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Vue aérienne de Lacroix-Saint-Ouen 01Photo: Clicsouris · CC BY-SA 3.0
76%of the land protected
Outdoors in Lacroix-Saint-Ouen · protected areas, woods and footpaths

76% of Lacroix-Saint-Ouen’s land is protected for nature

73% of Lacroix-Saint-Ouen is mapped woodland. Footpaths add up to 25 km across Lacroix-Saint-Ouen (1.2 km per km²). Lacroix-Saint-Ouen has 8 km of waymarked hiking routes. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.

Protected areas
76%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
73%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
25 km
1.2 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
8.4 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: Forêt domaniale de Compiègne

Throughout this page, the Oise 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 Lacroix-Saint-Ouen?

Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.

What sets Lacroix-Saint-Ouen apart: its protected countryside, then its woods.

Against French towns

How Lacroix-Saint-Ouen 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 areas76%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
NoneMedian 0.1%100
90out of 100
Woodland73%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
Median 13%0100
99out of 100
Footpaths1.2 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
Median 1.7 km per km²08+
38out of 100
Hiking routes0.4 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
NoneMedian 0.3 km per km²3+
55out of 100

Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.

Towns its size

Lacroix-Saint-Ouen has the 17th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size

The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (5,369 to 5,459 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.

Lacroix-Saint-Ouen 1.2
Cormelles-le-RoyalNoyant-Villages
048 km per km²

From Cormelles-le-Royal (7.2 km per km²) to Noyant-Villages (0.1 km per km²).

Every town in the comparison
TownPaths (km/km²)WoodlandProtectedCoast
1Cormelles-le-Royal Calvados7.22.2%0%15 km
2Heillecourt Meurthe-et-Moselle6.11.5%0%369 km
3Marsannay-la-Côte Côte-d'Or647%49%405 km
4Marles-les-Mines Pas-de-Calais3.63.7%0%57 km
5Crégy-lès-Meaux Seine-et-Marne3.510%0%159 km
6Le Cendre Puy-de-Dôme3.43.3%1.8%249 km
7Levens Alpes-Maritimes364%12%17 km
8Charbonnières-les-Bains Rhône2.816%0%252 km
9Saint-Genis-les-Ollières Rhône2.514%0%250 km
10Roques Haute-Garonne2.44.3%40%148 km
11Peyrolles-en-Provence Bouches-du-Rhône2.463%69%38 km
12La Roque-d'Anthéron Bouches-du-Rhône2.336%51%39 km
13Plouhinec Morbihan224%32%On it
14Calonne-Ricouart Pas-de-Calais1.81.5%0%56 km
15Saint-Pierre-lès-Nemours Seine-et-Marne1.845%29%214 km
16Wervicq-Sud Nord1.83%0%48 km
17Ollainville Essonne1.737%0%165 km
18Rosheim Bas-Rhin1.757%0%443 km
19Rousset Bouches-du-Rhône1.77.1%7.7%27 km
20Arnage Sarthe1.611%0%138 km
21Cruseilles Haute-Savoie1.640%21%273 km
22Flers-en-Escrebieux Nord1.512%1%85 km
23Bordères-sur-l'Échez Hautes-Pyrénées1.422%0%128 km
24Vic-le-Comte Puy-de-Dôme1.219%100%241 km
25Lacroix-Saint-Ouen Oise1.273%76%121 km
26Coulogne Pas-de-Calais1.21.1%0%4.7 km
27Saint-Astier Dordogne133%8%89 km
28Aiffres Deux-Sèvres13.4%14%54 km
29Le Lion-d'Angers Maine-et-Loire15.4%0.8%115 km
30Fenain Nord110%99%97 km
31Drusenheim Bas-Rhin0.829%17%449 km
32Saint-Memmie Marne0.74.7%0%239 km
33La Ferrière Vendée0.79.6%0%38 km
34Boulay-Moselle Moselle0.711%0%339 km
35Mouguerre Pyrénées-Atlantiques0.540%7.9%11 km
36Reichshoffen Bas-Rhin0.527%100%420 km
37Garons Gard0.50.1%0%35 km
38Ploumagoar Côtes-d'Armor0.520%0%19 km
39Châtillon-sur-Seine Côte-d'Or0.412%100%334 km
40Aubigny-sur-Nère Cher0.325%24%265 km
41Noyant-Villages Maine-et-Loire0.123%13%164 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.

