First pick
Parc Jean Marc
Park or garden
11 ha3.1 km of path
40 minto walk all 3.1 km of path
1.1 km north-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: AirScott · CC BY-SA 4.00.1%woodland
Outdoors in Villars · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Villars is within 800 m of a park or wood
Waymarked hiking routes add up to 4 km in Villars. No protected area reaches Villars; the nearest, Pelouses, landes et habitats rocheux des Gorges de la Loire (Natura 2000), is 4.7 km from the town center. Villars has almost no mapped woodland. 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: Pelouses, landes et habitats rocheux des Gorges de la Loire, 4.7 km
Woodland
0.1%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
13 km
2.3 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
3.6 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
5
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Parc Jean Marc
Throughout this page, the Loire 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 Villars?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Protected land nearbyPelouses, landes et habitats rocheux des Gorges de la Loire (Natura 2000) is 4.7 km from the town center.Little mapped woodland0.1% of the land, against 13% for the median compared town.
What sets Villars apart: protected land close by. It is shorter on woodland.
Against French towns
How Villars 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
Woodland0.1%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
2out of 100
Footpaths2.3 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
62out of 100
Hiking routes0.6 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
69out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Villars has the 13th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (7,566 to 7,772 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Chessy (11.5 km per km²) to Lys-Haut-Layon (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chessy Seine-et-Marne | 11.5 | 14% | 0% | 165 km |
| 2 | Émerainville Seine-et-Marne | 9 | 43% | 0% | 165 km |
| 3 | Saint-Prix Val-d'Oise | 8.4 | 64% | 0.5% | 132 km |
| 4 | Gérardmer Vosges | 6.3 | 70% | 100% | 445 km |
| 5 | Noisy-le-Roi Yvelines | 4.9 | 20% | 0% | 139 km |
| 6 | Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse Yvelines | 4.2 | 48% | 100% | 149 km |
| 7 | Sausset-les-Pins Bouches-du-Rhône | 4.2 | 5.8% | 51% | On it |
| 8 | Thann Haut-Rhin | 3.8 | 75% | 100% | 448 km |
| 9 | Lesneven Finistère | 3.4 | 4% | 0% | 6.8 km |
| 10 | Saint-Péray Ardèche | 3 | 27% | 11% | 165 km |
| 11 | Falaise Calvados | 2.8 | 4% | 0% | 43 km |
| 12 | Bidart Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 2.4 | 19% | 7.8% | On it |
| 13 | Villars Loire | 2.3 | 0.1% | 0% | 213 km |
| 14 | Wavrin Nord | 2 | 6.6% | 0% | 64 km |
| 15 | Bourg-Saint-Andéol Ardèche | 2 | 56% | 6.1% | 101 km |
| 16 | Saint-Marcellin Isère | 1.9 | 4.3% | 0% | 192 km |
| 17 | Cranves-Sales Haute-Savoie | 1.8 | 28% | 5% | 284 km |
| 18 | Saint-Maixent-l'École Deux-Sèvres | 1.7 | 2.5% | 0% | 72 km |
| 19 | La Couronne Charente | 1.7 | 29% | 21% | 70 km |
| 20 | Tullins Isère | 1.6 | 27% | 0% | 211 km |
| 21 | Wissembourg Bas-Rhin | 1.6 | 54% | 67% | 429 km |
| 22 | Saint-Aubin-de-Médoc Gironde | 1.3 | 70% | 0% | 15 km |
| 23 | Saint-Denis-en-Val Loiret | 1.3 | 8.5% | 14% | 209 km |
| 24 | Mimizan Landes | 1.3 | 75% | 8.2% | On it |
| 25 | L'Aigle Orne | 1.1 | 8.4% | 0% | 78 km |
| 26 | Les Andelys Eure | 1.1 | 22% | 6.1% | 79 km |
| 27 | Langon Gironde | 1 | 12% | 3.9% | 58 km |
| 28 | Beynes Yvelines | 0.9 | 31% | 0% | 128 km |
| 29 | Nieppe Nord | 0.9 | 1.1% | 0% | 48 km |
| 30 | Parentis-en-Born Landes | 0.8 | 69% | 13% | 16 km |
| 31 | Biguglia Haute-Corse | 0.8 | 2.9% | 21% | On it |
| 32 | Hettange-Grande Moselle | 0.8 | 28% | 0.4% | 304 km |
| 33 | Pluvigner Morbihan | 0.7 | 19% | 0% | 9.6 km |
| 34 | Auxonne Côte-d'Or | 0.7 | 42% | 8.8% | 413 km |
| 35 | Bain-de-Bretagne Ille-et-Vilaine | 0.7 | 5% | 0% | 65 km |
| 36 | Déols Indre | 0.6 | 4.6% | 6.9% | 225 km |
| 37 | Machecoul-Saint-Même Loire-Atlantique | 0.5 | 12% | 27% | 13 km |
| 38 | Les Avenières Veyrins-Thuellin Isère | 0.4 | 22% | 11% | 249 km |
| 39 | Loireauxence Loire-Atlantique | 0.3 | 8.3% | 10% | 84 km |
