First pick
Bois Diot
Wood or forest
42 ha0.3 km of path
4.3 km north-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Krzysztof Golik · CC BY-SA 4.012%woodland
Outdoors in Lapalisse · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Parks, woods and footpaths in Lapalisse
8 km of footpaths cross Lapalisse (0.2 km per km²). No protected area reaches Lapalisse; the nearest, Rivières de la Montagne Bourbonnaise (Natura 2000), is 15 km from the town center. Mapped woodland covers 12% of Lapalisse. 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: Rivières de la Montagne Bourbonnaise, 15 km
Woodland
12%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
7.5 km
0.2 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Green space nearby
95%
of residents within 800 m of a park or wood
Compared town: 100%
Throughout this page, the Allier 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 Lapalisse 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
Woodland12%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
46out of 100
Footpaths0.2 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
4out of 100
Hiking routes0 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
12out of 100
Green space nearby95%Share of residents within 800 m of a mapped park or wood
13out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Lapalisse has the 3rd fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (3,114 to 3,162 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Sérézin-du-Rhône (3.5 km per km²) to La Guerche-sur-l'Aubois (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sérézin-du-Rhône Rhône | 3.5 | 20% | 0% | 237 km |
| 2 | Saint-Mammès Seine-et-Marne | 3.1 | 28% | 1.8% | 212 km |
| 3 | Spicheren Moselle | 3.1 | 39% | 0% | 362 km |
| 4 | Donville-les-Bains Manche | 3.1 | 2.8% | 0% | On it |
| 5 | Asnières-sur-Oise Val-d'Oise | 3.1 | 51% | 100% | 125 km |
| 6 | La Tranche-sur-Mer Vendée | 2.8 | 18% | 100% | On it |
| 7 | Morainvilliers Yvelines | 2.4 | 32% | 0% | 127 km |
| 8 | Saint-Germain-au-Mont-d'Or Rhône | 2.3 | 24% | 0% | 264 km |
| 9 | Solaize Rhône | 2.3 | 17% | 0% | 239 km |
| 10 | La Flotte Charente-Maritime | 2.2 | 37% | 1.2% | On it |
| 11 | Le Touvet Isère | 1.9 | 48% | 58% | 212 km |
| 12 | Éloyes Vosges | 1.8 | 59% | 0% | 428 km |
| 13 | Gilly-sur-Isère Savoie | 1.6 | 13% | 0.1% | 228 km |
| 14 | Chorges Hautes-Alpes | 1.5 | 34% | 16% | 122 km |
| 15 | Arbois Jura | 1.4 | 51% | 12% | 373 km |
| 16 | Besse-sur-Issole Var | 1.3 | 36% | 0.7% | 26 km |
| 17 | Moyenmoutier Vosges | 1.2 | 72% | 2.8% | 426 km |
| 18 | Champcevinel Dordogne | 1.1 | 51% | 0% | 106 km |
| 19 | Le Plan-de-la-Tour Var | 1.1 | 40% | 0% | 7.3 km |
| 20 | Saint-Georges-sur-Baulche Yonne | 1 | 31% | 0% | 296 km |
| 21 | Vémars Val-d'Oise | 0.9 | 6.8% | 0% | 139 km |
| 22 | Arleux Nord | 0.9 | 7.5% | 0% | 99 km |
| 23 | Quarouble Nord | 0.9 | 19% | 100% | 106 km |
| 24 | Boussois Nord | 0.9 | 5.1% | 100% | 131 km |
| 25 | Saint-Thibéry Hérault | 0.8 | 6.2% | 0.2% | 12 km |
| 26 | Thézan-lès-Béziers Hérault | 0.8 | 0.9% | 0% | 22 km |
| 27 | Échenoz-la-Méline Haute-Saône | 0.7 | 50% | 10% | 435 km |
| 28 | Saint-Jacques-sur-Darnétal Seine-Maritime | 0.6 | 26% | 0% | 54 km |
| 29 | Le Molay-Littry Calvados | 0.5 | 10% | 0.1% | 14 km |
| 30 | Montfrin Gard | 0.5 | 3.1% | 14% | 47 km |
| 31 | Valensole Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 0.4 | 44% | 100% | 75 km |
| 32 | Gimont Gers | 0.4 | 6.2% | 0% | 184 km |
| 33 | Château-Landon Seine-et-Marne | 0.4 | 13% | 0.2% | 224 km |
| 34 | Saint-Hippolyte Pyrénées-Orientales | 0.3 | 0% | 68% | 6.1 km |
| 35 | Berlaimont Nord | 0.3 | 7.2% | 100% | 130 km |
| 36 | Longperrier Seine-et-Marne | 0.3 | 16% | 0% | 144 km |
| 37 | Maringues Puy-de-Dôme | 0.3 | 11% | 40% | 269 km |
| 38 | Merdrignac Côtes-d'Armor | 0.2 | 32% | 0% | 39 km |
| 39 | Lapalisse Allier | 0.2 | 12% | 0% | 301 km |
| 40 | Médis Charente-Maritime | 0.2 | 9.4% | 0.6% | 5.1 km |
