First pick
Forêt d'Halatte
Wood or forest
7,101 ha202.1 km of path
44 h 55 minto walk all 202.1 km of path
9.2 km north-eastfrom the center
Chemin de BrenouilleRoute des Blancs SablonsRoute de la Valroy+5 paths
Directionsto a point inside
![Pont sur l'Oise à Creil. Cie [Compagnie des chemins de fer] du Nord. [Pont de Laversine à Saint-Maximin, entre Paris et Creil] / Duclos, J.](https://images.townratings.com/fr/town_images/30022981/3c757267767fd7391e3f.jpg)
Photo: Duclos, Jules (1824-1879 ; photographe). Auteur du texte · Public domain88%of the land protected
Outdoors in Saint-Maximin · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Saint-Maximin lies inside Oise-Pays de France Regional Nature Park
Protected areas cover 88% of Saint-Maximin’s land. Mapped woodland covers 54% of Saint-Maximin. 38 km of footpaths cross Saint-Maximin (3 km per km²). France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
88%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
54%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
38 km
3 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
7.1 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: Forêt d'Halatte
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 Saint-Maximin?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Inside Oise-Pays de France Regional Nature Park88% of the commune is in the regional nature park.A wooded commune54% mapped woodland, more than in 94% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.
What sets Saint-Maximin apart: the regional nature park around it, then its woods.
Against French towns
How Saint-Maximin 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 areas88%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
91out of 100
Woodland54%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
94out of 100
Footpaths3 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
74out of 100
Hiking routes0.6 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
66out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Saint-Maximin has the 8th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (3,302 to 3,360 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Collégien (5.9 km per km²) to La Ville-Dieu-du-Temple (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Collégien Seine-et-Marne | 5.9 | 29% | 0% | 165 km |
| 2 | Frépillon Val-d'Oise | 4.3 | 19% | 0.2% | 126 km |
| 3 | Champ-sur-Drac Isère | 3.9 | 51% | 24% | 193 km |
| 4 | Bernin Isère | 3.7 | 28% | 14% | 207 km |
| 5 | Briis-sous-Forges Essonne | 3.5 | 22% | 0.1% | 157 km |
| 6 | Lavérune Hérault | 3.1 | 6.9% | 0% | 11 km |
| 7 | Renage Isère | 3.1 | 31% | 0% | 215 km |
| 8 | Saint-Maximin Oise | 3 | 54% | 88% | 120 km |
| 9 | Roscoff Finistère | 3 | 0% | 0.4% | On it |
| 10 | Seilh Haute-Garonne | 3 | 15% | 12% | 156 km |
| 11 | Houplin-Ancoisne Nord | 3 | 4.4% | 0% | 66 km |
| 12 | Buchelay Yvelines | 2.8 | 7.5% | 0% | 108 km |
| 13 | Cocheren Moselle | 2.6 | 36% | 0% | 360 km |
| 14 | Saint-Nicolas-de-Redon Loire-Atlantique | 2.2 | 18% | 31% | 29 km |
| 15 | Ceyzériat Ain | 2 | 41% | 0.6% | 305 km |
| 16 | Doubs Doubs | 2 | 37% | 0% | 361 km |
| 17 | Le Folgoët Finistère | 1.9 | 3.7% | 0% | 8.1 km |
| 18 | Vourles Rhône | 1.8 | 6.6% | 0% | 240 km |
| 19 | Merlimont Pas-de-Calais | 1.6 | 28% | 63% | On it |
| 20 | La Roche-Blanche Puy-de-Dôme | 1.5 | 12% | 7.8% | 249 km |
| 21 | Aigues-Vives Gard | 1.3 | 4.2% | 13% | 21 km |
| 22 | Mareuil-lès-Meaux Seine-et-Marne | 1.1 | 18% | 0.6% | 163 km |
| 23 | Boissy-le-Châtel Seine-et-Marne | 1.1 | 20% | 0% | 184 km |
| 24 | Bonifacio Corse-du-Sud | 1.1 | 11% | 18% | On it |
| 25 | Précy-sur-Oise Oise | 1 | 14% | 100% | 119 km |
| 26 | Villelongue-de-la-Salanque Pyrénées-Orientales | 0.8 | 0.1% | 0% | 4.5 km |
| 27 | Montanay Rhône | 0.8 | 7.1% | 0% | 265 km |
| 28 | Wizernes Pas-de-Calais | 0.7 | 6.8% | 100% | 32 km |
| 29 | Louvigné-du-Désert Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.6 | 4.2% | 0% | 24 km |
| 30 | Morhange Moselle | 0.5 | 7% | 0% | 367 km |