1
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 Lacroix-Saint-Ouen

Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Forêt domaniale de Compiègne leads, at 13,652 ha. Directions go to a point inside.

First pick

Forêt domaniale de Compiègne

Wood or forest
13,652 ha261.7 km of path
58 h 10 minto walk all 261.7 km of path
13 km eastfrom the center
Route Tournante sur le Mont Saint-MarcRoute Tournante sur la Tête Saint-JeanCircuit Trail+5 paths
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 Lacroix-Saint-Ouen

The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.

Natura 2000 site

Forêts picardes : Compiègne, Laigue, Ourscamps

76% of the commune0.5 km from the center
Natura 2000 site

Massif forestier de Compiègne

12% of the commune2.9 km from the center

Share of the commune’s land

Any protected area76%
Natura 2000 site76%

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.

76% of Lacroix-Saint-Ouen’s land is protected, more than in 90% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Oise has 0.1%.

Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.

Footpaths and woods

25 km of footpaths and 8 km of hiking routes cross Lacroix-Saint-Ouen

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
25 km
1.2 km per km²
Hiking routes
8.4 km
waymarked: 0.4 km per km²
Woodland
73%
about 15.3 km² of mapped woods

Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap

Lacroix-Saint-OuenOise medianFrance median
Footpaths1.2
Hiking routes0.4
012 km per km²

Share of the land · mapped woods and forest

Lacroix-Saint-OuenOise medianFrance median
Woodland73%
0%50%100%

That is less than in 62% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 99% 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 Lacroix-Saint-Ouen 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 124A10 km
Du Puits du Roi au Vivier Corax8.5 km
Autour du Chêne Mobbs6.3 km
de Saint-Quentin à Orrouy (selon GR 655)6.2 km
Promenade de Royallieu1.7 km
Sentier de la Rainette1.6 km

GR 124A passes within 2 km of Lacroix-Saint-Ouen.

Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).

When to get out

The best walking months in Lacroix-Saint-Ouen: April to September

Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Margny-Les-Compiegne, 8.4 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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)8.610.111.713.715.316.215.914.412.510.79.08.2
High (°C)681216192225252116107
Rain (mm)514543425854576344605365

April is the driest month (42 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 25 °C). 65 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 44 nights a year. The climate in Lacroix-Saint-Ouen →

Neighbors

Next to Lacroix-Saint-Ouen

The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.

CompiègneBéthisy-Saint-PierreVerberieVenetteMargny-lès-CompiègneChoisy-au-BacLacroix-Saint-Ouen
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
TownProtectedWoodlandPaths (km/km²)
Lacroix-Saint-Ouen76%73%1.2
Compiègne
40,761 · 6.1 km
76%74%3.4
Béthisy-Saint-Pierre
3,111 · 6.2 km
21%37%2.1
Verberie
3,898 · 6.7 km
8.1%20%1
Venette
2,758 · 6.8 km
0%7.3%1.4
Margny-lès-Compiègne
8,677 · 8.1 km
0%1.3%2.1
Choisy-au-Bac
3,449 · 12 km
56%62%2.5
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 Lacroix-Saint-Ouen

Is Lacroix-Saint-Ouen in a national or regional nature park?

No, but 76% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.

Are there good walks in Lacroix-Saint-Ouen?

OpenStreetMap maps 25 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.2 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 8 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.

How much of Lacroix-Saint-Ouen is woodland?

73% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.

Is Lacroix-Saint-Ouen 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 Lacroix-Saint-Ouen?

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.