Plan your visit
Forêt d'Orléans is one of France’s great natural sites — bring good shoes and a camera. Locate it on the map, book a room nearby in a click, or add it to your travel list to build your itinerary.
About Forêt d'Orléans
Sprawling east of Orléans in a great arc around the Loire, the Forêt d'Orléans is the largest state forest in France, some 35,000 hectares of oak, pine and heath threaded with quiet rides and scattered ponds. Long overlooked by visitors, its very size and stillness make it a refuge for wildlife: it was here that the osprey returned to nest in France, and the great fish-eating raptor now breeds around its lakes, alongside deer, boar and rich birdlife. Walkers, cyclists and riders can wander for hours without meeting a soul, past old chapels and forester's lodges. Vast, wild and deeply peaceful, the Forêt d'Orléans is one of the last great green expanses of the Loire country.