First pick
Parc de la Glissoire
Park or garden
58 ha9.3 km of path
2 h 5 minto walk all 9.3 km of path
1.9 km southfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Richard Carline · Public domain6.4%woodland
Outdoors in Lens · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Lens has more footpaths per km² than 8 in 10 French towns
Footpaths add up to 54 km across Lens (4.6 km per km²). Lens has 9 km of waymarked hiking routes. No protected area reaches Lens; the nearest, Marais de Cambrin, Annequin, Cuinchy et Festubert nature reserve, is 11 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: Marais de Cambrin, Annequin, Cuinchy et Festubert nature reserve, 11 km
Woodland
6.4%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
54 km
4.6 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
8.9 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
7
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Parc de la Glissoire
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.
Against French towns
How Lens 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
22out of 100
Woodland6.4%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
28out of 100
Footpaths4.6 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
88out of 100
Hiking routes0.8 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
75out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Lens has the 18th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (30,838 to 35,173 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Cachan (11.5 km per km²) to Carpentras (1.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cachan Val-de-Marne | 11.5 | 1.2% | 0% | 155 km |
| 2 | Montigny-le-Bretonneux Yvelines | 10 | 18% | 4.9% | 143 km |
| 3 | Schiltigheim Bas-Rhin | 9 | 7.7% | 0.2% | 449 km |
| 4 | Lyon 4e Rhône | 7.8 | 6.8% | 0% | 253 km |
| 5 | L'Haÿ-les-Roses Val-de-Marne | 7.5 | 4% | 0% | 156 km |
| 6 | Thiais Val-de-Marne | 7.3 | 5.4% | 0% | 160 km |
| 7 | Savigny-le-Temple Seine-et-Marne | 6.5 | 15% | 0% | 183 km |
| 8 | Paris 3e Paris | 6.4 | 0.1% | 0% | 149 km |
| 9 | Pontoise Val-d'Oise | 6.2 | 11% | 0.5% | 121 km |
| 10 | Plaisir Yvelines | 5.5 | 26% | 0% | 135 km |
| 11 | Marseille 7e Bouches-du-Rhône | 5.4 | 0.7% | 33% | On it |
| 12 | Viry-Châtillon Essonne | 5.4 | 4.4% | 0% | 168 km |
| 13 | Bègles Gironde | 5.3 | 5.5% | 8.9% | 23 km |
| 14 | Agen Lot-et-Garonne | 5 | 4.9% | 3.6% | 132 km |
| 15 | Trappes Yvelines | 4.8 | 20% | 22% | 140 km |
| 16 | Les Mureaux Yvelines | 4.7 | 16% | 0% | 120 km |
| 17 | Ris-Orangis Essonne | 4.6 | 7.7% | 0% | 171 km |
| 18 | Lens Pas-de-Calais | 4.6 | 6.4% | 0% | 74 km |
| 19 | Nogent-sur-Marne Val-de-Marne | 4.4 | 2.8% | 0% | 157 km |
| 20 | Vigneux-sur-Seine Essonne | 4.3 | 21% | 0% | 167 km |
| 21 | Aix-les-Bains Savoie | 3.9 | 14% | 20% | 246 km |
| 22 | Le Port Réunion | 3.7 | 0.5% | 5.6% | On it |
| 23 | Épinal Vosges | 3.7 | 67% | 0% | 413 km |
| 24 | Rillieux-la-Pape Rhône | 3.5 | 16% | 6.1% | 259 km |
| 25 | Nevers Nièvre | 3.3 | 1.2% | 11% | 336 km |
| 26 | Villiers-sur-Marne Val-de-Marne | 3 | 2% | 0% | 160 km |
| 27 | Marignane Bouches-du-Rhône | 2.9 | 3.4% | 16% | 8.5 km |
| 28 | Cambrai Nord | 2.8 | 4.5% | 0% | 111 km |
| 29 | Herblay-sur-Seine Val-d'Oise | 2.7 | 10% | 0% | 128 km |
| 30 | Dreux Eure-et-Loir | 2.7 | 24% | 2.4% | 107 km |
| 31 | Vienne Isère | 2.6 | 30% | 0.1% | 227 km |
| 32 | Montluçon Allier | 2.4 | 7.5% | 2.3% | 279 km |
| 33 | Saint-Laurent-du-Var Alpes-Maritimes | 2.2 | 6.3% | 8.8% | On it |
| 34 | Mont-de-Marsan Landes | 2.1 | 33% | 4.9% | 70 km |
| 35 | Auxerre Yonne | 1.8 | 15% | 0% | 298 km |
| 36 | Houilles Yvelines | 1.7 | 0% | 0% | 136 km |
| 37 | Goussainville Val-d'Oise | 1.7 | 2.8% | 0% | 139 km |
| 38 | Romans-sur-Isère Drôme | 1.7 | 11% | 12% | 178 km |
| 39 | Saint-Médard-en-Jalles Gironde | 1.7 | 46% | 4.4% | 17 km |
