First pick
Forêt d'Éperlecques
Wood or forest
886 ha10.8 km of path
2 h 25 minto walk all 10.8 km of path
2.2 km northfrom the center
Chemin Jaune
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: TedM56 · CC BY-SA 4.0100%of the land protected
Outdoors in Éperlecques · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Éperlecques lies inside Caps et Marais d’Opale Regional Nature Park
Protected areas cover 100% of Éperlecques’ land. Mapped woodland covers 34% of Éperlecques. 16 km of footpaths cross Éperlecques (0.6 km per km²). France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
100%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
34%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
16 km
0.6 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
5
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Forêt d'Éperlecques
The sea
19 km
from the town center to the coast
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 Éperlecques?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Inside Caps et Marais d’Opale Regional Nature Park100% of the commune is in the regional nature park.A wooded commune34% mapped woodland, more than in 80% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.Few mapped footpaths0.6 km per km², against 1.7 km per km² for the median compared town.
What sets Éperlecques apart: the regional nature park around it, then its woods. It is shorter on footpaths.
Against French towns
How Éperlecques 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 areas100%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
97out of 100
Woodland34%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
80out of 100
Footpaths0.6 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
19out of 100
Hiking routes0.5 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
64out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Éperlecques has the 9th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (3,709 to 3,766 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Sochaux (5.8 km per km²) to Montreuil-Bellay (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sochaux Doubs | 5.8 | 6.7% | 0% | 418 km |
| 2 | Bailly Yvelines | 5.5 | 31% | 0% | 140 km |
| 3 | Cabourg Calvados | 4.3 | 0.4% | 0% | 0.8 km |
| 4 | Doussard Haute-Savoie | 2.7 | 53% | 100% | 244 km |
| 5 | Pélussin Loire | 2.7 | 50% | 100% | 212 km |
| 6 | Bohars Finistère | 2.6 | 11% | 0% | 3.3 km |
| 7 | Lourches Nord | 2.5 | 5.6% | 0% | 103 km |
| 8 | Blanzat Puy-de-Dôme | 2.5 | 24% | 0.1% | 263 km |
| 9 | La Ferté-Alais Essonne | 2.3 | 26% | 100% | 181 km |
| 10 | Les Rousses Jura | 2.3 | 52% | 100% | 321 km |
| 11 | Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort Gard | 2.2 | 38% | 58% | 47 km |
| 12 | Audierne Finistère | 2.2 | 16% | 12% | On it |
| 13 | Ganges Hérault | 2 | 30% | 65% | 48 km |
| 14 | Latresne Gironde | 1.7 | 8.9% | 21% | 25 km |
| 15 | Charlieu Loire | 1.7 | 5.4% | 0% | 289 km |
| 16 | Malville Loire-Atlantique | 1.7 | 17% | 1.9% | 24 km |
| 17 | Veyre-Monton Puy-de-Dôme | 1.5 | 6.6% | 1.6% | 245 km |
| 18 | Isneauville Seine-Maritime | 1.5 | 6.7% | 0% | 47 km |
| 19 | Torreilles Pyrénées-Orientales | 1.5 | 0.4% | 20% | On it |
| 20 | Varennes-sur-Seine Seine-et-Marne | 1.3 | 1.7% | 38% | 218 km |
| 21 | Échillais Charente-Maritime | 1.2 | 9% | 8.5% | On it |
| 22 | Rœulx Nord | 1.2 | 0.4% | 0% | 103 km |
| 23 | Plobannalec-Lesconil Finistère | 1.1 | 3.3% | 0% | On it |
| 24 | Saïx Tarn | 0.9 | 12% | 3.3% | 93 km |
| 25 | Houdan Yvelines | 0.9 | 1.9% | 0% | 115 km |
| 26 | Saint-Martin-la-Plaine Loire | 0.9 | 11% | 0% | 224 km |
| 27 | Brantôme en Périgord Dordogne | 0.8 | 48% | 20% | 104 km |
| 28 | Bouzonville Moselle | 0.8 | 27% | 2.8% | 332 km |
| 29 | Objat Corrèze | 0.7 | 8.2% | 0% | 160 km |
| 30 | Bouxwiller Bas-Rhin | 0.7 | 11% | 0.3% | 418 km |
| 31 | Pannes Loiret | 0.7 | 8.9% | 0% | 233 km |
| 32 | Fougerolles-Saint-Valbert Haute-Saône | 0.7 | 36% | 100% | 429 km |
| 33 | Éperlecques Pas-de-Calais | 0.6 | 34% | 100% | 19 km |
| 34 | Montamisé Vienne | 0.5 | 37% | 38% | 124 km |
| 35 | Sartène Corse-du-Sud | 0.4 | 17% | 39% | On it |
| 36 | Labastide-Saint-Pierre Tarn-et-Garonne | 0.4 | 3.4% | 1.5% | 169 km |
| 37 | Puiseux-en-France Val-d'Oise | 0.4 | 2.2% | 0% | 138 km |
| 38 | Plémet Côtes-d'Armor | 0.3 | 10% | 0% | 35 km |
| 39 | Ribérac Dordogne | 0.3 | 9% | 12% | 77 km |
| 40 | Ardentes Indre | 0.3 | 24% | 0% | 231 km |
