First pick
Bois de Clerzat
Wood or forest
59 ha1.1 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.1 km of path
3.9 km northfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Tabl-trai · CC BY-SA 3.0100%of the land protected
Outdoors in Orcines · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Orcines lies inside Volcans d’Auvergne Regional Nature Park
Protected areas cover 100% of Orcines’ land. 59% of Orcines is mapped woodland. Waymarked hiking routes add up to 43 km in Orcines. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
100%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
59%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
105 km
2.5 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
43 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
2
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Bois de Clerzat
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 place
What kind of outdoors place is Orcines?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Inside Volcans d’Auvergne Regional Nature Park100% of the commune is in the regional nature park.A wooded commune59% mapped woodland, more than in 95% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.On waymarked routes43 km of GR and other hiking routes cross the commune.
What sets Orcines apart: the regional nature park around it, then its woods.
Against French towns
How Orcines 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 areas100%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
95out of 100
Woodland59%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
95out of 100
Footpaths2.5 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
66out of 100
Hiking routes1 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
83out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Orcines has the 8th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (3,582 to 3,637 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Le Vaudreuil (3.9 km per km²) to Saint-Savin (0 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Le Vaudreuil Eure | 3.9 | 43% | 6.2% | 64 km |
| 2 | Bavans Doubs | 3.7 | 43% | 0% | 415 km |
| 3 | Orry-la-Ville Oise | 3.3 | 58% | 100% | 131 km |
| 4 | Apprieu Isère | 3 | 45% | 0% | 222 km |
| 5 | Jonzac Charente-Maritime | 2.7 | 11% | 8.4% | 24 km |
| 6 | Masevaux-Niederbruck Haut-Rhin | 2.6 | 78% | 100% | 445 km |
| 7 | Cournonsec Hérault | 2.5 | 0.2% | 49% | 13 km |
| 8 | Orcines Puy-de-Dôme | 2.5 | 59% | 100% | 259 km |
| 9 | Saint-Léger-du-Bourg-Denis Seine-Maritime | 2.2 | 39% | 4.6% | 55 km |
| 10 | Marines Val-d'Oise | 2.2 | 36% | 100% | 108 km |
| 11 | Saint-Germain-du-Corbéis Orne | 1.8 | 11% | 4.1% | 98 km |
| 12 | Saint-Jean-de-Moirans Isère | 1.8 | 5.5% | 0% | 217 km |
| 13 | Saint-Brès Hérault | 1.8 | 0.7% | 0% | 12 km |
| 14 | Montrichard Val de Cher Loir-et-Cher | 1.7 | 60% | 0% | 211 km |
| 15 | Givry Saône-et-Loire | 1.7 | 46% | 2.2% | 361 km |
| 16 | Pradines Lot | 1.6 | 32% | 0% | 169 km |
| 17 | Boujan-sur-Libron Hérault | 1.6 | 9.8% | 0% | 14 km |
| 18 | Montussan Gironde | 1.6 | 11% | 0% | 19 km |
| 19 | Villers-Semeuse Ardennes | 1.5 | 7.8% | 0% | 210 km |
| 20 | Saint-Tropez Var | 1.5 | 16% | 0.1% | On it |
| 21 | Viviers Ardèche | 1.3 | 49% | 2.6% | 113 km |
| 22 | Espaly-Saint-Marcel Haute-Loire | 1.3 | 11% | 1.5% | 166 km |
| 23 | Neuilly-Crimolois Côte-d'Or | 1.3 | 17% | 0% | 409 km |
| 24 | Gelos Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 1.3 | 37% | 7.4% | 96 km |
| 25 | Bourgueil Indre-et-Loire | 1.1 | 49% | 100% | 148 km |
| 26 | Rocheservière Vendée | 1.1 | 8.4% | 0% | 37 km |
| 27 | Canet Hérault | 0.8 | 2.7% | 2.8% | 27 km |
| 28 | Thury-Harcourt-le-Hom Calvados | 0.8 | 20% | 0% | 37 km |
| 29 | Saint-Clair-de-la-Tour Isère | 0.7 | 19% | 0% | 240 km |
| 30 | Gouffern en Auge Orne | 0.6 | 25% | 33% | 59 km |
| 31 | Marzy Nièvre | 0.6 | 8.6% | 20% | 332 km |
| 32 | Le Pont-de-Beauvoisin Isère | 0.5 | 8.4% | 0% | 240 km |
| 33 | Rochechouart Haute-Vienne | 0.4 | 29% | 99% | 131 km |
| 34 | Lizy-sur-Ourcq Seine-et-Marne | 0.4 | 17% | 0% | 161 km |