| 40 | Hasparren Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 0.3 | 22% | 7.5% | 22 km |
| 41 | Lys-Haut-Layon Maine-et-Loire | 0.2 | 6.8% | 0% | 105 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 Villars
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Parc Jean Marc leads, at 11 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Bois de Grouchy
Park or garden · 230 m outside the commune
4.4 ha1.4 km of path
20 minto walk all 1.4 km of path
1.6 km eastfrom the center
Allée James Joyce
Directionsto a point inside
Square Camille Pradet
Park or garden · 110 m outside the commune
0.9 ha0.4 km of path
1.5 km southfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Parc Fernand Bost
Park or garden
0.7 ha0.3 km of path
Centralin the middle of Villars
Directionsto a point inside
Puits Beaunier
Park or garden
0.6 ha0.1 km of path
Centralin the middle of Villars
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Pelouses, landes et habitats rocheux des Gorges de la Loire is the nearest protected area, 4.7 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
Pelouses, landes et habitats rocheux des Gorges de la Loire
4.7 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
13 km of footpaths cross Villars
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
13 km
2.3 km per km²
Hiking routes
3.6 km
waymarked: 0.6 km per km²
Woodland
0.1%
about 0 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
VillarsLoire medianFrance median
Footpaths2.3
Hiking routes0.6
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
VillarsLoire medianFrance median
Woodland0.1%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 62% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 98% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 99% of Villars’ residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
8 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
Saint-Priest en Jarez de Brassens à Brel…6.4 km
Boucle verte 15.3 km
Sainté balades 174.8 km
Sainté balades 104.6 km
Sainté balades 54.4 km
Boucle verte 62.5 km
Sainté balades 42.4 km
Sainté balades 60.5 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Villars: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at St Etienne-Boutheon, 10 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) | 9.1 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 14.9 | 15.7 | 15.3 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.4 | 8.7 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 20 | 25 | 27 | 27 | 22 | 17 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 38 | 30 | 34 | 55 | 82 | 81 | 77 | 73 | 70 | 76 | 73 | 39 |
February is the driest month (30 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 27 °C). 82 mm of rain falls in May, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 60 nights a year. The climate in Villars →
Neighbors
Next to Villars
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Saint-Priest-en-JarezSaint-Genest-LerptL'ÉtratSaint-ÉtienneRoche-la-MolièreLa FouillouseVillars
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Villars | 0% | 0.1% | 2.3 |
| Saint-Priest-en-Jarez 6,471 · 1.8 km | 0% | 0.6% | 3.3 |
| Saint-Genest-Lerpt 6,181 · 2.4 km | 0% | 20% | 2 |
| L'Étrat 2,879 · 2.7 km | 0% | 19% | 1 |
| Saint-Étienne 173,136 · 4.4 km | 33% | 31% | 3.5 |
| Roche-la-Molière 9,843 · 5 km | 0% | 8.5% | 1.8 |
| La Fouillouse 4,630 · 5 km | 0% | 26% | 1.3 |
Saint-Étienne has at least twice as much protected land. Saint-Étienne and La Fouillouse are 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 Villars
Is Villars in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Pelouses, landes et habitats rocheux des Gorges de la Loire, 4.7 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Villars?
OpenStreetMap maps 13 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 2.3 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 4 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Villars is woodland?
0.1% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Villars near the sea?
No: the coast is 213 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Villars?
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 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.