First pick
Bois de Flines
Wood or forest
275 ha4.4 km of path
1 hto walk all 4.4 km of path
3.9 km north-eastfrom the center
Chemin du Petit Bois de Râches
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Serge Ottaviani · CC BY-SA 3.099%of the land protected
Outdoors in Râches · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Râches lies inside Scarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park
Protected areas cover 99% of Râches’ land. Waymarked hiking routes add up to 6 km in Râches. 25% of Râches is mapped woodland. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
99%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
25%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
7.3 km
1.5 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
5.6 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
4
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Bois de Flines
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 place
What kind of outdoors place is Râches?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Inside Scarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park99% of the commune is in the regional nature park.On waymarked routes6 km of GR and other hiking routes cross the commune.
What sets Râches apart: the regional nature park around it, then its hiking routes.
Against French towns
How Râches 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 areas99%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
92out of 100
Woodland25%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
70out of 100
Footpaths1.5 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
46out 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
Râches has the 13th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (2,638 to 2,706 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Guilvinec (6.2 km per km²) to Richebourg (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guilvinec Finistère | 6.2 | 0.8% | 2.7% | On it |
| 2 | Étrembières Haute-Savoie | 4.1 | 32% | 22% | 284 km |
| 3 | Gassin Var | 3.5 | 46% | 0% | On it |
| 4 | La Richardais Ille-et-Vilaine | 3.4 | 9.9% | 100% | On it |
| 5 | Bagnoles de l'Orne Normandie Orne | 3.3 | 39% | 100% | 69 km |
| 6 | Morzine Haute-Savoie | 2.4 | 33% | 36% | 274 km |
| 7 | Roissy-en-France Val-d'Oise | 2.1 | 4.3% | 0% | 144 km |
| 8 | Les Vans Ardèche | 1.8 | 46% | 78% | 94 km |
| 9 | Coquelles Pas-de-Calais | 1.8 | 1.7% | 0.7% | 2.8 km |
| 10 | Vinassan Aude | 1.7 | 20% | 65% | 9.2 km |
| 11 | Souchez Pas-de-Calais | 1.7 | 9% | 0% | 75 km |
| 12 | Piriac-sur-Mer Loire-Atlantique | 1.5 | 9.1% | 0.8% | On it |
| 13 | Râches Nord | 1.5 | 25% | 99% | 86 km |
| 14 | Saint-Yorre Allier | 1.4 | 23% | 15% | 283 km |
| 15 | Marmoutier Bas-Rhin | 1.3 | 28% | 0% | 423 km |
| 16 | Auboué Meurthe-et-Moselle | 1.2 | 21% | 0% | 311 km |
| 17 | Cauffry Oise | 1.2 | 17% | 0% | 110 km |
| 18 | Châteauneuf-en-Thymerais Eure-et-Loir | 1.2 | 57% | 62% | 115 km |
| 19 | Verlinghem Nord | 1.1 | 6.3% | 0% | 55 km |
| 20 | Villaines-la-Juhel Mayenne | 1 | 0.4% | 0% | 85 km |
| 21 | Masnières Nord | 1 | 4% | 0% | 109 km |
| 22 | Montréjeau Haute-Garonne | 0.9 | 5.7% | 2.6% | 175 km |
| 23 | Fourques Gard | 0.9 | 1.7% | 4.6% | 28 km |
| 24 | Marpent Nord | 0.7 | 15% | 0% | 133 km |
| 25 | Calenzana Haute-Corse | 0.7 | 12% | 100% | On it |
| 26 | Torcy Saône-et-Loire | 0.7 | 19% | 0% | 359 km |
| 27 | Le Bugue Dordogne | 0.7 | 53% | 5.1% | 120 km |
| 28 | Brienne-le-Château Aube | 0.6 | 40% | 100% | 287 km |
| 29 | Carignan Ardennes | 0.6 | 4% | 27% | 237 km |
| 30 | Rieux-Volvestre Haute-Garonne | 0.6 | 6.6% | 7% | 154 km |
| 31 | Toury Eure-et-Loir | 0.5 | 0.8% | 0% | 180 km |
| 32 | Montayral Lot-et-Garonne | 0.4 | 10% | 8.3% | 137 km |
| 33 | Cubzac-les-Ponts Gironde | 0.4 | 5.8% | 10% | 12 km |
| 34 | Cadillac-sur-Garonne Gironde | 0.3 | 7.2% | 5.4% | 47 km |
| 35 | Magescq Landes | 0.3 | 77% | 2.4% | 16 km |
