km
waymarked: 1.4 km per km²
Woodland
7.5%
about 0.8 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
ArleuxNord medianFrance median
Footpaths0.9
Hiking routes1.4
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
ArleuxNord medianFrance median
Woodland7.5%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 70% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 68% 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 Arleux is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
10 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 12118 km
Le Chemin des Trous et des Bosses20 km
Autour des Marais11 km
Circuit des Canaux11 km
Circuit des Aulx9.5 km
Boucle 4 - Le Douaisis à pas de Géants5.4 km
Par Monts et Par Vaux4.8 km
Circuit du Mont Tilleul3.9 km
Circuit des Monts Saint-Rémy3.4 km
Pas La Petite Sensée2.2 km
GR 121 passes within 2 km of Arleux.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Arleux: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Cambrai-Epinoy, 7.2 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) | 8.5 | 10.0 | 11.7 | 13.7 | 15.4 | 16.4 | 16.0 | 14.5 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.9 | 8.1 |
| High (°C) | 6 | 7 | 11 | 15 | 18 | 21 | 24 | 24 | 20 | 15 | 10 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 54 | 48 | 50 | 43 | 57 | 64 | 68 | 68 | 57 | 64 | 63 | 70 |
April is the driest month (43 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 24 °C). 70 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 44 nights a year. The climate in Arleux →
Neighbors
Next to Arleux
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
MonchecourtCourchelettesDechyGuesnainLambres-lez-DouaiBrebièresArleux
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arleux | 0% | 7.5% | 0.9 |
| Monchecourt 2,516 · 7.6 km | 0% | 2.1% | 1 |
| Courchelettes 2,855 · 7.9 km | 0% | 6.5% | 4.3 |
| Dechy 5,338 · 8 km | 0% | 13% | 2.3 |
| Guesnain 4,635 · 8.1 km | 0% | 3% | 2.3 |
| Lambres-lez-Douai 4,883 · 8.7 km | 0% | 4.4% | 1.8 |
| Brebières 5,283 · 8.9 km | 0% | 8% | 1 |
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 Arleux
Is Arleux in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Scarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park, 11 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Arleux?
OpenStreetMap maps 10 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.9 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 16 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Arleux is woodland?
7.5% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Arleux near the sea?
No: the coast is 99 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Arleux?
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.