| 41 | La Guerche-sur-l'Aubois Cher | 0.1 | 22% | 0% | 321 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 Lapalisse
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Bois Diot leads, at 42 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Parc floral de Lapalisse
Park or garden
3.2 ha2.4 km of path
30 minto walk all 2.4 km of path
0.8 km south-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Close to home
9 in 10 residents of Lapalisse live within 800 m of a park or wood
Each square is 1 resident in 100: in green, those within 800 m, as the crow flies, of a mapped park, garden or woodland edge (INSEE’s 200 m population grid against OpenStreetMap).
95% within 800 m5.3% further
Residents within 800 m of green space · share of residents
LapalisseAllier medianFrance median
Within 800 m95%
0%50%100%
About 200 residents live further away. The distance is a straight line to the edge of a mapped park or wood, not a walk to a gate, and a wood can be private.
Protected areas
Rivières de la Montagne Bourbonnaise is the nearest protected area, 15 km away
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Natura 2000 site
Rivières de la Montagne Bourbonnaise
15 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
8 km of footpaths cross Lapalisse
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
7.5 km
0.2 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked: 0 km per km²
Woodland
12%
about 4 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
LapalisseAllier medianFrance median
Footpaths0.2
Hiking routes0
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
LapalisseAllier medianFrance median
Woodland12%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 96% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 54% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Lapalisse: April, June, July and September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Saint Didier_Sapc, 21 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) | 9.0 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 15.0 | 15.8 | 15.4 | 14.2 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.3 | 8.6 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 13 | 16 | 20 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 22 | 17 | 11 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 56 | 43 | 51 | 63 | 81 | 64 | 71 | 75 | 59 | 70 | 71 | 60 |
February is the driest month (43 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 26 °C). 81 mm of rain falls in May, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 64 nights a year. The climate in Lapalisse →
Neighbors
Next to Lapalisse
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Saint-Germain-des-FossésCreuzier-le-VieuxCussetVarennes-sur-AllierVichyAbrestLapalisse
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lapalisse | 0% | 12% | 0.2 |
| Saint-Germain-des-Fossés 3,579 · 16 km | 25% | 11% | 1.4 |
| Creuzier-le-Vieux 3,205 · 19 km | 3% | 10% | 0.8 |
| Cusset 13,316 · 19 km | 1.4% | 18% | 0.9 |
| Varennes-sur-Allier 3,549 · 19 km | 39% | 6.2% | 0.3 |
| Vichy 25,115 · 21 km | 12% | 1.3% | 8.8 |
| Abrest 2,915 · 22 km | 14% | 19% | 1.4 |
Saint-Germain-des-Fossés, Varennes-sur-Allier and Vichy have at least twice as much protected land.
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 Lapalisse
Is Lapalisse in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Rivières de la Montagne Bourbonnaise, 15 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Lapalisse?
OpenStreetMap maps 8 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.2 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²).
How much of Lapalisse is woodland?
12% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Lapalisse near the sea?
No: the coast is 301 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Lapalisse?
April, June, July and 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 9, 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.