First pick
Terril 130
Wood or forest
9.7 ha2.3 km of path
30 minto walk all 2.3 km of path
1 km south-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Havang(nl) · CC018%woodland
Outdoors in Leforest · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Leforest is within 800 m of a park or wood
Footpaths add up to 21 km across Leforest (3.4 km per km²). No protected area reaches Leforest; the nearest, Scarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park, is 0.8 km from the town center. 18% of Leforest is mapped woodland. 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: Scarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park, 0.8 km
Woodland
18%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
21 km
3.4 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
1
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Terril 130
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 Leforest?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
A place of footpaths3.4 km per km² of mapped footpath, against 1.7 km per km² for the median compared town.Protected land nearbyScarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park is 0.8 km from the town center.
What sets Leforest apart: its footpaths, then protected land close by.
Against French towns
How Leforest 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
48out of 100
Woodland18%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
60out of 100
Footpaths3.4 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
78out of 100
Hiking routes0 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
12out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Leforest has the 8th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (6,969 to 7,157 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Sathonay-Camp (8.3 km per km²) to Saint-Pierre-en-Auge (0.3 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sathonay-Camp Rhône | 8.3 | 17% | 0% | 259 km |
| 2 | Guingamp Côtes-d'Armor | 6.8 | 16% | 0% | 16 km |
| 3 | Sainte-Adresse Seine-Maritime | 6.5 | 8.4% | 7.6% | On it |
| 4 | Bailly-Romainvilliers Seine-et-Marne | 4.6 | 10% | 0% | 169 km |
| 5 | Trévoux Ain | 3.9 | 8.3% | 0% | 270 km |
| 6 | Barr Bas-Rhin | 3.8 | 77% | 0% | 450 km |
| 7 | Balaruc-les-Bains Hérault | 3.5 | 0.7% | 33% | 3.8 km |
| 8 | Leforest Pas-de-Calais | 3.4 | 18% | 0% | 81 km |
| 9 | Binic-Étables-sur-Mer Côtes-d'Armor | 3.3 | 7.5% | 0% | On it |
| 10 | Notre-Dame-de-Bondeville Seine-Maritime | 3.3 | 52% | 0% | 47 km |
| 11 | Eckbolsheim Bas-Rhin | 3.1 | 7.3% | 0% | 448 km |
| 12 | Étréchy Essonne | 2.8 | 29% | 0% | 170 km |
| 13 | Auby Nord | 2.8 | 16% | 1.7% | 84 km |
| 14 | Soultz-Haut-Rhin Haut-Rhin | 2.4 | 60% | 100% | 456 km |
| 15 | Uckange Moselle | 2.3 | 3.2% | 0% | 312 km |
| 16 | Ugine Savoie | 2.2 | 58% | 2.4% | 236 km |
| 17 | Wissous Essonne | 2.1 | 5.8% | 0% | 159 km |
| 18 | Saint-Rambert-d'Albon Drôme | 1.8 | 6.2% | 1.6% | 201 km |
| 19 | Aulnoy-lez-Valenciennes Nord | 1.7 | 0.5% | 0% | 108 km |
| 20 | Bagnères-de-Bigorre Hautes-Pyrénées | 1.6 | 30% | 42% | 144 km |
| 21 | Saint-André-des-Eaux Loire-Atlantique | 1.5 | 7.8% | 100% | 6.4 km |
| 22 | La Talaudière Loire | 1.5 | 6.6% | 0% | 215 km |
| 23 | Castelnau-d'Estrétefonds Haute-Garonne | 1.4 | 16% | 2.6% | 161 km |
| 24 | Eyguières Bouches-du-Rhône | 1.4 | 13% | 100% | 30 km |
| 25 | Pont-Saint-Martin Loire-Atlantique | 1.3 | 17% | 1.7% | 33 km |
| 26 | Brech Morbihan | 1.1 | 18% | 0% | On it |
| 27 | Épône Yvelines | 1.1 | 16% | 0% | 119 km |
| 28 | Villemandeur Loiret | 1 | 13% | 0% | 236 km |
| 29 | Jurançon Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 1 | 45% | 5.5% | 94 km |
| 30 | Péronne Somme | 1 | 6.5% | 12% | 94 km |
| 31 | Trégunc Finistère | 0.9 | 9.6% | 6.1% | On it |
| 32 | Grandchamp-des-Fontaines Loire-Atlantique | 0.8 | 8.7% | 0% | 43 km |
| 33 | Bétheny Marne | 0.7 | 0% | 0% | 198 km |
| 34 | Saint-Bonnet-de-Mure Rhône | 0.7 | 4.8% | 0% | 249 km |
| 35 | Marsillargues Hérault | 0.6 | 0.5% | 32% | 13 km |
| 36 | Valognes Manche | 0.5 | 4.7% | 0% | 12 km |
| 37 | Nérac Lot-et-Garonne | 0.5 | 6.7% | 0.5% | 122 km |
| 38 | Viriat Ain | 0.5 | 21% | 0% | 311 km |
| 39 | Manduel Gard | 0.5 | 0.5% | 63% | 40 km |
| 40 | Chauvigny Vienne | 0.4 | 24% | 0% | 140 km |
| 41 | Saint-Pierre-en-Auge Calvados | 0.3 | 8.1% | 0% | 32 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 Leforest
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Terril 130 leads, at 9.7 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Scarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park is the nearest protected area, 0.8 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
Scarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park
0.8 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
21 km of footpaths cross Leforest
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
21 km
3.4 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked: 0 km per km²
Woodland
18%
about 1.1 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
LeforestPas-de-Calais medianFrance median
Footpaths3.4
Hiking routes0
024 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
LeforestPas-de-Calais medianFrance median
Woodland18%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 78% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 60% 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 Leforest is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
3 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 121B5.3 km
Terril 81A - Libercourt9.7 km
Boucle 4 - Le Douaisis à pas de Géants4.1 km
GR 121B passes within 2 km of Leforest.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Leforest: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Douai, 5.4 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) | 6 | 7 | 11 | 15 | 19 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 20 | 15 | 10 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 58 | 51 | 53 | 42 | 57 | 63 | 68 | 68 | 61 | 64 | 71 | 73 |
April is the driest month (42 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 24 °C). 73 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 48 nights a year. The climate in Leforest →
Neighbors
Next to Leforest
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Évin-MalmaisonRaimbeaucourtAubyOstricourtRoost-WarendinCourcelles-lès-LensLeforest
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leforest | 0% | 18% | 3.4 |
| Évin-Malmaison 4,628 · 2 km | 0% | 19% | 2.9 |
| Raimbeaucourt 4,000 · 2.5 km | 99% | 16% | 0.7 |
| Auby 7,083 · 2.6 km | 1.7% | 16% | 2.8 |
| Ostricourt 6,097 · 3.4 km | 0% | 34% | 3.2 |
| Roost-Warendin 5,956 · 4 km | 7.5% | 22% | 2.9 |
| Courcelles-lès-Lens 7,830 · 4.1 km | 0% | 7.7% | 2.9 |
Raimbeaucourt has at least twice as much protected land. Ostricourt 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 Leforest
Is Leforest in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Scarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park, 0.8 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Leforest?
OpenStreetMap maps 21 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 3.4 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²).
How much of Leforest is woodland?
18% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Leforest near the sea?
No: the coast is 81 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Leforest?
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.