| 40 | Châtellerault Vienne | 1.6 | 4.3% | 0% | 140 km |
| 41 | Carpentras Vaucluse | 1.1 | 6% | 64% | 69 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 Lens
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc de la Glissoire leads, at 58 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Le Val de Souchez
Park or garden · 20 m outside the commune
51 ha12.3 km of path
2 h 45 minto walk all 12.3 km of path
2.4 km southfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Terril 103
Park or garden · 280 m outside the commune
9.5 ha0.9 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.9 km of path
2.5 km south-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Bois Rigault
Wood or forest · 30 m outside the commune
8.5 ha1.2 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.2 km of path
3 km northfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Parc Universitaire
Park or garden
2.6 ha1.1 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.1 km of path
Centralin the middle of Lens
Directionsto a point inside
Centre Albert Calmette
Park or garden
0.3 ha
1.1 km south-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Jardin du coeur et de l'amitié
Park or garden
0.2 ha
1.4 km northfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Marais de Cambrin, Annequin, Cuinchy et Festubert nature reserve is the nearest protected area, 11 km away
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Nature reserve
Marais de Cambrin, Annequin, Cuinchy et Festubert nature reserve
11 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.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
Footpaths and woods in Lens
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
54 km
4.6 km per km²
Hiking routes
8.9 km
waymarked: 0.8 km per km²
Woodland
6.4%
about 0.7 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
LensPas-de-Calais medianFrance median
Footpaths4.6
Hiking routes0.8
036 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
LensPas-de-Calais medianFrance median
Woodland6.4%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 88% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 72% 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 Lens is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
4 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
Bully-Les-Mines - Terril 81A8.8 km
Terril du Téléphérique - Terril 81A6.7 km
Terril 81A - Terril des Pinchonvalles3.8 km
Terril 81A - Libercourt3.7 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Lens: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Douai, 18 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 Lens →
Neighbors
Next to Lens
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Éleu-dit-LeauwetteLoison-sous-LensLoos-en-GohelleAvionSallauminesLiévinLens
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lens | 0% | 6.4% | 4.6 |
| Éleu-dit-Leauwette 2,805 · 1.8 km | 0% | 16% | 5.5 |
| Loison-sous-Lens 5,169 · 2.7 km | 0% | 3.6% | 2.3 |
| Loos-en-Gohelle 6,799 · 3.1 km | 0% | 3.6% | 3 |
| Avion 17,435 · 3.2 km | 0% | 13% | 3.4 |
| Sallaumines 9,414 · 3.4 km | 0% | 8.1% | 2.4 |
| Liévin 30,063 · 3.5 km | 0% | 5.2% | 4.7 |
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 Lens
Is Lens in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Marais de Cambrin, Annequin, Cuinchy et Festubert nature reserve, 11 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Lens?
OpenStreetMap maps 54 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 4.6 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 9 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Lens is woodland?
6.4% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Lens near the sea?
No: the coast is 74 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Lens?
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 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.