First pick
Parc de la Garenne
Park or garden
22 ha1.7 km of path
20 minto walk all 1.7 km of path
0.9 km southfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Pierre Poschadel · CC BY-SA 4.022%woodland
Outdoors in Saint-Leu-d'Esserent · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Saint-Leu-d'Esserent is within 800 m of a park or wood
22% of Saint-Leu-d'Esserent is mapped woodland. No protected area reaches Saint-Leu-d'Esserent; the nearest, Oise-Pays de France Regional Nature Park, is 0.8 km from the town center. Saint-Leu-d'Esserent has 6 km of waymarked hiking routes. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
0.3%
of the commune’s land
Nearest: Oise-Pays de France Regional Nature Park, 0.8 km
Woodland
22%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
24 km
1.8 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
6.4 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: Parc de la Garenne
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.
Against French towns
How Saint-Leu-d'Esserent 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 areas0.3%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
53out of 100
Woodland22%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
66out of 100
Footpaths1.8 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
54out of 100
Hiking routes0.5 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
60out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Saint-Leu-d'Esserent has the 15th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (4,606 to 4,670 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From La Tremblade (4.3 km per km²) to Vayres (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | La Tremblade Charente-Maritime | 4.3 | 72% | 89% | On it |
| 2 | Auzeville-Tolosane Haute-Garonne | 3.8 | 6.3% | 0% | 140 km |
| 3 | Ars-sur-Moselle Moselle | 3.7 | 59% | 100% | 327 km |
| 4 | La Tour-de-Salvagny Rhône | 3.3 | 28% | 0% | 255 km |
| 5 | Mandeure Doubs | 3 | 59% | 11% | 410 km |
| 6 | Sangatte Pas-de-Calais | 2.9 | 1.7% | 99% | On it |
| 7 | Évin-Malmaison Pas-de-Calais | 2.9 | 19% | 0% | 80 km |
| 8 | Ascain Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 2.6 | 20% | 51% | 5.2 km |
| 9 | Guesnain Nord | 2.3 | 3% | 0% | 93 km |
| 10 | Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or Rhône | 2.3 | 5.8% | 0% | 258 km |
| 11 | Auchy-les-Mines Pas-de-Calais | 2.2 | 2.3% | 0% | 66 km |
| 12 | Angres Pas-de-Calais | 2.1 | 14% | 0% | 75 km |
| 13 | Auberchicourt Nord | 1.9 | 2% | 0.3% | 97 km |
| 14 | Plouha Côtes-d'Armor | 1.9 | 15% | 0.1% | On it |
| 15 | Saint-Leu-d'Esserent Oise | 1.8 | 22% | 0.3% | 119 km |
| 16 | Trouville-sur-Mer Calvados | 1.8 | 7.9% | 0.5% | On it |
| 17 | Bar-sur-Aube Aube | 1.5 | 14% | 22% | 309 km |
| 18 | Blénod-lès-Pont-à-Mousson Meurthe-et-Moselle | 1.3 | 20% | 11% | 343 km |
| 19 | La Fouillouse Loire | 1.3 | 26% | 0% | 217 km |
| 20 | Saint-Pierre-de-Chandieu Rhône | 1.2 | 14% | 0% | 243 km |
| 21 | Neufchâtel-en-Bray Seine-Maritime | 1.2 | 17% | 3.7% | 32 km |
| 22 | Jargeau Loiret | 1 | 7.3% | 20% | 218 km |
| 23 | Montville Seine-Maritime | 1 | 39% | 0% | 41 km |
| 24 | Soucieu-en-Jarrest Rhône | 1 | 15% | 0% | 240 km |
| 25 | Bouloc Haute-Garonne | 1 | 22% | 0% | 158 km |
| 26 | Véretz Indre-et-Loire | 1 | 13% | 0% | 188 km |
| 27 | Salaise-sur-Sanne Isère | 0.9 | 13% | 9.2% | 207 km |
| 28 | Bas-en-Basset Haute-Loire | 0.9 | 54% | 97% | 194 km |
| 29 | Les Garennes sur Loire Maine-et-Loire | 0.9 | 12% | 23% | 121 km |
| 30 | Puget-Ville Var | 0.9 | 23% | 19% | 20 km |
| 31 | Bédée Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.8 | 0.5% | 0% | 35 km |
| 32 | Montbard Côte-d'Or | 0.6 | 74% | 0% | 344 km |
| 33 | La Bouëxière Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.6 | 35% | 0% | 48 km |
| 34 | Saint-Hilaire-de-Brethmas Gard | 0.6 | 4.6% | 0% | 59 km |
| 35 | Hagetmau Landes | 0.4 | 15% | 0% | 68 km |
| 36 | Pluméliau-Bieuzy Morbihan | 0.4 | 16% | 0% | 26 km |
| 37 | Dompierre-sur-Yon Vendée | 0.4 | 8.7% | 0% | 39 km |
| 38 | Saint-Méen-le-Grand Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.4 | 13% | 0% | 36 km |
