First pick
Forêt d'Écouen
Wood or forest
139 ha18.3 km of path
4 h 5 minto walk all 18.3 km of path
1 km south-westfrom the center
Route RelevéeChemin du Lavoir d'EzanvilleSente du Frou+5 paths
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: P.poschadel · CC BY-SA 3.016%woodland
Outdoors in Écouen · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Écouen has more footpaths per km² than 8 in 10 French towns
30 km of footpaths cross Écouen (4 km per km²). Écouen has 13 km of waymarked hiking routes. No protected area reaches Écouen; the nearest, Oise-Pays de France Regional Nature Park, is 4.1 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: Oise-Pays de France Regional Nature Park, 4.1 km
Woodland
16%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
30 km
4 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
13 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
3
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Forêt d'Écouen
Throughout this page, the Val-d'Oise 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 Écouen?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
A place of footpaths4 km per km² of mapped footpath, against 1.7 km per km² for the median compared town.On waymarked routes13 km of GR and other hiking routes cross the commune.Protected land nearbyOise-Pays de France Regional Nature Park is 4.1 km from the town center.
What sets Écouen apart: its footpaths, then its hiking routes.
Against French towns
How Écouen 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
Woodland16%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
55out of 100
Footpaths4 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
85out of 100
Hiking routes1.7 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
94out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Écouen has the 5th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (7,111 to 7,292 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Guingamp (6.8 km per km²) to Herbignac (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guingamp Côtes-d'Armor | 6.8 | 16% | 0% | 16 km |
| 2 | Colombelles Calvados | 4.9 | 3.1% | 0% | 9.7 km |
| 3 | Saint-Ismier Isère | 4.5 | 40% | 31% | 206 km |
| 4 | Labenne Landes | 4 | 54% | 20% | 2.8 km |
| 5 | Écouen Val-d'Oise | 4 | 16% | 0% | 135 km |
| 6 | Égly Essonne | 3.9 | 13% | 0% | 167 km |
| 7 | Balaruc-les-Bains Hérault | 3.5 | 0.7% | 33% | 3.8 km |
| 8 | Vendargues Hérault | 3.3 | 11% | 0% | 12 km |
| 9 | Roquefort-les-Pins Alpes-Maritimes | 3.3 | 52% | 15% | 8 km |
| 10 | Eckbolsheim Bas-Rhin | 3.1 | 7.3% | 0% | 448 km |
| 11 | Vizille Isère | 2.8 | 48% | 0% | 193 km |
| 12 | Ugine Savoie | 2.2 | 58% | 2.4% | 236 km |
| 13 | Le Mesnil-Saint-Denis Yvelines | 2.2 | 13% | 100% | 140 km |
| 14 | Waziers Nord | 2.2 | 4.9% | 0% | 88 km |
| 15 | Wissous Essonne | 2.1 | 5.8% | 0% | 159 km |
| 16 | Chauray Deux-Sèvres | 2 | 2.4% | 0% | 58 km |
| 17 | La Gaude Alpes-Maritimes | 1.8 | 44% | 2.8% | 7.1 km |
| 18 | Montauroux Var | 1.8 | 61% | 9.8% | 16 km |
| 19 | Bourg-Saint-Maurice Savoie | 1.8 | 15% | 0.4% | 211 km |
| 20 | Bagnères-de-Bigorre Hautes-Pyrénées | 1.6 | 30% | 42% | 144 km |
| 21 | Le Pian-Médoc Gironde | 1.6 | 60% | 100% | 8.2 km |
| 22 | Kervignac Morbihan | 1.5 | 30% | 0% | On it |
| 23 | La Talaudière Loire | 1.5 | 6.6% | 0% | 215 km |
| 24 | Templeuve-en-Pévèle Nord | 1.4 | 11% | 0% | 76 km |
| 25 | Eyguières Bouches-du-Rhône | 1.4 | 13% | 100% | 30 km |
| 26 | Caudan Morbihan | 1.2 | 16% | 3.4% | On it |
| 27 | Mably Loire | 1.2 | 6.8% | 4.4% | 279 km |
| 28 | Pleurtuit Ille-et-Vilaine | 1.2 | 9.8% | 100% | On it |
| 29 | Divatte-sur-Loire Loire-Atlantique | 1.2 | 7.5% | 5.6% | 56 km |
| 30 | Orgeval Yvelines | 1.1 | 27% | 0% | 129 km |
| 31 | Les Trois-Bassins Réunion | 1 | 20% | 82% | On it |
| 32 | Lodève Hérault | 1 | 51% | 100% | 47 km |
| 33 | Montoir-de-Bretagne Loire-Atlantique | 0.9 | 0.2% | 50% | On it |
| 34 | Trégunc Finistère | 0.9 | 9.6% | 6.1% | On it |
