Photo: Jean-Pol GRANDMONT · CC BY 4.0Bavay lies inside Avesnois Regional Nature Park
100% of Bavay’s land lies in protected areas. 5 km of footpaths cross Bavay (0.4 km per km²). 4% of Bavay is mapped woodland. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
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.
What kind of outdoors place is Bavay?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
What sets Bavay apart: the regional nature park around it. It is shorter on footpaths.
How Bavay 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.
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Bavay has the 11th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (3,222 to 3,277 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Saint-Quay-Portrieux (4.1 km per km²) to Albias (0 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saint-Quay-Portrieux Côtes-d'Armor | 4.1 | 0% | 0% | On it |
| 2 | L'Île-Rousse Haute-Corse | 3.6 | 0% | 0% | On it |
| 3 | Exincourt Doubs | 3.3 | 4% | 0% | 416 km |
| 4 | Amfreville-la-Mi-Voie Seine-Maritime | 3.2 | 24% | 3.5% | 56 km |
| 5 | Volx Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 3.1 | 37% | 100% | 71 km |
| 6 | Les Noës-près-Troyes Aube | 3.1 | 0% | 0% | 270 km |
| 7 | Luc-sur-Mer Calvados | 3 | 1.1% | 0% | On it |
| 8 | Lespinasse Haute-Garonne | 2.8 | 1.6% | 0% | 156 km |
| 9 | Bousse Moselle | 2.6 | 33% | 0% | 316 km |
| 10 | Carantec Finistère | 2.2 | 3.6% | 14% | On it |
| 11 | Jard-sur-Mer Vendée | 2.1 | 21% | 43% | On it |
| 12 | Ormoy Essonne | 2 | 25% | 0% | 180 km |
| 13 | Bonne Haute-Savoie | 1.7 | 34% | 3.3% | 281 km |
| 14 | Pontpoint Oise | 1.5 | 41% | 100% | 120 km |
| 15 | Montmorot Jura | 1.3 | 17% | 0% | 357 km |
| 16 | Saint-Geniès-de-Malgoirès Gard | 1.3 | 32% | 0% | 44 km |
| 17 | Saint-Parres-aux-Tertres Aube | 1.2 | 8.7% | 0.6% | 274 km |
| 18 | Romilly-sur-Andelle Eure | 1.1 | 39% | 5.8% | 66 km |
| 19 | Magnac-sur-Touvre Charente | 1 | 22% | 3.1% | 82 km |
| 20 | Haveluy Nord | 0.8 | 4.2% | 99% | 101 km |
| 21 | Boves Somme | 0.8 | 24% | 8.8% | 63 km |
| 22 | Offranville Seine-Maritime | 0.8 | 4.5% | 0% | 5.3 km |
| 23 | Moussy-le-Neuf Seine-et-Marne | 0.8 | 26% | 0.2% | 141 km |
| 24 | Frévent Pas-de-Calais | 0.7 | 13% | 0% | 44 km |
| 25 | Anould Vosges | 0.6 | 49% | 0.1% | 443 km |
| 26 | Bram Aude | 0.6 | 3.5% | 0% | 81 km |
| 27 | Podensac Gironde | 0.5 | 14% | 4.6% | 44 km |
| 28 | Gouville-sur-Mer Manche | 0.5 | 2.6% | 0.4% | 2.9 km |
| 29 | Lansargues Hérault | 0.5 | 0.6% | 27% | 10 km |
| 30 | Carentoir Morbihan | 0.5 | 20% | 0% | 40 km |
| 31 | Bavay Nord | 0.4 | 4% | 100% | 121 km |
| 32 | La Tour-du-Crieu Ariège | 0.4 | 0% | 0% | 114 km |
| 33 | Montendre Charente-Maritime | 0.4 | 17% | 15% | 23 km |
| 34 | Azay-sur-Cher Indre-et-Loire | 0.3 | 15% | 0% | 189 km |
| 35 | Brou Eure-et-Loir | 0.3 | 2.2% | 0% | 149 km |
| 36 | Vonnas Ain | 0.3 | 9.9% | 0% | 304 km |
| 37 | Aix-Villemaur-Pâlis Aube | 0.3 | 26% | 0.9% | 263 km |
| 38 | Picauville Manche | 0.2 | 2.9% | 100% | 15 km |
| 39 | Verneuil-l'Étang Seine-et-Marne | 0.2 | 9.8% | 0% | 189 km |
| 40 | Argentonnay Deux-Sèvres | 0.1 | 5.2% | 4.8% | 91 km |
| 41 | Albias Tarn-et-Garonne | 0 | 4.8% | 1.4% | 173 km |
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is the commune’s boundary.
Protected land in and around Bavay
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Avesnois Regional Nature Park
Carrière des Nerviens nature reserve
Share of the commune’s land
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 Bavay’s land is protected, more than in 96% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Nord 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.
5 km of footpaths and 5 km of hiking routes cross Bavay
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.
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
That is less than in 88% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 81% 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 Bavay is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
5 named hiking routes within 2 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
The best walking months in Bavay: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Valenciennes, 24 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 | 8.0 |
| High (°C) | 6 | 8 | 11 | 15 | 19 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 20 | 16 | 10 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 54 | 47 | 51 | 42 | 58 | 63 | 66 | 68 | 52 | 60 | 64 | 69 |
April is the driest month (42 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 24 °C). 69 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 46 nights a year. The climate in Bavay →
Next to Bavay
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bavay | 100% | 4% | 0.4 |
| Feignies 6,703 · 8.6 km | 100% | 4.1% | 0.5 |
| Hautmont 14,152 · 9.9 km | 0% | 11% | 1.6 |
| Berlaimont 3,159 · 10 km | 100% | 7.2% | 0.3 |
| Aulnoye-Aymeries 8,612 · 11 km | 100% | 1.2% | 1.7 |
| Maubeuge 28,767 · 12 km | 0.1% | 2.2% | 2.6 |
| Louvroil 6,294 · 12 km | 0% | 5.6% | 2.7 |
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 Bavay
Is Bavay in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Bavay lies in Avesnois Regional Nature Park (100% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Bavay?
OpenStreetMap maps 5 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.4 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 5 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Bavay is woodland?
4% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Bavay near the sea?
No: the coast is 121 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Bavay?
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 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.