First pick
Parc du Clos Saint-Victor
Park or garden
1.4 ha0.4 km of path
0.9 km westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Floflo62 · CC BY-SA 4.07%of the land protected
Outdoors in Étaples · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Étaples is on the coast
40 km of footpaths cross Étaples (3.2 km per km²). Mapped woodland covers 29% of Étaples. Waymarked hiking routes add up to 10 km in Étaples. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
7%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
29%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
40 km
3.2 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
10 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: Parc du Clos Saint-Victor
The sea
On it
the commune touches the coast, 0.8 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 Étaples?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
On the coastThe commune touches the sea; the coast is 0.8 km from its center.A nature reserveBaie de Canche nature reserve covers 5.9% of the commune.A place of footpaths3.2 km per km² of mapped footpath, against 1.7 km per km² for the median compared town.On waymarked routes10 km of GR and other hiking routes cross the commune.
What sets Étaples apart: the sea, then its nature reserve.
Against French towns
How Étaples 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 areas7%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
68out of 100
Woodland29%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
75out of 100
Footpaths3.2 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
76out of 100
Hiking routes0.8 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
77out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Étaples has the 14th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (10,539 to 10,888 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Voisins-le-Bretonneux (13.8 km per km²) to Brissac Loire Aubance (0.5 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Voisins-le-Bretonneux Yvelines | 13.8 | 8.8% | 5.4% | 144 km |
| 2 | Chantilly Oise | 6.8 | 70% | 100% | 124 km |
| 3 | Beaumont Puy-de-Dôme | 6 | 2.4% | 0.1% | 255 km |
| 4 | Igny Essonne | 5.5 | 20% | 0% | 156 km |
| 5 | Bondoufle Essonne | 5.3 | 7.9% | 0% | 173 km |
| 6 | Dinard Ille-et-Vilaine | 5 | 7.9% | 100% | On it |
| 7 | Chanteloup-les-Vignes Yvelines | 4.4 | 21% | 0% | 126 km |
| 8 | Déville-lès-Rouen Seine-Maritime | 4.3 | 19% | 0.1% | 49 km |
| 9 | Épinay-sur-Orge Essonne | 4.3 | 10% | 0% | 165 km |
| 10 | Longuenesse Pas-de-Calais | 3.7 | 8.8% | 100% | 29 km |
| 11 | Clermont Oise | 3.6 | 30% | 0% | 103 km |
| 12 | Chantepie Ille-et-Vilaine | 3.5 | 4% | 0% | 53 km |
| 13 | Allonnes Sarthe | 3.2 | 15% | 0% | 134 km |
| 14 | Étaples Pas-de-Calais | 3.2 | 29% | 7% | On it |
| 15 | Fosses Val-d'Oise | 3.1 | 5.1% | 57% | 134 km |
| 16 | Tinqueux Marne | 2.8 | 2.4% | 0% | 196 km |
| 17 | Héricourt Haute-Saône | 2.8 | 36% | 0% | 425 km |
| 18 | Annœullin Nord | 2.8 | 4.2% | 0% | 68 km |
| 19 | Charvieu-Chavagneux Isère | 2.7 | 10% | 0% | 255 km |
| 20 | Passy Haute-Savoie | 2.4 | 29% | 44% | 246 km |
| 21 | Amnéville Moselle | 2.3 | 12% | 0% | 315 km |
| 22 | Urrugne Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 2.3 | 23% | 28% | 3.1 km |
| 23 | Châteaugiron Ille-et-Vilaine | 2.2 | 2.3% | 0% | 62 km |
| 24 | Treillières Loire-Atlantique | 2.1 | 15% | 0% | 41 km |
| 25 | Argelès-sur-Mer Pyrénées-Orientales | 2 | 30% | 39% | On it |
| 26 | La Londe-les-Maures Var | 1.8 | 27% | 49% | On it |
| 27 | La Trinité Alpes-Maritimes | 1.8 | 59% | 25% | 3.6 km |
| 28 | Saint-Martin-Boulogne Pas-de-Calais | 1.7 | 8.3% | 0.1% | 2.1 km |
| 29 | Vieux-Condé Nord | 1.7 | 7.4% | 100% | 96 km |
| 30 | Port-Jérôme-sur-Seine Seine-Maritime | 1.6 | 11% | 23% | 17 km |
| 31 | Mainvilliers Eure-et-Loir | 1.4 | 9.3% | 0% | 136 km |
| 32 | Oloron-Sainte-Marie Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 1.3 | 52% | 4.8% | 83 km |
| 33 | Léognan Gironde | 1.2 | 39% | 0% | 30 km |
| 34 | Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone Hérault | 1.2 | 0.7% | 52% | On it |
| 35 | Wittelsheim Haut-Rhin | 1.2 | 34% | 6.2% | 447 km |
| 36 | Erstein Bas-Rhin | 0.9 | 32% | 38% | 459 km |
| 37 | Orthez Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 0.9 | 21% | 25% | 57 km |
| 38 | Parempuyre Gironde | 0.9 | 6.7% | 8.1% | 6.3 km |