| 35 | Salazie Réunion | 0.9 | 63% | 100% | 16 km |
| 36 | Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 0.6 | 37% | 6.3% | 8.8 km |
| 37 | Aubigny-Les Clouzeaux Vendée | 0.6 | 2.7% | 0% | 24 km |
| 38 | Sainte-Pazanne Loire-Atlantique | 0.6 | 4.9% | 0% | 15 km |
| 39 | Verneuil d'Avre et d'Iton Eure | 0.4 | 20% | 1.5% | 87 km |
| 40 | La Ferté-Saint-Aubin Loiret | 0.4 | 68% | 100% | 224 km |
| 41 | Herbignac Loire-Atlantique | 0.2 | 14% | 100% | 7.8 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 Écouen
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Forêt d'Écouen leads, at 139 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Parc d'Astanières
Park or garden · 320 m outside the commune
1.8 ha0.5 km of path
5 minto walk all 0.5 km of path
1.8 km south-eastfrom the center
Sente des Cornillons
Directionsto a point inside
Parc Charles de Gaulle
Park or garden
0.9 ha0.3 km of path
Centralin the middle of Écouen
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Oise-Pays de France Regional Nature Park is the nearest protected area, 4.1 km away
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Regional nature park
Oise-Pays de France Regional Nature Park
4.1 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 Écouen
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
30 km
4 km per km²
Hiking routes
13 km
waymarked: 1.7 km per km²
Woodland
16%
about 1.2 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
ÉcouenVal-d'Oise medianFrance median
Footpaths4
Hiking routes1.7
02.55 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
ÉcouenVal-d'Oise medianFrance median
Woodland16%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 85% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 55% 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 Écouen 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
PR3910 km
Via Sancti Martini - Chemin d'Utrecht5.2 km
Promenade en Forêt d'Écouen3.5 km
Sentier des Lisières2.7 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Écouen: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Le Bourget, 7.4 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) | 8.7 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.6 | 15.3 | 16.2 | 15.8 | 14.4 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.1 | 8.2 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 20 | 23 | 26 | 25 | 22 | 17 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 47 | 41 | 44 | 43 | 61 | 54 | 56 | 53 | 45 | 57 | 54 | 63 |
February is the driest month (41 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 26 °C). 63 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 37 nights a year. The climate in Écouen →
Neighbors
Next to Écouen
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
ÉzanvilleVilliers-le-BelSaint-Brice-sous-ForêtDomontSarcellesGroslayÉcouen
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Écouen | 0% | 16% | 4 |
| Ézanville 9,858 · 1.7 km | 0% | 0.7% | 2.2 |
| Villiers-le-Bel 30,053 · 2.8 km | 0% | 5.1% | 7 |
| Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt 15,063 · 3.2 km | 0% | 24% | 3.3 |
| Domont 16,065 · 3.5 km | 0% | 28% | 4.5 |
| Sarcelles 59,173 · 4.6 km | 0% | 6.9% | 4.9 |
| Groslay 8,453 · 4.7 km | 0% | 15% | 4.3 |
Domont is 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 Écouen
Is Écouen in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Oise-Pays de France Regional Nature Park, 4.1 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Écouen?
OpenStreetMap maps 30 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 4 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 13 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Écouen is woodland?
16% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Écouen near the sea?
No: the coast is 135 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Écouen?
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 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.