First pick
Colline du Montoulon
Park or garden
0.4 ha0.4 km of path
Centralin the middle of Privas
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: JPC38 · CC BY-SA 4.01.6%of the land protected
Outdoors in Privas · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Privas is within 800 m of a park or wood
Mapped woodland covers 32% of Privas. Footpaths add up to 26 km across Privas (2.1 km per km²). 1.6% of Privas’ land lies in protected areas. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
1.6%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
32%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
26 km
2.1 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
Parks & woods
3
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Colline du Montoulon
Throughout this page, the Ardèche 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 Privas 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 areas1.6%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
58out of 100
Woodland32%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
78out of 100
Footpaths2.1 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
60out of 100
Hiking routes0 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
12out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Privas has the 14th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (8,450 to 8,622 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Le Plessis-Bouchard (5.8 km per km²) to Mauléon (0.4 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Le Plessis-Bouchard Val-d'Oise | 5.8 | 1.2% | 0% | 132 km |
| 2 | Crolles Isère | 4.6 | 26% | 19% | 207 km |
| 3 | Groslay Val-d'Oise | 4.3 | 15% | 0% | 138 km |
| 4 | La Salvetat-Saint-Gilles Haute-Garonne | 4.3 | 12% | 0% | 158 km |
| 5 | Rouvroy Pas-de-Calais | 3.3 | 5% | 0% | 81 km |
| 6 | Saint-Renan Finistère | 2.9 | 5% | 0% | 8 km |
| 7 | Marcoussis Essonne | 2.7 | 34% | 0% | 163 km |
| 8 | Vendin-le-Vieil Pas-de-Calais | 2.7 | 11% | 0% | 72 km |
| 9 | Pérenchies Nord | 2.5 | 0.9% | 0% | 56 km |
| 10 | Trégueux Côtes-d'Armor | 2.4 | 5.5% | 0% | 4.1 km |
| 11 | Varces-Allières-et-Risset Isère | 2.4 | 33% | 32% | 194 km |
| 12 | Sautron Loire-Atlantique | 2.3 | 16% | 0% | 34 km |
| 13 | Ballan-Miré Indre-et-Loire | 2.2 | 30% | 0% | 176 km |
| 14 | Privas Ardèche | 2.1 | 32% | 1.6% | 136 km |
| 15 | Bormes-les-Mimosas Var | 2.1 | 38% | 8.3% | On it |
| 16 | Pont-l'Abbé Finistère | 1.9 | 13% | 2% | On it |
| 17 | Puget-sur-Argens Var | 1.9 | 9.8% | 54% | 6.5 km |
| 18 | Vif Isère | 1.8 | 48% | 7% | 189 km |
| 19 | Ergué-Gabéric Finistère | 1.8 | 21% | 0% | 6.3 km |
| 20 | Hirson Aisne | 1.8 | 66% | 66% | 167 km |
| 21 | Aulnoye-Aymeries Nord | 1.7 | 1.2% | 100% | 132 km |
| 22 | Lillebonne Seine-Maritime | 1.6 | 18% | 0% | 16 km |
| 23 | Le Grau-du-Roi Gard | 1.6 | 3.9% | 89% | On it |
| 24 | Uzès Gard | 1.6 | 6.9% | 0% | 57 km |
| 25 | Unieux Loire | 1.5 | 23% | 16% | 205 km |
| 26 | Peymeinade Alpes-Maritimes | 1.4 | 31% | 20% | 13 km |
| 27 | Sérignan Hérault | 1.1 | 0.2% | 34% | On it |
| 28 | Reignier-Ésery Haute-Savoie | 1.1 | 26% | 3.1% | 279 km |
| 29 | Éguilles Bouches-du-Rhône | 1 | 12% | 54% | 23 km |
| 30 | Theix-Noyalo Morbihan | 0.9 | 11% | 98% | On it |
| 31 | Talmont-Saint-Hilaire Vendée | 0.6 | 6.9% | 8.5% | On it |
| 32 | Roussillon Isère | 0.6 | 12% | 0% | 209 km |
| 33 | Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône | 0.6 | 1.2% | 81% | On it |
| 34 | Châteauneuf-sur-Loire Loiret | 0.6 | 49% | 22% | 222 km |
| 35 | Le Loroux-Bottereau Loire-Atlantique | 0.6 | 6.4% | 8.8% | 53 km |
| 36 | Saint-Vallier Saône-et-Loire | 0.6 | 19% | 0% | 344 km |
| 37 | Thaon-les-Vosges Vosges | 0.6 | 41% | 0% | 406 km |
| 38 | Domérat Allier | 0.5 | 8.5% | 0% | 275 km |
| 39 | Chantonnay Vendée | 0.5 | 12% | 0% | 42 km |
| 40 | Onnaing Nord | 0.5 | 16% | 1.1% | 105 km |
| 41 | Mauléon Deux-Sèvres | 0.4 | 6.8% | 0% | 76 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 Privas
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Colline du Montoulon leads, at 0.4 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Jardin de l'Europe Unie
Park or garden
0.4 ha0.1 km of path
Centralin the middle of Privas
Directionsto a point inside
Jardins de la Préfecture
Park or garden
0.5 ha
0.6 km north-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
1.6% of Privas 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
Monts d’Ardèche Regional Nature Park
0.7 km from the town center
Natura 2000 site
Rompon-Ouvèze-Payre
1.5% of the commune1.2 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area1.6%
Regional nature park0.2%
Natura 2000 site1.5%
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.
1.6% of Privas’ land is protected, more than in 58% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Ardèche has 8.6%. 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
26 km of footpaths cross Privas
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
26 km
2.1 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked: 0 km per km²
Woodland
32%
about 3.8 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
PrivasArdèche medianFrance median
Footpaths2.1
Hiking routes0
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
PrivasArdèche medianFrance median
Woodland32%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 60% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 78% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 96% of Privas’ residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Privas: April to August
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Chomerac Sa_Rce, 5.5 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) | 9.2 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.8 | 15.6 | 15.2 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.5 | 8.8 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 10 | 15 | 18 | 22 | 26 | 29 | 29 | 24 | 18 | 12 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 87 | 52 | 60 | 82 | 87 | 64 | 65 | 62 | 127 | 168 | 165 | 86 |
February is the driest month (52 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 29 °C). 168 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 45 nights a year. The climate in Privas →
Neighbors
Next to Privas
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
ChoméracLe PouzinCruasLa Voulte-sur-RhôneLoriol-sur-DrômeVals-les-BainsPrivas
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Privas | 1.6% | 32% | 2.1 |
| Chomérac 3,183 · 6.1 km | 1.3% | 24% | 1.2 |
| Le Pouzin 2,886 · 12 km | 28% | 4.6% | 2.5 |
| Cruas 2,898 · 16 km | 1.5% | 47% | 1.4 |
| La Voulte-sur-Rhône 4,854 · 17 km | 33% | 15% | 1.5 |
| Loriol-sur-Drôme 6,614 · 18 km | 4.7% | 12% | 0.7 |
| Vals-les-Bains 3,474 · 20 km | 100% | 73% | 2 |
Le Pouzin, La Voulte-sur-Rhône and Vals-les-Bains have at least twice as much protected land. Vals-les-Bains 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 Privas
Is Privas in a national or regional nature park?
No, but 1.6% of its land is in a nature reserve or a Natura 2000 site.
Are there good walks in Privas?
OpenStreetMap maps 26 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 2.1 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²).
How much of Privas is woodland?
32% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Privas near the sea?
No: the coast is 136 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Privas?
April to August: 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.