| 39 | Boulazac Isle Manoire Dordogne | 0.7 | 48% | 0% | 108 km |
| 40 | Seysses Haute-Garonne | 0.5 | 2.6% | 0% | 153 km |
| 41 | Brissac Loire Aubance Maine-et-Loire | 0.5 | 13% | 39% | 124 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 Étaples
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc du Clos Saint-Victor leads, at 1.4 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Square Jacques Brel
Park or garden
1 ha0.5 km of path
Centralin the middle of Étaples
Directionsto a point inside
Square Georges Brassens
Park or garden
1.4 ha0.1 km of path
Centralin the middle of Étaples
Directionsto a point inside
Aire de Pique-Nique du Port Departemental
Park or garden
0.5 ha0.3 km of path
1 km westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Espace public de convivialité
Park or garden
0.4 ha
0.8 km south-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
7% of Étaples 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
Baie de Canche nature reserve
5.9% of the commune1.6 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Estuaire de la Canche
6.5% of the commune1.7 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Estuaire de la Canche, dunes picardes plaquées sur l’ancienne falaise, forêt d’Hardelot et falaise d’Equihen
6% of the commune1.6 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Baie de Canche et couloir des trois estuaires
0.8 km from the town center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area7%
Nature reserve5.9%
Natura 2000 site7%
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.
7% of Étaples’ land is protected, more than in 68% 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
40 km of footpaths and 10 km of hiking routes cross Étaples
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
40 km
3.2 km per km²
Hiking routes
10 km
waymarked: 0.8 km per km²
Woodland
29%
about 3.6 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
ÉtaplesPas-de-Calais medianFrance median
Footpaths3.2
Hiking routes0.8
024 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
ÉtaplesPas-de-Calais medianFrance median
Woodland29%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 76% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 75% 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 Étaples is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
14 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 12012 km
GR 1213.9 km
Sentier de Rombly17 km
Sentier des Bas Champs8.4 km
Les Hauts de Tubersent8.2 km
Sentier de la Terre à Cloque4.3 km
La Forestière4.1 km
La Butte aux Signaux3.2 km
Boucle du Tadorne2.2 km
Chemin des Molières1.8 km
Les Noisetiers el le Bois de Rombly1.5 km
Les Bergeries1.3 km
+2 more
2 GR routes pass within 2 km of Étaples: GR 120 and GR 121.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Étaples: May to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Le-Touquet, 1.5 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) | 8.5 | 10.0 | 11.7 | 13.7 | 15.5 | 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 Étaples →
Neighbors
Next to Étaples
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Le Touquet-Paris-PlageCucqCamiersMerlimontRang-du-FliersNeufchâtel-HardelotÉtaples
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Étaples | 7% | 29% | 3.2 | On it |
| Le Touquet-Paris-Plage 4,224 · 3.4 km | 9.8% | 23% | 5 | On it |
| Cucq 5,129 · 4.3 km | 8.6% | 2.7% | 1.5 | On it |
| Camiers 2,582 · 6.1 km | 32% | 30% | 2 | On it |
| Merlimont 3,342 · 7.4 km | 63% | 28% | 1.6 | On it |
| Rang-du-Fliers 4,297 · 11 km | 13% | 23% | 0.6 | 4.7 km |
| Neufchâtel-Hardelot 4,115 · 12 km | 100% | 27% | 2.5 | On it |
Camiers, Merlimont and Neufchâtel-Hardelot have 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 Étaples
Is Étaples in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 7% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Étaples?
OpenStreetMap maps 40 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 3.2 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 10 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Étaples is woodland?
29% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Étaples near the sea?
Yes: the commune touches the coast, 0.8 km from its center.
When is the best time for walking in Étaples?
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.