First pick
Le Bois Magnier
Wood or forest
9.9 ha0.9 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.9 km of path
Centralin the middle of Berck
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Wan00005 · Public domain29%of the land protected
Outdoors in Berck · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Berck is on the coast
Protected areas cover 29% of Berck’s land. Berck has 14 km of waymarked hiking routes. Footpaths add up to 34 km across Berck (2.3 km per km²). France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
29%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
19%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
34 km
2.3 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
14 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: Le Bois Magnier
The sea
On it
the commune touches the coast, 1.2 km from its center
Throughout this page, the Pas-de-Calais 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 Berck?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
On the coastThe commune touches the sea; the coast is 1.2 km from its center.Protected countryside29% of the land lies in protected areas.On waymarked routes14 km of GR and other hiking routes cross the commune.
What sets Berck apart: the sea, then its protected countryside.
Against French towns
How Berck 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 areas29%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
82out of 100
Woodland19%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
62out of 100
Footpaths2.3 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
64out of 100
Hiking routes1 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
82out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Berck has the 20th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (12,638 to 13,271 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Saint-André-lez-Lille (8.6 km per km²) to Graulhet (0.3 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saint-André-lez-Lille Nord | 8.6 | 2.7% | 0% | 59 km |
| 2 | Bayeux Calvados | 6.1 | 2.8% | 0% | 7.4 km |
| 3 | L'Union Haute-Garonne | 5.4 | 4.4% | 0% | 146 km |
| 4 | Anzin Nord | 5.4 | 3.1% | 0.5% | 103 km |
| 5 | Châlette-sur-Loing Loiret | 5.1 | 43% | 0% | 234 km |
| 6 | Nemours Seine-et-Marne | 4.3 | 49% | 2.7% | 215 km |
| 7 | Freyming-Merlebach Moselle | 4.1 | 19% | 0% | 358 km |
| 8 | Chambray-lès-Tours Indre-et-Loire | 3.5 | 24% | 0% | 181 km |
| 9 | Pornichet Loire-Atlantique | 3.3 | 12% | 0.1% | On it |
| 10 | Villeneuve-lès-Avignon Gard | 3.1 | 13% | 22% | 58 km |
| 11 | Val-de-Reuil Eure | 3.1 | 16% | 24% | 64 km |
| 12 | Les Ponts-de-Cé Maine-et-Loire | 2.8 | 6.5% | 33% | 120 km |
| 13 | Lourdes Hautes-Pyrénées | 2.8 | 52% | 6.8% | 129 km |
| 14 | Mayenne Mayenne | 2.8 | 2.5% | 0% | 66 km |
| 15 | Andernos-les-Bains Gironde | 2.6 | 46% | 3.4% | On it |
| 16 | Canet-en-Roussillon Pyrénées-Orientales | 2.6 | 1.1% | 50% | On it |
| 17 | Outreau Pas-de-Calais | 2.6 | 4.8% | 0% | 1.7 km |
| 18 | Betton Ille-et-Vilaine | 2.5 | 3.3% | 0.2% | 43 km |
| 19 | Guéret Creuse | 2.5 | 39% | 0.1% | 220 km |
| 20 | Saint-André-les-Vergers Aube | 2.5 | 4.4% | 0% | 273 km |
| 21 | Aubergenville Yvelines | 2.4 | 9.1% | 0% | 121 km |
| 22 | Berck Pas-de-Calais | 2.3 | 19% | 29% | On it |
| 23 | La Chapelle-Saint-Luc Aube | 2.3 | 12% | 0% | 270 km |
| 24 | Tarnos Landes | 2.3 | 41% | 21% | On it |
| 25 | Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez Vendée | 2.3 | 12% | 48% | On it |
| 26 | Moret-Loing-et-Orvanne Seine-et-Marne | 2 | 26% | 8.9% | 213 km |
| 27 | Seclin Nord | 1.8 | 3.3% | 0% | 69 km |
| 28 | Auriol Bouches-du-Rhône | 1.7 | 49% | 75% | 19 km |
| 29 | Noyon Oise | 1.6 | 19% | 18% | 116 km |
| 30 | Cuers Var | 1.5 | 32% | 0% | 16 km |
| 31 | Amboise Indre-et-Loire | 1.4 | 58% | 5% | 203 km |
| 32 | Fonsorbes Haute-Garonne | 1.4 | 8.5% | 1.7% | 160 km |
| 33 | Autun Saône-et-Loire | 1.3 | 43% | 100% | 377 km |
| 34 | Yzeure Allier | 1.3 | 25% | 0% | 338 km |
| 35 | Tergnier Aisne | 1.2 | 9% | 4.8% | 130 km |
| 36 | Comines Nord | 0.9 | 2.3% | 0% | 48 km |
| 37 | Châteaudun Eure-et-Loir | 0.8 | 9.7% | 2.7% | 168 km |
