First pick
Maternité Suisse d'Elne
Park or garden
0.5 ha0.1 km of path
1.4 km westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Kataloniec · CC BY-SA 4.03%of the land protected
Outdoors in Elne · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Elne is on the coast
Elne has almost no mapped woodland. Footpaths add up to 17 km across Elne (0.8 km per km²). Protected areas cover 3% of Elne’s land. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
3%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
0.2%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
17 km
0.8 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
6.8 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
2
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Maternité Suisse d'Elne
The sea
On it
the commune touches the coast, 5.8 km from its center
Throughout this page, the Pyrénées-Orientales 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 Elne?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
On the coastThe commune touches the sea; the coast is 5.8 km from its center.Little mapped woodland0.2% of the land, against 13% for the median compared town.
What sets Elne apart: the sea. It is shorter on woodland.
Against French towns
How Elne 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 areas3%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
61out of 100
Woodland0.2%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
2out of 100
Footpaths0.8 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
25out of 100
Hiking routes0.3 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
47out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Elne has the 10th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (9,356 to 9,647 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Bures-sur-Yvette (8.5 km per km²) to Tonneins (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bures-sur-Yvette Essonne | 8.5 | 26% | 0.2% | 155 km |
| 2 | Ville-la-Grand Haute-Savoie | 6 | 14% | 0% | 287 km |
| 3 | Crosne Essonne | 5.8 | 12% | 0% | 167 km |
| 4 | Jarville-la-Malgrange Meurthe-et-Moselle | 4.6 | 2.7% | 0% | 369 km |
| 5 | Darnétal Seine-Maritime | 4.2 | 37% | 0% | 53 km |
| 6 | Magny-les-Hameaux Yvelines | 4.1 | 29% | 100% | 149 km |
| 7 | Carqueiranne Var | 3.9 | 28% | 0.1% | On it |
| 8 | Redon Ille-et-Vilaine | 3.8 | 10% | 32% | 28 km |
| 9 | Saint-Jean-le-Blanc Loiret | 3.6 | 4.8% | 11% | 207 km |
| 10 | Lesquin Nord | 3.5 | 4.8% | 0% | 68 km |
| 11 | Séné Morbihan | 3.3 | 10% | 90% | On it |
| 12 | Arques Pas-de-Calais | 3.3 | 37% | 76% | 31 km |
| 13 | Rombas Moselle | 3.3 | 53% | 0% | 314 km |
| 14 | Mont-Saint-Martin Meurthe-et-Moselle | 2.9 | 18% | 0% | 274 km |
| 15 | Quincy-sous-Sénart Essonne | 2.8 | 57% | 0% | 174 km |
| 16 | Landivisiau Finistère | 2.8 | 12% | 0.8% | 14 km |
| 17 | Leers Nord | 2.6 | 1.6% | 0% | 64 km |
| 18 | Aucamville Haute-Garonne | 2.5 | 2.3% | 0% | 151 km |
| 19 | Sallaumines Pas-de-Calais | 2.4 | 8.1% | 0% | 77 km |
| 20 | Savenay Loire-Atlantique | 2.3 | 14% | 7.7% | 20 km |
| 21 | Clermont-l'Hérault Hérault | 2 | 22% | 46% | 32 km |
| 22 | Pérols Hérault | 1.9 | 0.6% | 37% | 2.2 km |
| 23 | Guichen Ille-et-Vilaine | 1.8 | 11% | 0% | 60 km |
| 24 | Lescar Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 1.6 | 6.6% | 20% | 89 km |
| 25 | Chaponost Rhône | 1.5 | 12% | 0% | 245 km |
| 26 | Belley Ain | 1.4 | 19% | 0% | 261 km |
| 27 | Saint-Rémy-de-Provence Bouches-du-Rhône | 1.4 | 23% | 100% | 37 km |
| 28 | Nort-sur-Erdre Loire-Atlantique | 1.2 | 9% | 6.6% | 53 km |
| 29 | Aire-sur-la-Lys Pas-de-Calais | 1.2 | 2.8% | 0% | 43 km |
| 30 | Dombasle-sur-Meurthe Meurthe-et-Moselle | 1 | 17% | 0% | 380 km |
| 31 | Luçon Vendée | 0.9 | 1.1% | 100% | 16 km |
| 32 | Elne Pyrénées-Orientales | 0.8 | 0.2% | 3% | On it |
| 33 | Albert Somme | 0.8 | 1.1% | 0% | 72 km |