| 36 | Chanas Isère | 0.3 | 19% | 0% | 204 km |
| 37 | Criquetot-l'Esneval Seine-Maritime | 0.3 | 1.2% | 0% | 8.3 km |
| 38 | Villefranche-sur-Cher Loir-et-Cher | 0.2 | 60% | 45% | 247 km |
| 39 | Ailly-sur-Noye Somme | 0.2 | 22% | 0% | 68 km |
| 40 | Essômes-sur-Marne Aisne | 0.2 | 31% | 0% | 176 km |
| 41 | Richebourg Pas-de-Calais | 0.1 | 0.9% | 0% | 57 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 Râches
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Bois de Flines leads, at 275 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Terril des Paturelles
Wood or forest
78 ha5.1 km of path
1 h 5 minto walk all 5.1 km of path
1 km westfrom the center
Single des PaturellesSingle de l'Escarpelle de WarenChemin du Marais de l'Escarpelle+3 paths
Directionsto a point inside
Terril de l'Escarpelle
Wood or forest · 400 m outside the commune
30 ha3.5 km of path
45 minto walk all 3.5 km of path
2.3 km south-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Parc de Râches
Park or garden
1.4 ha0.6 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.6 km of path
Centralin the middle of Râches
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Protected land in and around Râches
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
99% of the commune
Natura 2000 site
Bois de Flines-les-Raches et système alluvial du courant des Vanneaux
16% of the commune0.7 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area99%
Regional nature park99%
Natura 2000 site16%
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.
99% of Râches’ land is protected, more than in 92% 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.
Footpaths and woods
7 km of footpaths and 6 km of hiking routes cross Râches
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
7.3 km
1.5 km per km²
Hiking routes
5.6 km
waymarked: 1.1 km per km²
Woodland
25%
about 1.2 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
RâchesNord medianFrance median
Footpaths1.5
Hiking routes1.1
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
RâchesNord medianFrance median
Woodland25%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 54% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 70% 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 Râches is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
4 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 121B8.1 km
Boucle 4 - Le Douaisis à pas de Géants11 km
Au fil de la Scarpe6.3 km
Terril 81A - Libercourt0.5 km
GR 121B passes within 2 km of Râches.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Râches: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Douai, 5.7 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 Râches →
Neighbors
Next to Râches
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Roost-WarendinRaimbeaucourtFlines-lez-RachesLallaingWaziersFlers-en-EscrebieuxRâches
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Râches | 99% | 25% | 1.5 |
| Roost-Warendin 5,956 · 2.2 km | 7.5% | 22% | 2.9 |
| Raimbeaucourt 4,000 · 3.4 km | 99% | 16% | 0.7 |
| Flines-lez-Raches 5,745 · 3.6 km | 100% | 21% | 0.6 |
| Lallaing 6,287 · 3.8 km | 98% | 16% | 2.7 |
| Waziers 7,266 · 4 km | 0% | 4.9% | 2.2 |
| Flers-en-Escrebieux 5,424 · 5.2 km | 1% | 12% | 1.5 |
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 Râches
Is Râches in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Râches lies in Scarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park (99% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Râches?
OpenStreetMap maps 7 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.5 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 6 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Râches is woodland?
25% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Râches near the sea?
No: the coast is 86 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Râches?
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.