Photo: Bodoklecksel · CC BY-SA 3.0Sangatte lies inside Caps et Marais d’Opale Regional Nature Park
Protected areas cover 99% of Sangatte’s land. Sangatte has 23 km of waymarked hiking routes. Mapped woodland covers 1.7% of Sangatte. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
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 outdoors place is Sangatte?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
What sets Sangatte apart: the regional nature park around it, then its hiking routes. It is shorter on woodland.
How Sangatte 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.
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Sangatte has the 9th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (4,638 to 4,698 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Le Ban-Saint-Martin (4.6 km per km²) to Soullans (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Le Ban-Saint-Martin Moselle | 4.6 | 27% | 0% | 326 km |
| 2 | Bavilliers Territoire de Belfort | 4.6 | 16% | 0% | 430 km |
| 3 | La Tremblade Charente-Maritime | 4.3 | 72% | 89% | On it |
| 4 | Auzeville-Tolosane Haute-Garonne | 3.8 | 6.3% | 0% | 140 km |
| 5 | L'Huisserie Mayenne | 3.8 | 16% | 0% | 80 km |
| 6 | Bièvres Essonne | 3.5 | 31% | 0% | 154 km |
| 7 | Sequedin Nord | 3.3 | 5.9% | 0% | 60 km |
| 8 | La Tour-de-Salvagny Rhône | 3.3 | 28% | 0% | 255 km |
| 9 | Sangatte Pas-de-Calais | 2.9 | 1.7% | 99% | On it |
| 10 | Ribeauvillé Haut-Rhin | 2.7 | 72% | 100% | 461 km |
| 11 | Hallennes-lez-Haubourdin Nord | 2.7 | 1.3% | 0% | 61 km |
| 12 | Ascain Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 2.6 | 20% | 51% | 5.2 km |
| 13 | Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or Rhône | 2.3 | 5.8% | 0% | 258 km |
| 14 | Angres Pas-de-Calais | 2.1 | 14% | 0% | 75 km |
| 15 | Saint-Leu-d'Esserent Oise | 1.8 | 22% | 0.3% | 119 km |
| 16 | Viuz-en-Sallaz Haute-Savoie | 1.5 | 40% | 0% | 278 km |
| 17 | Bar-sur-Aube Aube | 1.5 | 14% | 22% | 309 km |
| 18 | Blénod-lès-Pont-à-Mousson Meurthe-et-Moselle | 1.3 | 20% | 11% | 343 km |
| 19 | Neufchâtel-en-Bray Seine-Maritime | 1.2 | 17% | 3.7% | 32 km |
| 20 | Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise Pas-de-Calais | 1 | 14% | 0% | 47 km |
| 21 | Soucieu-en-Jarrest Rhône | 1 | 15% | 0% | 240 km |
| 22 | Véretz Indre-et-Loire | 1 | 13% | 0% | 188 km |
| 23 | Bas-en-Basset Haute-Loire | 0.9 | 54% | 97% | 194 km |
| 24 | Les Garennes sur Loire Maine-et-Loire | 0.9 | 12% | 23% | 121 km |
| 25 | Graveson Bouches-du-Rhône | 0.9 | 10% | 0% | 45 km |
| 26 | Rognes Bouches-du-Rhône | 0.9 | 51% | 12% | 34 km |
| 27 | Aigrefeuille-d'Aunis Charente-Maritime | 0.9 | 3.1% | 0% | 12 km |
| 28 | Bédée Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.8 | 0.5% | 0% | 35 km |
| 29 | Flayosc Var | 0.8 | 36% | 0% | 32 km |
| 30 | Bourbon-Lancy Saône-et-Loire | 0.7 | 21% | 13% | 341 km |
| 31 | La Suze-sur-Sarthe Sarthe | 0.6 | 31% | 0% | 132 km |
| 32 | Montbard Côte-d'Or | 0.6 | 74% | 0% | 344 km |
| 33 | La Bouëxière Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.6 | 35% | 0% | 48 km |
| 34 | Saint-Hilaire-de-Brethmas Gard | 0.6 | 4.6% | 0% | 59 km |
| 35 | Phalsbourg Moselle | 0.5 | 19% | 25% | 411 km |
| 36 | Saint-Méen-le-Grand Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.4 | 13% | 0% | 36 km |
| 37 | Fumel Lot-et-Garonne | 0.4 | 33% | 0.1% | 135 km |
| 38 | Herrlisheim Bas-Rhin | 0.3 | 6.9% | 3.3% | 448 km |
| 39 | Villers-Bretonneux Somme | 0.3 | 8.8% | 0% | 69 km |
| 40 | Saint-Georges-de-Reneins Rhône | 0.3 | 10% | 25% | 282 km |
| 41 | Soullans Vendée | 0.2 | 5.9% | 51% | 11 km |
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is the commune’s boundary.
8 in 10 residents of Sangatte live within 800 m of a park or wood
Each square is 1 resident in 100: in green, those within 800 m, as the crow flies, of a mapped park, garden or woodland edge (INSEE’s 200 m population grid against OpenStreetMap).
Residents within 800 m of green space · share of residents
About 900 residents live further away. The distance is a straight line to the edge of a mapped park or wood, not a walk to a gate, and a wood can be private.
Protected land in and around Sangatte
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Caps et Marais d’Opale Regional Nature Park
Falaises et pelouses du Cap Blanc Nez, du Mont d’Hubert, des Noires Mottes, du Fond de la Forge et du Mont de Couple
Cap Gris-Nez
Share of the commune’s land
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.
99% of Sangatte’s land is protected, more than in 92% 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.
42 km of footpaths and 23 km of hiking routes cross Sangatte
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.
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
That is more than in 72% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 91% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them.
12 named hiking routes within 2 km
2 GR routes pass within 2 km of Sangatte: GR 120 and GR 128.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
The best walking months in Sangatte: May to July and September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Calais-Marck, 11 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 Sangatte →
Next to Sangatte
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Guînes is more wooded.
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 Sangatte
Is Sangatte in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Sangatte lies in Caps et Marais d’Opale Regional Nature Park (99% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Sangatte?
OpenStreetMap maps 42 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 2.9 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 23 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Sangatte is woodland?
1.7% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Sangatte near the sea?
Yes: the commune touches the coast, 0.5 km from its center.
When is the best time for walking in Sangatte?
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.