| 34 | L'Isle-Jourdain Gers | 0.7 | 7% | 0% | 173 km |
| 35 | Saint-Doulchard Cher | 0.7 | 8.8% | 7.2% | 282 km |
| 36 | Vallet Loire-Atlantique | 0.6 | 7.8% | 0% | 56 km |
| 37 | Saint-Jean-d'Illac Gironde | 0.5 | 79% | 0.5% | 23 km |
| 38 | Saint-Philbert-de-Grand-Lieu Loire-Atlantique | 0.4 | 4.5% | 44% | 26 km |
| 39 | Audenge Gironde | 0.4 | 72% | 100% | On it |
| 40 | Petit-Caux Seine-Maritime | 0.3 | 4.6% | 1.1% | On it |
| 41 | Tonneins Lot-et-Garonne | 0.2 | 2.8% | 3.5% | 99 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 Elne
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Maternité Suisse d'Elne leads, at 0.5 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
3% of Elne 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
Mas Larrieu nature reserve
0.6% of the commune5.2 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Le Tech
2.1% of the commune2 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Embouchure du Tech et Grau de la Massane
0.8% of the commune5.1 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area3%
Nature reserve0.6%
Natura 2000 site2.9%
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.
3% of Elne’s land is protected, more than in 61% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Pyrénées-Orientales has 1.3%.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
17 km of footpaths and 7 km of hiking routes cross Elne
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
17 km
0.8 km per km²
Hiking routes
6.8 km
waymarked: 0.3 km per km²
Woodland
0.2%
about 0 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
ElnePyrénées-Orientales medianFrance median
Footpaths0.8
Hiking routes0.3
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
ElnePyrénées-Orientales medianFrance median
Woodland0.2%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 75% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 98% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 97% of Elne’s residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Elne: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Torreilles, 17 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) | 9.4 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.6 | 15.3 | 15.0 | 13.9 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.7 | 9.1 |
| High (°C) | 13 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 22 | 26 | 29 | 29 | 25 | 21 | 16 | 13 |
| Rain (mm) | 58 | 39 | 40 | 50 | 42 | 22 | 14 | 25 | 52 | 88 | 76 | 50 |
July is the driest month (14 mm) and the warmest (highs of 29 °C). 88 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 15 nights a year. The climate in Elne →
Neighbors
Next to Elne
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Latour-Bas-ElneCorneilla-del-VercolPalau-del-VidreAlényaSaint-CyprienVilleneuve-de-la-RahoElne
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elne | 3% | 0.2% | 0.8 | On it |
| Latour-Bas-Elne 3,228 · 2.4 km | 0% | 0.4% | 2.6 | 3.4 km |
| Corneilla-del-Vercol 2,696 · 2.9 km | 0% | 0% | 1.5 | 6.8 km |
| Palau-del-Vidre 3,329 · 3.6 km | 2.8% | 1% | 0.2 | 7.1 km |
| Alénya 3,782 · 4.2 km | 5.7% | 0.1% | 1.5 | 4.4 km |
| Saint-Cyprien 12,068 · 4.4 km | 3% | 0.4% | 6.1 | On it |
| Villeneuve-de-la-Raho 4,470 · 5.8 km | 0% | 0.2% | 2.2 | 9.8 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 Elne
Is Elne in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 3% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Elne?
OpenStreetMap maps 17 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.8 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 7 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Elne is woodland?
0.2% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Elne near the sea?
Yes: the commune touches the coast, 5.8 km from its center.
When is the best time for walking in Elne?
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.