First pick
Parc Des Arbandries
Park or garden · 220 m outside the commune
4.7 ha1.2 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.2 km of path
3.9 km north-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Serge Ottaviani · CC BY-SA 3.013%woodland
Outdoors in Dechy · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Dechy is within 800 m of a park or wood
No protected area reaches Dechy; the nearest, Scarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park, is 3.3 km from the town center. 21 km of footpaths cross Dechy (2.3 km per km²). Dechy has 1 km of waymarked hiking routes. 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, 3.3 km
Woodland
13%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
21 km
2.3 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
1.3 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 Des Arbandries
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 Dechy 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
44out of 100
Woodland13%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
50out of 100
Footpaths2.3 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
63out of 100
Hiking routes0.1 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
33out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Dechy has the 10th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (5,281 to 5,396 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Cormelles-le-Royal (7.2 km per km²) to Mormant (0.3 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cormelles-le-Royal Calvados | 7.2 | 2.2% | 0% | 15 km |
| 2 | Mériel Val-d'Oise | 6 | 41% | 9.5% | 124 km |
| 3 | Barberaz Savoie | 4.4 | 26% | 50% | 232 km |
| 4 | Bethoncourt Doubs | 4.4 | 38% | 0% | 420 km |
| 5 | Mundolsheim Bas-Rhin | 3.5 | 6.5% | 0% | 445 km |
| 6 | Levens Alpes-Maritimes | 3 | 64% | 12% | 17 km |
| 7 | Charbonnières-les-Bains Rhône | 2.8 | 16% | 0% | 252 km |
| 8 | La Balme-de-Sillingy Haute-Savoie | 2.6 | 41% | 0% | 269 km |
| 9 | Bretignolles-sur-Mer Vendée | 2.5 | 9.6% | 23% | On it |
| 10 | Dechy Nord | 2.3 | 13% | 0% | 92 km |
| 11 | Villers-le-Lac Doubs | 2 | 45% | 100% | 370 km |
| 12 | Calonne-Ricouart Pas-de-Calais | 1.8 | 1.5% | 0% | 56 km |
| 13 | Erquinghem-Lys Nord | 1.7 | 2.6% | 0% | 51 km |
| 14 | Cruseilles Haute-Savoie | 1.6 | 40% | 21% | 273 km |
| 15 | Idron Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 1.6 | 15% | 4.1% | 100 km |
| 16 | Tresses Gironde | 1.5 | 9.1% | 0% | 20 km |
| 17 | Gray Haute-Saône | 1.4 | 47% | 28% | 418 km |
| 18 | Commercy Meuse | 1.3 | 64% | 5.6% | 324 km |
| 19 | Vic-le-Comte Puy-de-Dôme | 1.2 | 19% | 100% | 241 km |
| 20 | Saint-Astier Dordogne | 1 | 33% | 8% | 89 km |
| 21 | Trèbes Aude | 1 | 9.6% | 0% | 54 km |
| 22 | Le Lion-d'Angers Maine-et-Loire | 1 | 5.4% | 0.8% | 115 km |
| 23 | Brebières Pas-de-Calais | 1 | 8% | 0% | 90 km |
| 24 | Gambsheim Bas-Rhin | 0.9 | 13% | 13% | 450 km |
| 25 | Condat-sur-Vienne Haute-Vienne | 0.9 | 17% | 0% | 160 km |
| 26 | Valence Tarn-et-Garonne | 0.9 | 8.2% | 0.6% | 154 km |
| 27 | Mouy Oise | 0.8 | 34% | 0% | 106 km |
| 28 | Drusenheim Bas-Rhin | 0.8 | 29% | 17% | 449 km |
| 29 | Chagny Saône-et-Loire | 0.8 | 38% | 0.8% | 376 km |
| 30 | Blotzheim Haut-Rhin | 0.8 | 16% | 0% | 424 km |
| 31 | Le Pellerin Loire-Atlantique | 0.7 | 2.7% | 64% | 24 km |
| 32 | Audruicq Pas-de-Calais | 0.7 | 0.2% | 0% | 12 km |
| 33 | Bléré Indre-et-Loire | 0.6 | 11% | 8.4% | 197 km |
| 34 | Garons Gard | 0.5 | 0.1% | 0% | 35 km |
| 35 | Parigné-l'Évêque Sarthe | 0.5 | 49% | 19% | 149 km |
| 36 | Reyrieux Ain | 0.4 | 11% | 2.2% | 270 km |
| 37 | Saint-Lyphard Loire-Atlantique | 0.4 | 6.2% | 100% | 8.4 km |
| 38 | Vindry-sur-Turdine Rhône | 0.4 | 17% | 0% | 260 km |
| 39 | Champniers Charente | 0.3 | 9.7% | 0% | 81 km |
| 40 | Plessé Loire-Atlantique | 0.3 | 15% | 0.9% | 35 km |
| 41 | Mormant Seine-et-Marne | 0.3 | 7.5% | 0% | 195 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 Dechy
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc Des Arbandries leads, at 4.7 ha. Directions go to 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, 3.3 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
3.3 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.
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
21 km of footpaths cross Dechy
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
21 km
2.3 km per km²
Hiking routes
1.3 km
waymarked: 0.1 km per km²
Woodland
13%
about 1.2 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
DechyNord medianFrance median
Footpaths2.3
Hiking routes0.1
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
DechyNord medianFrance median
Woodland13%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 63% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 50% 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 Dechy is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
8 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 1210.9 km
Boucle du Vivier9.4 km
Boucle 4 - Le Douaisis à pas de Géants8.3 km
Au fil de la Scarpe6.1 km
Circuit des Monts Saint-Rémy4.5 km
Pas La Petite Sensée2 km
Le Chemin des Trous et des Bosses1.9 km
Boucle 5 - Au cœur de l'héritage religieux et minier de l'Ostrevent0.9 km
GR 121 passes within 2 km of Dechy.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Dechy: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Douai, 6.1 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 | 7 | 11 | 15 | 19 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 20 | 15 | 10 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 58 | 51 | 53 | 42 | 57 | 63 | 68 | 68 | 61 | 64 | 71 | 73 |
April is the driest month (42 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 24 °C). 73 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 48 nights a year. The climate in Dechy →
Neighbors
Next to Dechy
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
GuesnainSin-le-NobleWaziersLambres-lez-DouaiDouaiMontigny-en-OstreventDechy
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dechy | 0% | 13% | 2.3 |
| Guesnain 4,635 · 1.5 km | 0% | 3% | 2.3 |
| Sin-le-Noble 16,076 · 1.7 km | 0.1% | 12% | 2.7 |
| Waziers 7,266 · 3.9 km | 0% | 4.9% | 2.2 |
| Lambres-lez-Douai 4,883 · 4.2 km | 0% | 4.4% | 1.8 |
| Douai 40,250 · 4.2 km | 1.1% | 5.3% | 3.5 |
| Montigny-en-Ostrevent 4,495 · 4.5 km | 0.4% | 13% | 2.8 |
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 Dechy
Is Dechy in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Scarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park, 3.3 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Dechy?
OpenStreetMap maps 21 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 2.3 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 1 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Dechy is woodland?
13% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Dechy near the sea?
No: the coast is 92 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Dechy?
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.