Photo: Tournasol7 · CC BY 4.0Billom lies inside Livradois-Forez Regional Nature Park
100% of Billom’s land lies in protected areas. Footpaths add up to 6 km across Billom (0.4 km per km²). 7.1% of Billom is mapped woodland. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Throughout this page, the Puy-de-Dôme 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 Billom?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
What sets Billom apart: the regional nature park around it. It is shorter on footpaths.
How Billom 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.
Billom has the 7th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (4,769 to 4,840 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Marolles-en-Brie (6.1 km per km²) to Salbris (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marolles-en-Brie Val-de-Marne | 6.1 | 42% | 0% | 169 km |
| 2 | Pompey Meurthe-et-Moselle | 5.3 | 68% | 0% | 356 km |
| 3 | Rosières-près-Troyes Aube | 4 | 9.4% | 0% | 275 km |
| 4 | Teyran Hérault | 3.2 | 11% | 10% | 15 km |
| 5 | Dagneux Ain | 2.5 | 18% | 0% | 266 km |
| 6 | Paron Yonne | 2 | 26% | 1.2% | 249 km |
| 7 | Ingersheim Haut-Rhin | 2 | 17% | 1.3% | 469 km |
| 8 | L'Horme Loire | 2 | 3.4% | 0% | 217 km |
| 9 | Robion Vaucluse | 1.8 | 24% | 100% | 48 km |
| 10 | La Haie-Fouassière Loire-Atlantique | 1.7 | 12% | 0% | 47 km |
| 11 | La Grand-Combe Gard | 1.7 | 71% | 0% | 73 km |
| 12 | Saint-Martin-des-Champs Finistère | 1.7 | 17% | 1.4% | On it |
| 13 | Charly Rhône | 1.7 | 0.2% | 0% | 239 km |
| 14 | Locminé Morbihan | 1.6 | 7.8% | 0% | 24 km |
| 15 | Rilhac-Rancon Haute-Vienne | 1.6 | 33% | 0% | 170 km |
| 16 | Bourgbarré Ille-et-Vilaine | 1.5 | 5.3% | 0% | 62 km |
| 17 | Sadirac Gironde | 1.4 | 37% | 3.6% | 29 km |
| 18 | Saint-Romain-de-Colbosc Seine-Maritime | 1.4 | 3.5% | 0% | 9.6 km |
| 19 | Saint-Martin-de-Valgalgues Gard | 1.3 | 49% | 0% | 67 km |
| 20 | Verneuil-en-Halatte Oise | 1.3 | 49% | 58% | 117 km |
| 21 | Le Coudray-Montceaux Essonne | 1.2 | 19% | 0% | 182 km |
| 22 | Cléon Seine-Maritime | 1.1 | 16% | 2% | 51 km |
| 23 | Cerizay Deux-Sèvres | 1.1 | 3.5% | 0% | 67 km |
| 24 | Vittel Vosges | 1.1 | 23% | 0% | 381 km |
| 25 | Pignans Var | 1 | 50% | 43% | 20 km |
| 26 | Desvres Pas-de-Calais | 1 | 56% | 100% | 18 km |
| 27 | Milizac-Guipronvel Finistère | 0.9 | 6.1% | 0% | 9.1 km |
| 28 | Cysoing Nord | 0.8 | 26% | 0% | 74 km |
| 29 | Tinchebray-Bocage Orne | 0.8 | 4.9% | 0% | 48 km |
| 30 | Maraussan Hérault | 0.6 | 1.3% | 0% | 17 km |
| 31 | Les Monts d'Aunay Calvados | 0.6 | 23% | 25% | 37 km |
| 32 | Ruy-Montceau Isère | 0.4 | 21% | 12% | 240 km |
| 33 | Saint-Germain-du-Puy Cher | 0.4 | 7.4% | 0% | 290 km |
| 34 | Conches-en-Ouche Eure | 0.4 | 51% | 0% | 68 km |
| 35 | Billom Puy-de-Dôme | 0.4 | 7.1% | 100% | 247 km |
| 36 | Argenton-sur-Creuse Indre | 0.3 | 25% | 3.9% | 205 km |
| 37 | Monnaie Indre-et-Loire | 0.3 | 28% | 0% | 197 km |
| 38 | Bornel Oise | 0.3 | 33% | 0.1% | 112 km |
| 39 | Saverdun Ariège | 0.2 | 13% | 0.7% | 123 km |
| 40 | Legé Loire-Atlantique | 0.2 | 7.2% | 0% | 33 km |
| 41 | Salbris Loir-et-Cher | 0.2 | 81% | 100% | 256 km |
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is the commune’s boundary.
Protected land in and around Billom
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Livradois-Forez Regional Nature Park
Puy de Pileyre-Turluron
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.
100% of Billom’s land is protected, more than in 93% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Puy-de-Dôme has 3.2%. 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.
6 km of footpaths and 8 km of hiking routes cross Billom
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 less than in 91% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 69% 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 Billom is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
6 named hiking routes within 2 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
The best walking months in Billom: April and July to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Clermont-Fd, 16 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 | 14.9 | 15.7 | 15.4 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.4 | 8.7 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 10 | 14 | 17 | 21 | 24 | 27 | 27 | 23 | 18 | 12 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 27 | 19 | 26 | 51 | 67 | 68 | 63 | 62 | 58 | 49 | 46 | 29 |
February is the driest month (19 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 27 °C). 68 mm of rain falls in June, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 56 nights a year. The climate in Billom →
Next to Billom
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Billom | 100% | 7.1% | 0.4 |
| Vertaizon 3,527 · 7 km | 2.1% | 9% | 0.9 |
| Mur-sur-Allier 3,111 · 8.5 km | 25% | 30% | 1.6 |
| Pont-du-Château 12,412 · 11 km | 9.7% | 8.9% | 1.2 |
| Cournon-d'Auvergne 19,951 · 11 km | 6.3% | 6.6% | 3.3 |
| Le Cendre 5,415 · 11 km | 1.8% | 3.3% | 3.4 |
| Vic-le-Comte 5,396 · 12 km | 100% | 19% | 1.2 |
Mur-sur-Allier is more wooded.
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 Billom
Is Billom in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Billom lies in Livradois-Forez Regional Nature Park (100% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Billom?
OpenStreetMap maps 6 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.4 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 8 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Billom is woodland?
7.1% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Billom near the sea?
No: the coast is 247 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Billom?
April and July 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.