First pick
Parc de Gourjade
Park or garden
81 ha8.1 km of path
1 h 50 minto walk all 8.1 km of path
1.6 km north-eastfrom the center
Cheminement La Bouriatte - L'Archipel - Les SalvagesChemin de Tutelle
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Didier Descouens · CC BY-SA 4.01.2%of the land protected
Outdoors in Castres · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Castres is within 800 m of a park or wood
Mapped woodland covers 9.7% of Castres. Footpaths add up to 109 km across Castres (1.1 km per km²). Castres has 24 km of waymarked hiking routes. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
1.2%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
9.7%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
109 km
1.1 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
24 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
8
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Parc de Gourjade
Throughout this page, the Tarn 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 Castres 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 areas1.2%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
57out of 100
Woodland9.7%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
39out of 100
Footpaths1.1 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
35out of 100
Hiking routes0.2 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
42out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Castres has the fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (39,800 to 45,510 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Puteaux (18.9 km per km²) to Castres (1.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Puteaux Hauts-de-Seine | 18.9 | 1.5% | 0% | 142 km |
| 2 | Bagneux Hauts-de-Seine | 9.6 | 1.1% | 0% | 154 km |
| 3 | Paris 6e Paris | 8.4 | 1.7% | 0% | 149 km |
| 4 | Bron Rhône | 7.1 | 6.1% | 0% | 251 km |
| 5 | Villepinte Seine-Saint-Denis | 7 | 15% | 16% | 149 km |
| 6 | Chalon-sur-Saône Saône-et-Loire | 6.7 | 4.2% | 0% | 364 km |
| 7 | Neuilly-sur-Marne Seine-Saint-Denis | 6.6 | 9.5% | 11% | 157 km |
| 8 | Rezé Loire-Atlantique | 6.6 | 7% | 3.6% | 37 km |
| 9 | Arras Pas-de-Calais | 6.5 | 3.4% | 0% | 78 km |
| 10 | Colomiers Haute-Garonne | 6.4 | 5.5% | 0% | 155 km |
| 11 | Stains Seine-Saint-Denis | 6.3 | 6.9% | 14% | 142 km |
| 12 | Boulogne-sur-Mer Pas-de-Calais | 5.8 | 1.3% | 0% | On it |
| 13 | Bagnolet Seine-Saint-Denis | 5.5 | 1.4% | 3.6% | 151 km |
| 14 | Saint-Brieuc Côtes-d'Armor | 5.3 | 14% | 2.1% | On it |
| 15 | Valenciennes Nord | 5.2 | 6.6% | 0.2% | 105 km |
| 16 | Caluire-et-Cuire Rhône | 5.1 | 9.1% | 0.1% | 255 km |
| 17 | Noisy-le-Sec Seine-Saint-Denis | 4.6 | 2.7% | 0% | 151 km |
| 18 | Gagny Seine-Saint-Denis | 4.3 | 9.6% | 0.5% | 155 km |
| 19 | Angoulême Charente | 4.1 | 14% | 3.6% | 75 km |
| 20 | Anglet Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 4 | 18% | 4.5% | On it |
| 21 | Garges-lès-Gonesse Val-d'Oise | 4 | 8.7% | 0% | 141 km |
| 22 | Mantes-la-Jolie Yvelines | 3.7 | 12% | 7.1% | 109 km |
| 23 | Bourg-en-Bresse Ain | 3.5 | 16% | 0% | 307 km |
| 24 | Douai Nord | 3.5 | 5.3% | 1.1% | 88 km |
| 25 | Marcq-en-Barœul Nord | 3.4 | 3.7% | 0% | 60 km |
| 26 | Compiègne Oise | 3.4 | 74% | 76% | 119 km |
| 27 | Tarbes Hautes-Pyrénées | 3.4 | 2.8% | 0.8% | 131 km |
| 28 | Wattrelos Nord | 3.1 | 3.3% | 0% | 60 km |
| 29 | Poissy Yvelines | 3 | 12% | 0% | 131 km |
| 30 | Le Cannet Alpes-Maritimes | 2.8 | 9.9% | 0% | 2.4 km |
| 31 | Thionville Moselle | 2.7 | 33% | 0% | 307 km |
| 32 | Villenave-d'Ornon Gironde | 2.4 | 7% | 14% | 26 km |
| 33 | Gap Hautes-Alpes | 2.3 | 28% | 33% | 133 km |
| 34 | Châteauroux Indre | 2.3 | 3.8% | 4.8% | 224 km |
| 35 | Châlons-en-Champagne Marne | 2.2 | 0.7% | 0% | 237 km |
| 36 | Sète Hérault | 2 | 0.6% | 67% | On it |
| 37 | Montélimar Drôme | 1.8 | 8% | 0.9% | 123 km |
| 38 | Draguignan Var | 1.5 | 29% | 0% | 26 km |
| 39 | Salon-de-Provence Bouches-du-Rhône | 1.4 | 4.8% | 59% | 26 km |
| 40 | Istres Bouches-du-Rhône | 1.1 | 3.3% | 49% | 9.7 km |
| 41 | Castres Tarn | 1.1 | 9.7% | 1.2% | 90 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 Castres
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc de Gourjade leads, at 81 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Parc de la Borde Basse
Park or garden
6.4 ha1.7 km of path
20 minto walk all 1.7 km of path
2.2 km northfrom the center
Cheminement La Bouriatte - L'Archipel - Les Salvages
Directionsto a point inside
Jardin du Mail
Park or garden
1.9 ha0.9 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.9 km of path