| 35 | Saint-Jean-d'Hermine Vendée | 0.4 | 9.2% | 2.4% | 27 km |
| 36 | Rivery Somme | 0.4 | 6.1% | 9.4% | 56 km |
| 37 | Baziège Haute-Garonne | 0.2 | 1.6% | 0% | 127 km |
| 38 | Magalas Hérault | 0.2 | 2.8% | 0% | 24 km |
| 39 | Derval Loire-Atlantique | 0.2 | 9.6% | 0% | 56 km |
| 40 | Vald'Yerre Eure-et-Loir | 0.1 | 6.5% | 0.1% | 159 km |
| 41 | Saint-Savin Gironde | 0 | 24% | 4% | 16 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 Orcines
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Bois de Clerzat leads, at 59 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Parc Thermal
Park or garden · 380 m outside the commune
2.2 ha1.2 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.2 km of path
3.5 km south-eastfrom the center
Chemin des Grottes Rouges
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Protected land in and around Orcines
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Regional nature park
Volcans d’Auvergne Regional Nature Park
100% of the commune
Natura 2000 site
Chaîne des Puys
16% of the commune2.6 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area100%
Regional nature park100%
Natura 2000 site16%
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 Orcines’ land is protected, more than in 95% 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.
Footpaths and woods
105 km of footpaths and 43 km of hiking routes cross Orcines
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
105 km
2.5 km per km²
Hiking routes
43 km
waymarked: 1 km per km²
Woodland
59%
about 25.1 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
OrcinesPuy-de-Dôme medianFrance median
Footpaths2.5
Hiking routes1
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
OrcinesPuy-de-Dôme medianFrance median
Woodland59%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 66% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 95% 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 Orcines is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
21 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 441A2.4 km
Chemin de Montaigne de Clermont-Ferrand à Saint-Ours18 km
Mazaye / Laschamp14 km
Le Puy de Montrodeix13 km
La Croix de Ternant11 km
Tour du Puy de Dôme9.5 km
Le Puy de Dôme7.1 km
Le chemin des écoliers6.8 km
Le Paradis6.7 km
La Côte de Pégnu5.9 km
Les Puys Chopine et des Gouttes5.6 km
PR54.8 km
+9 more
GR 441A passes within 2 km of Orcines.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Orcines: May to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Gelles, 17 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) | 6 | 7 | 11 | 13 | 18 | 21 | 24 | 24 | 20 | 15 | 10 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 84 | 76 | 72 | 86 | 89 | 93 | 87 | 81 | 83 | 82 | 99 | 94 |
March is the driest month (72 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 24 °C). 99 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 84 nights a year. The climate in Orcines →
Neighbors
Next to Orcines
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
RoyatChamalièresCeyratSayatClermont-FerrandBeaumontOrcines
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orcines | 100% | 59% | 2.5 |
| Royat 4,479 · 3.4 km | 0.2% | 63% | 4.2 |
| Chamalières 17,509 · 3.8 km | 0.1% | 3.4% | 4.1 |
| Ceyrat 6,592 · 5.8 km | 100% | 48% | 4.6 |
| Sayat 2,529 · 6.1 km | 100% | 47% | 1 |
| Clermont-Ferrand 146,351 · 6.2 km | 0.7% | 4.6% | 3.7 |
| Beaumont 10,728 · 6.5 km | 0.1% | 2.4% | 6 |
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 Orcines
Is Orcines in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Orcines lies in Volcans d’Auvergne Regional Nature Park (100% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Orcines?
OpenStreetMap maps 105 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 2.5 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 43 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Orcines is woodland?
59% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Orcines near the sea?
No: the coast is 259 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Orcines?
May 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.