| 31 | Veuzain-sur-Loire Loir-et-Cher | 0.5 | 24% | 6.2% | 220 km |
| 32 | Saint-Andiol Bouches-du-Rhône | 0.5 | 0% | 0% | 43 km |
| 33 | Chaumont-en-Vexin Oise | 0.5 | 18% | 0% | 93 km |
| 34 | Évry-Grégy-sur-Yerre Seine-et-Marne | 0.3 | 13% | 0% | 180 km |
| 35 | Palau-del-Vidre Pyrénées-Orientales | 0.2 | 1% | 2.8% | 7.1 km |
| 36 | Val-au-Perche Orne | 0.2 | 21% | 100% | 128 km |
| 37 | Airvault Deux-Sèvres | 0.2 | 13% | 18% | 95 km |
| 38 | Cérans-Foulletourte Sarthe | 0.2 | 34% | 0% | 139 km |
| 39 | Castillon-la-Bataille Gironde | 0.1 | 12% | 1.5% | 47 km |
| 40 | Ambès Gironde | 0.1 | 5.4% | 58% | 4.6 km |
| 41 | La Ville-Dieu-du-Temple Tarn-et-Garonne | 0.1 | 9% | 0% | 180 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-Maximin
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Forêt d'Halatte leads, at 7,101 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Parc Jacques Duclos
Park or garden · 210 m outside the commune
1.2 ha0.6 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.6 km of path
1.8 km westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Plaine de Jeux Jean Moulin
Park or garden · 290 m outside the commune
1 ha0.2 km of path
3.3 km northfrom the center
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 Saint-Maximin
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
88% of the commune
Natura 2000 site
Coteaux de l’Oise autour de Creil
5.9% of the commune0.5 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area88%
Regional nature park88%
Natura 2000 site5.9%
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.
88% of Saint-Maximin’s land is protected, more than in 91% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Oise has 0.1%. 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
38 km of footpaths and 7 km of hiking routes cross Saint-Maximin
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
38 km
3 km per km²
Hiking routes
7.1 km
waymarked: 0.6 km per km²
Woodland
54%
about 6.7 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Saint-MaximinOise medianFrance median
Footpaths3
Hiking routes0.6
024 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Saint-MaximinOise medianFrance median
Woodland54%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 74% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 94% 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-Maximin is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
A named hiking route within 2 km
Other named walk
Grand Tour de Paris, Montagny-Prouvaire - La Ferté-Milon13 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Saint-Maximin: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Creil, 6.3 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-Maximin →
Neighbors
Next to Saint-Maximin
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Saint-Leu-d'EsserentChantillyMontataireGouvieuxCreilPrécy-sur-OiseSaint-Maximin
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Maximin | 88% | 54% | 3 |
| Saint-Leu-d'Esserent 4,638 · 2.4 km | 0.3% | 22% | 1.8 |
| Chantilly 10,591 · 3.9 km | 100% | 70% | 6.8 |
| Montataire 14,257 · 4.2 km | 0.1% | 11% | 2.9 |
| Gouvieux 8,867 · 4.4 km | 100% | 43% | 3.5 |
| Creil 36,301 · 4.4 km | 41% | 25% | 5.8 |
| Précy-sur-Oise 3,332 · 5.5 km | 100% | 14% | 1 |
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-Maximin
Is Saint-Maximin in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Saint-Maximin lies in Oise-Pays de France Regional Nature Park (88% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Saint-Maximin?
OpenStreetMap maps 38 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 3 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 7 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Saint-Maximin is woodland?
54% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Saint-Maximin near the sea?
No: the coast is 120 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Saint-Maximin?
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.