Photo: frederic masson · CC BY-SA 3.0Chatou has more footpaths per km² than 8 in 10 French towns
Footpaths add up to 23 km across Chatou (4.5 km per km²). Chatou has 4 km of waymarked hiking routes. No protected area reaches Chatou; the nearest, Sites de Seine-Saint-Denis (Natura 2000), is 12 km from the town center. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Throughout this page, the Yvelines 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 Chatou?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
What sets Chatou apart: its footpaths. It is shorter on woodland.
How Chatou 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.
Chatou has the 20th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (29,259 to 31,970 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Cachan (11.5 km per km²) to Carpentras (1.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cachan Val-de-Marne | 11.5 | 1.2% | 0% | 155 km |
| 2 | Guyancourt Yvelines | 8.9 | 22% | 0% | 145 km |
| 3 | Lyon 2e Rhône | 8.3 | 0% | 0% | 251 km |
| 4 | Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy Meurthe-et-Moselle | 8.1 | 18% | 0% | 367 km |
| 5 | Saint-Cloud Hauts-de-Seine | 7.8 | 27% | 0% | 145 km |
| 6 | Clichy-sous-Bois Seine-Saint-Denis | 7.6 | 29% | 22% | 153 km |
| 7 | Tournefeuille Haute-Garonne | 7.5 | 9.4% | 0% | 153 km |
| 8 | L'Haÿ-les-Roses Val-de-Marne | 7.5 | 4% | 0% | 156 km |
| 9 | Villiers-le-Bel Val-d'Oise | 7 | 5.1% | 0% | 138 km |
| 10 | Ermont Val-d'Oise | 6.9 | 0% | 0% | 133 km |
| 11 | Savigny-le-Temple Seine-et-Marne | 6.5 | 15% | 0% | 183 km |
| 12 | Le Chesnay-Rocquencourt Yvelines | 6.3 | 21% | 0% | 144 km |
| 13 | Pontoise Val-d'Oise | 6.2 | 11% | 0.5% | 121 km |
| 14 | Fresnes Val-de-Marne | 5.7 | 3.6% | 0% | 158 km |
| 15 | Malakoff Hauts-de-Seine | 5.6 | 0% | 0% | 151 km |
| 16 | Plaisir Yvelines | 5.5 | 26% | 0% | 135 km |
| 17 | Viry-Châtillon Essonne | 5.4 | 4.4% | 0% | 168 km |
| 18 | Bègles Gironde | 5.3 | 5.5% | 8.9% | 23 km |
| 19 | Liévin Pas-de-Calais | 4.7 | 5.2% | 0% | 74 km |
| 20 | Draveil Essonne | 4.6 | 47% | 0% | 168 km |
| 21 | Ris-Orangis Essonne | 4.6 | 7.7% | 0% | 171 km |
| 22 | Chatou Yvelines | 4.5 | 0.3% | 0% | 138 km |
| 23 | Vigneux-sur-Seine Essonne | 4.3 | 21% | 0% | 167 km |
| 24 | Décines-Charpieu Rhône | 4.2 | 6.3% | 8.4% | 255 km |
| 25 | Rillieux-la-Pape Rhône | 3.5 | 16% | 6.1% | 259 km |
| 26 | Menton Alpes-Maritimes | 3.5 | 32% | 20% | On it |
| 27 | Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray Seine-Maritime | 3.4 | 28% | 0.3% | 53 km |
| 28 | Agde Hérault | 3.2 | 4.4% | 22% | On it |
| 29 | Cambrai Nord | 2.8 | 4.5% | 0% | 111 km |
| 30 | Herblay-sur-Seine Val-d'Oise | 2.7 | 10% | 0% | 128 km |
| 31 | Dreux Eure-et-Loir | 2.7 | 24% | 2.4% | 107 km |
| 32 | Bourgoin-Jallieu Isère | 2.7 | 13% | 0% | 240 km |
| 33 | Vienne Isère | 2.6 | 30% | 0.1% | 227 km |
| 34 | La Garenne-Colombes Hauts-de-Seine | 2.2 | 0% | 0% | 141 km |
| 35 | Mont-de-Marsan Landes | 2.1 | 33% | 4.9% | 70 km |
| 36 | Goussainville Val-d'Oise | 1.7 | 2.8% | 0% | 139 km |
| 37 | Châtellerault Vienne | 1.6 | 4.3% | 0% | 140 km |
| 38 | Orange Vaucluse | 1.5 | 8% | 2.3% | 76 km |
| 39 | Vallauris Alpes-Maritimes | 1.5 | 16% | 0% | On it |
| 40 | Villemomble Seine-Saint-Denis | 1.4 | 0.7% | 0% | 154 km |
| 41 | Carpentras Vaucluse | 1.1 | 6% | 64% | 69 km |
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.
Parks and woods to walk in, in and around Chatou
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc des Impressionistes leads, at 7.5 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Parc des Bords de Seine
promenade de la couverture de l'autoroute
Square de Thame
Parc Auguste Renoir
Parc du lac inférieur
Parc de l'Europe
Parc du Lac Supérieur
All 16 named parks, gardens and woods
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Sites de Seine-Saint-Denis is the nearest protected area, 12 km away
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Sites de Seine-Saint-Denis
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.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods in Chatou
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 88% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 97% 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 Chatou is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
10 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR 2 passes within 2 km of Chatou.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
The best walking months in Chatou: April and June to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Bagatelle, 7.5 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 | 8.3 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 9 | 14 | 17 | 21 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 22 | 17 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 51 | 45 | 46 | 45 | 70 | 53 | 51 | 55 | 46 | 55 | 58 | 64 |
February is the driest month (45 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 26 °C). 70 mm of rain falls in May, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 36 nights a year. The climate in Chatou →
Next to Chatou
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chatou | 0% | 0.3% | 4.5 |
| Le Vésinet 15,554 · 1.6 km | 0% | 0.1% | 4.9 |
| Montesson 14,549 · 1.9 km | 0% | 2.3% | 4.7 |
| Croissy-sur-Seine 11,013 · 2.3 km | 0% | 2.5% | 3.3 |
| Carrières-sur-Seine 14,791 · 2.6 km | 0% | 5% | 2.2 |
| Rueil-Malmaison 82,874 · 3.4 km | 0% | 17% | 7.3 |
| Le Pecq 16,059 · 3.6 km | 0% | 2.7% | 7.1 |
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 Chatou
Is Chatou in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Sites de Seine-Saint-Denis, 12 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Chatou?
OpenStreetMap maps 23 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 4.5 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 4 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Chatou is woodland?
0.3% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Chatou near the sea?
No: the coast is 138 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Chatou?
April and 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 8, 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.