| 38 | Petite-Île Réunion | 0.6 | 22% | 4.9% | On it |
| 39 | Bras-Panon Réunion | 0.6 | 69% | 83% | On it |
| 40 | Mèze Hérault | 0.5 | 5.2% | 27% | 6.3 km |
| 41 | Graulhet Tarn | 0.3 | 9.2% | 0% | 116 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 Berck
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Le Bois Magnier leads, at 9.9 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
29% of Berck lies in protected areas
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Nature reserve
Côte d’Opale nature reserve
3.3 km from the town center
Natura 2000 site
Dunes de Merlimont
20% of the commune1.5 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Dunes et marais arrière-littoraux de la plaine maritime picarde
16% of the commune2.1 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Dunes de l’Authie et Mollières de Berck
8.7% of the commune0.9 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Baie de Canche et couloir des trois estuaires
0.7% of the commune1.2 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area29%
Nature reserve0.1%
Natura 2000 site29%
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.
29% of Berck’s land is protected, more than in 82% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Pas-de-Calais has 0%.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
34 km of footpaths and 14 km of hiking routes cross Berck
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
34 km
2.3 km per km²
Hiking routes
14 km
waymarked: 1 km per km²
Woodland
19%
about 2.8 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
BerckPas-de-Calais medianFrance median
Footpaths2.3
Hiking routes1
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
BerckPas-de-Calais medianFrance median
Woodland19%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 64% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 62% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 99% of Berck’s residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
11 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 12012 km
La Baie d'Authie11 km
Tour de Groffliers7.4 km
Sentier du Petit Marais5.6 km
Sentier des 100 détours2.2 km
Sentier de la Forêt2.1 km
Sentier de l'Allée des Roses2.1 km
Sentier des Garennes1.9 km
Le Marais de Balençon1.6 km
Sentier de la plaine dunaire1.1 km
Sentier Découverte de la Dune Parabolique0.6 km
GR 120 passes within 2 km of Berck.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Berck: May to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Le-Touquet, 12 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) | 8 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 20 | 16 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 77 | 62 | 54 | 50 | 59 | 56 | 59 | 73 | 77 | 101 | 114 | 107 |
April is the driest month (50 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 22 °C). 114 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 36 nights a year. The climate in Berck →
Neighbors
Next to Berck
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Rang-du-FliersVertonMerlimontCucqLe Touquet-Paris-PlageÉtaplesBerck
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berck | 29% | 19% | 2.3 | On it |
| Rang-du-Fliers 4,297 · 4.1 km | 13% | 23% | 0.6 | 4.7 km |
| Verton 2,571 · 5 km | 0% | 3.1% | 0.5 | 3.5 km |
| Merlimont 3,342 · 5.8 km | 63% | 28% | 1.6 | On it |
| Cucq 5,129 · 9.1 km | 8.6% | 2.7% | 1.5 | On it |
| Le Touquet-Paris-Plage 4,224 · 12 km | 9.8% | 23% | 5 | On it |
| Étaples 10,710 · 13 km | 7% | 29% | 3.2 | On it |
Merlimont has at least twice as much protected land.
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 Berck
Is Berck in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 29% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Berck?
OpenStreetMap maps 34 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); 14 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Berck is woodland?
19% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Berck near the sea?
Yes: the commune touches the coast, 1.2 km from its center.
When is the best time for walking in Berck?
May 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.