First pick
Bois Chico Mendès
Park or garden
6.1 ha1.4 km of path
20 minto walk all 1.4 km of path
2.8 km eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Anonymous Unknown author · Public domain2.1%woodland
Outdoors in Calais · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Calais is on the coast
Footpaths add up to 123 km across Calais (3.3 km per km²). Mapped woodland covers 2.1% of Calais. No protected area reaches Calais; the nearest, Caps et Marais d’Opale Regional Nature Park, is 2.8 km from the town center. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
0%
of the commune’s land
Nearest: Caps et Marais d’Opale Regional Nature Park, 2.8 km
Woodland
2.1%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
123 km
3.3 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
17 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
12
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Bois Chico Mendès
The sea
On it
the commune touches the coast, 1.9 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 Calais?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
On the coastThe commune touches the sea; the coast is 1.9 km from its center.A place of footpaths3.3 km per km² of mapped footpath, against 1.7 km per km² for the median compared town.Protected land nearbyCaps et Marais d’Opale Regional Nature Park is 2.8 km from the town center.Little mapped woodland2.1% of the land, against 13% for the median compared town.
What sets Calais apart: the sea, then its footpaths. It is shorter on woodland.
Against French towns
How Calais 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%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
46out of 100
Woodland2.1%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
11out of 100
Footpaths3.3 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
77out 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
Calais has the 14th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (58,576 to 78,072 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Cergy (11.2 km per km²) to Saint-André (0.6 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cergy Val-d'Oise | 11.2 | 13% | 0% | 120 km |
| 2 | Issy-les-Moulineaux Hauts-de-Seine | 10.9 | 2.2% | 0% | 149 km |
| 3 | Marseille 10e Bouches-du-Rhône | 10.6 | 23% | 37% | 4 km |
| 4 | Ivry-sur-Seine Val-de-Marne | 8.5 | 0.6% | 0% | 155 km |
| 5 | Évry-Courcouronnes Essonne | 8.4 | 9.5% | 0% | 174 km |
| 6 | Clamart Hauts-de-Seine | 8.4 | 26% | 0% | 151 km |
| 7 | Pantin Seine-Saint-Denis | 8.3 | 1.9% | 0% | 148 km |
| 8 | Levallois-Perret Hauts-de-Seine | 7.7 | 0% | 0% | 143 km |
| 9 | Villeneuve-d'Ascq Nord | 7.6 | 8% | 2.3% | 65 km |
| 10 | Villejuif Val-de-Marne | 7.4 | 1% | 0% | 156 km |
| 11 | Noisy-le-Grand Seine-Saint-Denis | 6.6 | 25% | 0% | 160 km |
| 12 | Antony Hauts-de-Seine | 6.2 | 4.8% | 0.6% | 157 km |
| 13 | Chambéry Savoie | 6 | 15% | 1.5% | 235 km |
| 14 | Champigny-sur-Marne Val-de-Marne | 5.6 | 3.7% | 0% | 160 km |
| 15 | Vénissieux Rhône | 5 | 3.8% | 0% | 247 km |
| 16 | Marseille 9e Bouches-du-Rhône | 5 | 39% | 83% | On it |
| 17 | Sarcelles Val-d'Oise | 4.9 | 6.9% | 0% | 139 km |
| 18 | Pessac Gironde | 4.8 | 22% | 0% | 24 km |
| 19 | Clichy Hauts-de-Seine | 4.6 | 0.6% | 0% | 143 km |
| 20 | Cannes Alpes-Maritimes | 4.6 | 15% | 10% | On it |
| 21 | Le Blanc-Mesnil Seine-Saint-Denis | 4.6 | 2.1% | 0% | 147 km |
| 22 | Neuilly-sur-Seine Hauts-de-Seine | 4.4 | 0.1% | 0% | 143 km |
| 23 | Marseille 14e Bouches-du-Rhône | 3.9 | 1.4% | 23% | 2.7 km |
| 24 | Troyes Aube | 3.7 | 1.2% | 0% | 272 km |
| 25 | Saint-Nazaire Loire-Atlantique | 3.4 | 7.2% | 37% | On it |
| 26 | Marseille 11e Bouches-du-Rhône | 3.3 | 43% | 42% | 7.5 km |
| 27 | Antibes Alpes-Maritimes | 3.3 | 7.3% | 1.3% | On it |
| 28 | Calais Pas-de-Calais | 3.3 | 2.1% | 0% | On it |
| 29 | Saint-Maur-des-Fossés Val-de-Marne | 3.3 | 0.5% | 0% | 161 km |
| 30 | Fréjus Var | 3.1 | 48% | 33% | On it |
| 31 | La Seyne-sur-Mer Var | 2.9 | 21% | 15% | On it |
| 32 | Quimper Finistère | 2.9 | 25% | 0% | On it |
| 33 | Marseille 12e Bouches-du-Rhône | 2.7 | 6.8% | 0% | 5.2 km |
| 34 | Drancy Seine-Saint-Denis | 2.3 | 0% | 0% | 147 km |
| 35 | Bourges Cher | 2.3 | 4.9% | 0.4% | 283 km |
| 36 | Valence Drôme | 2.1 | 3.3% | 0% | 164 km |
| 37 | Niort Deux-Sèvres | 2 | 6.2% | 100% | 51 km |
| 38 | Ajaccio Corse-du-Sud | 1.5 | 9.8% | 16% | On it |
| 39 | Colmar Haut-Rhin | 1.2 | 19% | 29% | 473 km |
| 40 | Montauban Tarn-et-Garonne | 0.8 | 5.4% | 1.3% | 175 km |
| 41 | Saint-André Réunion | 0.6 | 16% | 31% | On it |
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 Calais
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Bois Chico Mendès leads, at 6.1 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Parc Saint-Pierre