| 39 | Villers-Bretonneux Somme | 0.3 | 8.8% | 0% | 69 km |
| 40 | Soullans Vendée | 0.2 | 5.9% | 51% | 11 km |
| 41 | Vayres Gironde | 0.2 | 2.2% | 11% | 24 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 Saint-Leu-d'Esserent
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc de la Garenne leads, at 22 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Parc Jacques Duclos
Park or garden
1.2 ha0.6 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.6 km of path
0.7 km eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
City Stade de Villers
Park or garden · 260 m outside the commune
0.3 ha0.2 km of path
1.3 km westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Oise-Pays de France Regional Nature Park is the nearest protected area, 0.8 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
Oise-Pays de France Regional Nature Park
0.8 km from the town center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area0.3%
Regional nature park0.3%
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
24 km of footpaths and 6 km of hiking routes cross Saint-Leu-d'Esserent
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
24 km
1.8 km per km²
Hiking routes
6.4 km
waymarked: 0.5 km per km²
Woodland
22%
about 3 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Saint-Leu-d'EsserentOise medianFrance median
Footpaths1.8
Hiking routes0.5
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Saint-Leu-d'EsserentOise medianFrance median
Woodland22%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 54% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 66% 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 Saint-Leu-d'Esserent is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
2 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 1A4.6 km
Grand Tour de Paris, Montagny-Prouvaire - La Ferté-Milon13 km
GR 1A passes within 2 km of Saint-Leu-d'Esserent.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Saint-Leu-d'Esserent: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Creil, 8.7 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) | 8.6 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.7 | 15.3 | 16.2 | 15.8 | 14.4 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.0 | 8.2 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 19 | 22 | 25 | 25 | 21 | 16 | 11 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 56 | 47 | 48 | 45 | 60 | 56 | 56 | 58 | 45 | 61 | 59 | 71 |
September is the driest month (45 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 25 °C). 71 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 51 nights a year. The climate in Saint-Leu-d'Esserent →
Neighbors
Next to Saint-Leu-d'Esserent
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Saint-MaximinPrécy-sur-OiseGouvieuxChantillyMontataireCreilSaint-Leu-d'Esserent
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Leu-d'Esserent | 0.3% | 22% | 1.8 |
| Saint-Maximin 3,335 · 2.4 km | 88% | 54% | 3 |
| Précy-sur-Oise 3,332 · 3.1 km | 100% | 14% | 1 |
| Gouvieux 8,867 · 3.4 km | 100% | 43% | 3.5 |
| Chantilly 10,591 · 4.7 km | 100% | 70% | 6.8 |
| Montataire 14,257 · 5 km | 0.1% | 11% | 2.9 |
| Creil 36,301 · 6.4 km | 41% | 25% | 5.8 |
Saint-Maximin, Précy-sur-Oise and Gouvieux have at least twice as much protected land. Saint-Maximin, Gouvieux and Chantilly are more wooded.
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 Saint-Leu-d'Esserent
Is Saint-Leu-d'Esserent in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Oise-Pays de France Regional Nature Park, 0.8 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Saint-Leu-d'Esserent?
OpenStreetMap maps 24 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.8 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 6 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Saint-Leu-d'Esserent is woodland?
22% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Saint-Leu-d'Esserent near the sea?
No: the coast is 119 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Saint-Leu-d'Esserent?
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.