| 41 | Montreuil-Bellay Maine-et-Loire | 0.2 | 8.5% | 100% | 119 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 Éperlecques
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Forêt d'Éperlecques leads, at 886 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Bois du Ham
Wood or forest · 140 m outside the commune
394 ha1.3 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.3 km of path
4.3 km eastfrom the center
Rue de l'Ermitage
Directionsto a point inside
Golf du Bois de Ruminghem
Park or garden · 280 m outside the commune
64 ha
4.1 km northfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Espace Jean-Marie Harlay
Park or garden · 380 m outside the commune
1.5 ha0.7 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.7 km of path
4.1 km north-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Jardins partagés de Watten
Park or garden · 20 m outside the commune
0.6 ha
3.4 km north-eastfrom 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 Éperlecques
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
100% of the commune
Natura 2000 site
Prairies, marais tourbeux, forêts et bois de la cuvette audomaroise et de ses versants
3.1% of the commune1.4 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area100%
Regional nature park100%
Natura 2000 site3.1%
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.
100% of Éperlecques’ land is protected, more than in 97% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Pas-de-Calais has 0%. 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
16 km of footpaths and 14 km of hiking routes cross Éperlecques
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
16 km
0.6 km per km²
Hiking routes
14 km
waymarked: 0.5 km per km²
Woodland
34%
about 8.7 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
ÉperlecquesPas-de-Calais medianFrance median
Footpaths0.6
Hiking routes0.5
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
ÉperlecquesPas-de-Calais medianFrance median
Woodland34%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 81% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 80% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 99% of Éperlecques’ residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
4 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 12817 km
GR 128A4.8 km
Tour de l'Audomarois28 km
Via Francigena France 01, Calais - Arras6.6 km
2 GR routes pass within 2 km of Éperlecques: GR 128 and GR 128A.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Éperlecques: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Watten, 3.9 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 | 13.7 | 15.5 | 16.5 | 16.1 | 14.5 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.8 | 8.0 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 9 | 12 | 16 | 19 | 21 | 24 | 24 | 21 | 16 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 70 | 58 | 50 | 44 | 56 | 59 | 67 | 73 | 72 | 84 | 97 | 93 |
April is the driest month (44 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 24 °C). 97 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 41 nights a year. The climate in Éperlecques →
Neighbors
Next to Éperlecques
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
WattenSaint-Martin-lez-TatinghemAudruicqSaint-OmerLonguenesseWizernesÉperlecques
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Éperlecques | 100% | 34% | 0.6 | 19 km |
| Watten 2,564 · 3.9 km | 100% | 24% | 1.4 | 18 km |
| Saint-Martin-lez-Tatinghem 5,843 · 8.2 km | 100% | 0.3% | 0.7 | 27 km |
| Audruicq 5,309 · 9.5 km | 0% | 0.2% | 0.7 | 12 km |
| Saint-Omer 14,382 · 9.5 km | 100% | 2.8% | 1.6 | 28 km |
| Longuenesse 10,548 · 11 km | 100% | 8.8% | 3.7 | 29 km |
| Wizernes 3,321 · 12 km | 100% | 6.8% | 0.7 | 32 km |
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 Éperlecques
Is Éperlecques in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Éperlecques lies in Caps et Marais d’Opale Regional Nature Park (100% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Éperlecques?
OpenStreetMap maps 16 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.6 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 14 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Éperlecques is woodland?
34% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Éperlecques near the sea?
No: the coast is 19 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Éperlecques?
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.