First pick
Parc de la Closa
Park or garden
0.5 ha
Centralin the middle of Sorède
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: AC · CC BY-SA 3.043%of the land protected
Outdoors in Sorède · protected areas, woods and footpaths
68% of Sorède is woodland, more than in 9 in 10 French towns
43% of Sorède’s land lies in protected areas. Sorède has 18 km of waymarked hiking routes. Footpaths add up to 57 km across Sorède (1.6 km per km²). France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
43%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
68%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
57 km
1.6 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
18 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: Parc de la Closa
The sea
7.9 km
from the town center to the coast
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 Sorède?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
A wooded commune68% mapped woodland, more than in 98% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.Protected countryside43% of the land lies in protected areas.A nature reserveMoixoses nature reserve covers 20% of the commune.Near the seaThe coast is 7.9 km from the town center.
What sets Sorède apart: its woods, then its protected countryside.
Against French towns
How Sorède 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 areas43%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
85out of 100
Woodland68%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
98out of 100
Footpaths1.6 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
49out of 100
Hiking routes0.5 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
62out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Sorède has the 16th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (3,491 to 3,536 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Bergues (12 km per km²) to Dun-sur-Auron (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bergues Nord | 12 | 18% | 0% | 8.9 km |
| 2 | Danjoutin Territoire de Belfort | 3.3 | 33% | 0% | 429 km |
| 3 | Quissac Gard | 2.8 | 46% | 0% | 39 km |
| 4 | Mérignies Nord | 2.6 | 7.7% | 0% | 76 km |
| 5 | Bellignat Ain | 2.5 | 65% | 0% | 311 km |
| 6 | Hérimoncourt Doubs | 2.5 | 57% | 0% | 409 km |
| 7 | La Buisse Isère | 2.4 | 35% | 61% | 218 km |
| 8 | Amélie-les-Bains-Palalda Pyrénées-Orientales | 2.4 | 82% | 1.8% | 32 km |
| 9 | La Forêt-Fouesnant Finistère | 2.3 | 7.6% | 0% | On it |
| 10 | La Bernerie-en-Retz Loire-Atlantique | 2.1 | 2.2% | 0.8% | On it |
| 11 | Haucourt-Moulaine Meurthe-et-Moselle | 2 | 34% | 0% | 278 km |
| 12 | Crémieu Isère | 1.9 | 36% | 24% | 254 km |
| 13 | Montalieu-Vercieu Isère | 1.9 | 25% | 4.2% | 266 km |
| 14 | Portiragnes Hérault | 1.9 | 5% | 80% | On it |
| 15 | Taninges Haute-Savoie | 1.8 | 57% | 28% | 268 km |
| 16 | Sorède Pyrénées-Orientales | 1.6 | 68% | 43% | 7.9 km |
| 17 | Lécousse Ille-et-Vilaine | 1.5 | 1.4% | 0% | 31 km |
| 18 | Les Belleville Savoie | 1.4 | 15% | 71% | 194 km |
| 19 | Cerny Essonne | 1.2 | 41% | 100% | 179 km |
| 20 | Langeac Haute-Loire | 1.1 | 48% | 100% | 176 km |
| 21 | Saint-Didier-en-Velay Haute-Loire | 1.1 | 35% | 0% | 194 km |
| 22 | Issenheim Haut-Rhin | 1 | 14% | 0.2% | 458 km |
| 23 | Vertaizon Puy-de-Dôme | 0.9 | 9% | 2.1% | 253 km |
| 24 | Béligneux Ain | 0.9 | 14% | 6.3% | 268 km |
| 25 | Marssac-sur-Tarn Tarn | 0.8 | 4.6% | 0% | 124 km |
| 26 | Rieumes Haute-Garonne | 0.7 | 22% | 0% | 164 km |
| 27 | Vrigne aux Bois Ardennes | 0.7 | 60% | 46% | 215 km |
| 28 | Varangéville Meurthe-et-Moselle | 0.7 | 12% | 0% | 377 km |
| 29 | Savigneux Loire | 0.6 | 3% | 66% | 228 km |
| 30 | Chaumes-en-Brie Seine-et-Marne | 0.6 | 29% | 0.1% | 188 km |
| 31 | Chanceaux-sur-Choisille Indre-et-Loire | 0.6 | 17% | 0% | 190 km |
| 32 | Gallardon Eure-et-Loir | 0.5 | 8.3% | 0% | 140 km |
| 33 | Capestang Hérault | 0.5 | 0.9% | 18% | 20 km |
| 34 | Montmirail Marne | 0.4 | 27% | 0% | 198 km |
| 35 | Gramat Lot | 0.4 | 39% | 100% | 185 km |