Centralin the middle of Castres
Directionsto a point inside
Jardin Briguiboul
Park or garden
1.3 ha1 km of path
15 minto walk all 1 km of path
1.1 km south-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Parc du Colombié
Park or garden · 20 m outside the commune
2 ha0.3 km of path
5.4 km south-westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Jardin de l'Évêché
Park or garden
1 ha0.7 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.7 km of path
Centralin the middle of Castres
Directionsto a point inside
Jardin Frascaty
Park or garden
0.6 ha0.3 km of path
0.8 km westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Jardin d'Empare
Park or garden
0.2 ha0.2 km of path
Centralin the middle of Castres
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
1.2% of Castres lies in protected areas
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Regional nature park
Haut-Languedoc Regional Nature Park
3.6 km from the town center
Natura 2000 site
Vallées du Tarn, de l’Aveyron, du Viaur, de l’Agout et du Gijou
0.9% of the commune0.3 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Causse de Caucalières et Labruguière
5 km from the town center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area1.2%
Natura 2000 site1.2%
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.
1.2% of Castres’ land is protected, more than in 57% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Tarn 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.
Footpaths and woods
109 km of footpaths and 24 km of hiking routes cross Castres
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
109 km
1.1 km per km²
Hiking routes
24 km
waymarked: 0.2 km per km²
Woodland
9.7%
about 9.6 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
CastresTarn medianFrance median
Footpaths1.1
Hiking routes0.2
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
CastresTarn medianFrance median
Woodland9.7%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 65% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 61% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 98% of Castres’ residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
4 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
Tour de Pays des Hautes-Terres d'Oc11 km
Chemin des Fontaines7.3 km
Cheminement La Bouriatte - L'Archipel - Les Salvages4.8 km
Voie Verte du Chemin Blanc3.1 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Castres: June to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Dourgne, 15 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) | 9.3 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.1 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 8.9 |
| High (°C) | 10 | 11 | 15 | 18 | 22 | 26 | 28 | 29 | 25 | 20 | 14 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 78 | 58 | 66 | 96 | 101 | 77 | 50 | 56 | 73 | 81 | 84 | 77 |
July is the driest month (50 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 29 °C). 101 mm of rain falls in May, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 32 nights a year. The climate in Castres →
Gardens
A garden to visit in Castres
Named gardens in the commune.
Jardin de l'Évêché de CastresIn Castres
DirectionsSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) and Wikidata.
Neighbors
Next to Castres
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
SaïxLabruguièreSoualAiguefondeAussillonPont-de-LarnCastres
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Castres | 1.2% | 9.7% | 1.1 |
| Saïx 3,748 · 6.6 km | 3.3% | 12% | 0.9 |
| Labruguière 6,584 · 8.4 km | 100% | 44% | 1.4 |
| Soual 2,637 · 12 km | 0% | 1.4% | 0.6 |
| Aiguefonde 2,505 · 14 km | 100% | 52% | 1.7 |
| Aussillon 5,527 · 15 km | 100% | 41% | 2 |
| Pont-de-Larn 2,947 · 15 km | 100% | 40% | 0.4 |
Labruguière, Aiguefonde and Aussillon have at least twice as much protected land. Labruguière, Aiguefonde and Aussillon are 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 Castres
Is Castres in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 1.2% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Castres?
OpenStreetMap maps 109 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.1 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 24 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Castres is woodland?
9.7% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Castres near the sea?
No: the coast is 90 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Castres?
June 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.