Park or garden
4 ha1.5 km of path
20 minto walk all 1.5 km of path
1.1 km north-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Les Terres Saint-Roch
Park or garden
4.9 ha0.9 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.9 km of path
2.7 km westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Parc Richelieu
Park or garden
2.8 ha1.4 km of path
20 minto walk all 1.4 km of path
1.3 km north-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Bois Campagne
Park or garden
2 ha0.8 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.8 km of path
1 km eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Parc Pierre et Marie Curie
Park or garden
1 ha0.3 km of path
0.9 km southfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Parc Guillaume Apollinaire
Park or garden
0.4 ha0.3 km of path
1.2 km south-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
All 12 named parks, gardens and woods
Bois Chico MendèsPark or garden · 6.1 ha · 1.4 km of path
DirectionsParc Saint-PierrePark or garden · 4 ha · 1.5 km of path
DirectionsLes Terres Saint-RochPark or garden · 4.9 ha · 0.9 km of path
DirectionsParc RichelieuPark or garden · 2.8 ha · 1.4 km of path
DirectionsBois CampagnePark or garden · 2 ha · 0.8 km of path
DirectionsBois DubrulleWood or forest · 9.2 ha
DirectionsParc Pierre et Marie CuriePark or garden · 1 ha · 0.3 km of path
DirectionsParc Guillaume ApollinairePark or garden · 0.4 ha · 0.3 km of path
DirectionsParc OvidePark or garden · 0.6 ha · 0.2 km of path
DirectionsAire de jeux Alain ChaussoisPark or garden · 0.3 ha · 0.2 km of path
DirectionsLa Mare aux EnfantsPark or garden · 0.3 ha
DirectionsMultisports des SaulesPark or garden · 0.2 ha · just outside
DirectionsSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Caps et Marais d’Opale Regional Nature Park is the nearest protected area, 2.8 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
Caps et Marais d’Opale Regional Nature Park
2.8 km from the town center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area0%
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
123 km of footpaths and 17 km of hiking routes cross Calais
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
123 km
3.3 km per km²
Hiking routes
17 km
waymarked: 0.5 km per km²
Woodland
2.1%
about 0.8 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
CalaisPas-de-Calais medianFrance median
Footpaths3.3
Hiking routes0.5
024 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
CalaisPas-de-Calais medianFrance median
Woodland2.1%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 77% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 89% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 99% of Calais’ residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
7 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 12015 km
E28.9 km
Tour du Calaisis15 km
Via Francigena France 01, Calais - Arras8.5 km
Les Digues8.4 km
La Marie Grouette de Bandyck3.3 km
La Planche Tournoire1 km
2 GR routes pass within 2 km of Calais: GR 120 and E2.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Calais: May to July and September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Calais-Marck, 6.5 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) | 8.4 | 9.9 | 11.7 | 13.8 | 15.5 | 16.5 | 16.1 | 14.5 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.8 | 7.9 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 19 | 22 | 22 | 20 | 16 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 60 | 47 | 40 | 38 | 50 | 52 | 55 | 67 | 63 | 91 | 92 | 83 |
April is the driest month (38 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 22 °C). 92 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 31 nights a year. The climate in Calais →
Neighbors
Next to Calais
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
CoulogneSangatteCoquellesMarckGuînesArdresCalais
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
Sangatte and Guînes have at least twice as much protected land. Guînes is 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 Calais
Is Calais in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Caps et Marais d’Opale Regional Nature Park, 2.8 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Calais?
OpenStreetMap maps 123 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 3.3 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 17 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Calais is woodland?
2.1% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Calais near the sea?
Yes: the commune touches the coast, 1.9 km from its center.
When is the best time for walking in Calais?
May to July and 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.