| 36 | Espira-de-l'Agly Pyrénées-Orientales | 0.4 | 11% | 3.9% | 17 km |
| 37 | Sainte-Geneviève Oise | 0.3 | 17% | 0% | 104 km |
| 38 | Hornaing Nord | 0.3 | 8.8% | 99% | 98 km |
| 39 | Sallertaine Vendée | 0.2 | 3.4% | 44% | 13 km |
| 40 | Weyersheim Bas-Rhin | 0.2 | 14% | 0% | 444 km |
| 41 | Dun-sur-Auron Cher | 0.1 | 5.4% | 17% | 291 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 Sorède
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc de la Closa leads, at 0.5 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
La Rourède
Park or garden
0.3 ha0.1 km of path
Centralin the middle of Sorède
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
43% of Sorède 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
Moixoses nature reserve
20% of the commune2 km from the center
Nature reserve
Forêt de la Massane nature reserve
6.6 km from the town center
Natura 2000 site
Massif des Albères
34% of the commune4.2 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Massif des Albères
34% of the commune4.2 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area43%
Nature reserve20%
Natura 2000 site34%
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.
43% of Sorède’s land is protected, more than in 85% 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
57 km of footpaths and 18 km of hiking routes cross Sorède
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
57 km
1.6 km per km²
Hiking routes
18 km
waymarked: 0.5 km per km²
Woodland
68%
about 23.5 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
SorèdePyrénées-Orientales medianFrance median
Footpaths1.6
Hiking routes0.5
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
SorèdePyrénées-Orientales medianFrance median
Woodland68%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 51% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more 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. Every home in Sorède is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
5 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)PR (local walk)Other named walk
GR 1015 km
PR-C 7113 km
Vallée Heureuse - Château d'Ultrera10 km
La Tour Massane par le Chemin de l'Eau6.6 km
La Chapelle Saint-Laurent3.5 km
GR 10 passes within 2 km of Sorède.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Sorède: May to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Perpignan, 24 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 | 19 | 22 | 27 | 30 | 29 | 26 | 21 | 16 | 13 |
| Rain (mm) | 60 | 41 | 52 | 66 | 46 | 24 | 15 | 23 | 43 | 82 | 73 | 55 |
July is the driest month (15 mm) and the warmest (highs of 30 °C). 82 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 9 nights a year. The climate in Sorède →
Neighbors
Next to Sorède
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Saint-AndréSaint-Génis-des-FontainesPalau-del-VidreArgelès-sur-MerElneLatour-Bas-ElneSorède
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sorède | 43% | 68% | 1.6 | 7.9 km |
| Saint-André 3,388 · 2.6 km | 0% | 1.3% | 0.9 | 6.3 km |
| Saint-Génis-des-Fontaines 3,059 · 3.2 km | 0.7% | 1.2% | 1 | 11 km |
| Palau-del-Vidre 3,329 · 4.7 km | 2.8% | 1% | 0.2 | 7.1 km |
| Argelès-sur-Mer 10,616 · 6.1 km | 39% | 30% | 2 | On it |
| Elne 9,511 · 8.2 km | 3% | 0.2% | 0.8 | On it |
| Latour-Bas-Elne 3,228 · 9.4 km | 0% | 0.4% | 2.6 | 3.4 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 Sorède
Is Sorède in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 43% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Sorède?
OpenStreetMap maps 57 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.6 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 18 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Sorède is woodland?
68% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Sorède near the sea?
No: the coast is 7.9 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Sorède?
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.