First pick
Plaine du Cessard
Park or garden
4.8 ha1.3 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.3 km of path
1.1 km eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Matthieu Perona · CC BY 3.0100%of the land protected
Outdoors in Volvic · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Volvic lies inside Volcans d’Auvergne Regional Nature Park
Protected areas cover 100% of Volvic’s land. Mapped woodland covers 57% of Volvic. Volvic has 33 km of waymarked hiking routes. 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
57%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
52 km
1.9 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
33 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: Plaine du Cessard
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 Volvic?
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 commune57% mapped woodland, more than in 94% of compared French towns, against 13% for the median compared town.On waymarked routes33 km of GR and other hiking routes cross the commune.
What sets Volvic apart: the regional nature park around it, then its woods.
Against French towns
How Volvic 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
Woodland57%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
94out of 100
Footpaths1.9 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
55out of 100
Hiking routes1.2 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
88out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Volvic has the 14th most footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (4,845 to 4,922 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Quiberon (6.6 km per km²) to Charny Orée de Puisaye (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Quiberon Morbihan | 6.6 | 2.8% | 18% | On it |
| 2 | Grand-Fort-Philippe Nord | 4.5 | 0.1% | 0% | On it |
| 3 | Bogny-sur-Meuse Ardennes | 4.3 | 79% | 100% | 200 km |
| 4 | Phalempin Nord | 4 | 32% | 0% | 72 km |
| 5 | Ceyreste Bouches-du-Rhône | 3.7 | 42% | 49% | 2.9 km |
| 6 | Le Versoud Isère | 3.2 | 18% | 0% | 202 km |
| 7 | Pechbonnieu Haute-Garonne | 2.8 | 15% | 0% | 150 km |
| 8 | Gratentour Haute-Garonne | 2.8 | 1.8% | 0% | 153 km |
| 9 | L'Île-d'Yeu Vendée | 2.8 | 21% | 44% | On it |
| 10 | La Turballe Loire-Atlantique | 2.7 | 13% | 24% | On it |
| 11 | Ballainvilliers Essonne | 2.4 | 2.3% | 0% | 164 km |
| 12 | Uchaud Gard | 2.1 | 32% | 2.7% | 26 km |
| 13 | Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines Haut-Rhin | 2 | 76% | 100% | 450 km |
| 14 | Volvic Puy-de-Dôme | 1.9 | 57% | 100% | 269 km |
| 15 | Plateau d'Hauteville Ain | 1.9 | 65% | 1.2% | 284 km |
| 16 | Lambres-lez-Douai Nord | 1.8 | 4.4% | 0% | 90 km |
| 17 | La Voulte-sur-Rhône Ardèche | 1.5 | 15% | 33% | 149 km |
| 18 | Le Quesnoy Nord | 1.4 | 2.1% | 100% | 120 km |
| 19 | Montbazon Indre-et-Loire | 1.2 | 29% | 0% | 178 km |
| 20 | Blendecques Pas-de-Calais | 1.1 | 18% | 84% | 32 km |
| 21 | Bruyères-sur-Oise Val-d'Oise | 1 | 3.1% | 0.2% | 122 km |
| 22 | Verneuil-sur-Vienne Haute-Vienne | 1 | 23% | 0% | 154 km |
| 23 | Mourmelon-le-Grand Marne | 1 | 29% | 0.1% | 226 km |
| 24 | Briare Loiret | 0.8 | 27% | 7.9% | 266 km |
| 25 | Sainte-Eulalie Gironde | 0.6 | 7.3% | 0% | 14 km |
| 26 | Bégard Côtes-d'Armor | 0.5 | 11% | 0% | 13 km |
| 27 | Fagnières Marne | 0.5 | 0.4% | 0% | 235 km |
| 28 | Écommoy Sarthe | 0.5 | 28% | 0.2% | 151 km |
| 29 | La Côte-Saint-André Isère | 0.5 | 10% | 0% | 218 km |
| 30 | Amplepuis Rhône | 0.4 | 29% | 0% | 269 km |
| 31 | Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule Allier | 0.4 | 6.2% | 9.3% | 311 km |
| 32 | Cazères Haute-Garonne | 0.4 | 4.1% | 11% | 162 km |
| 33 | Saint-Père-en-Retz Loire-Atlantique | 0.3 | 5.6% | 5.7% | 8.1 km |
| 34 | Saint-Sulpice-et-Cameyrac Gironde | 0.3 | 6.2% | 7.7% | 20 km |
| 35 | Vic-en-Bigorre Hautes-Pyrénées | 0.3 | 20% | 2.2% | 125 km |
| 36 | Bazas Gironde | 0.2 | 30% | 2.9% | 69 km |
| 37 | Castelnau-de-Médoc Gironde | 0.2 | 82% | 100% | 10 km |
| 38 | Vitry-en-Artois Pas-de-Calais | 0.2 | 5.6% | 0% | 90 km |
| 39 | Bonneval Eure-et-Loir | 0.1 | 9.3% | 30% | 159 km |
| 40 | Saint-Laurent-Médoc Gironde | 0.1 | 61% | 100% | 7.6 km |
| 41 | Charny Orée de Puisaye Yonne | 0.1 | 22% | 0% | 266 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 Volvic
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Plaine du Cessard leads, at 4.8 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Jardin de Bosredon
Park or garden
0.4 ha0.2 km of path
0.6 km eastfrom the center
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 Volvic
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
Nature reserve
Cheires et Grottes de Volvic nature reserve
2.2% of the commune0.1 km from the center
Natura 2000 site
Chaîne des Puys
1% of the commune0.3 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area100%
Regional nature park100%
Nature reserve2.2%
Natura 2000 site1%
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 Volvic’s 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
52 km of footpaths and 33 km of hiking routes cross Volvic
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
52 km
1.9 km per km²
Hiking routes
33 km
waymarked: 1.2 km per km²
Woodland
57%
about 15.7 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
VolvicPuy-de-Dôme medianFrance median
Footpaths1.9
Hiking routes1.2
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
VolvicPuy-de-Dôme medianFrance median
Woodland57%
0%50%100%
That is more than in 55% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 94% 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 Volvic is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
15 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
De Volvic àux Fontêtes11 km
Les Sources de Volvic11 km
De Saint-Ours à Volvic8.5 km
Les Côteaux du Plateau de Lachaud7.7 km
Le Puy de Paugnat6.3 km
La Croix de Ternant4.7 km
Les Puys de Jumes et de la Coquille4.2 km
Les Vignes de Ronchalon3.7 km
Le Château de Tournoël2.9 km
Le Vallon de Mirabel2.3 km
Le Repaire des Gaulois2 km
Le Plateau de la Bade1.9 km
+3 more
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Volvic: April to June, August and September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Sayat_Sapc, 3.7 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) | 7 | 8 | 12 | 15 | 19 | 23 | 25 | 25 | 21 | 17 | 11 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 56 | 48 | 50 | 73 | 74 | 71 | 78 | 67 | 66 | 60 | 69 | 64 |
February is the driest month (48 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 25 °C). 78 mm of rain falls in July, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 56 nights a year. The climate in Volvic →
Neighbors
Next to Volvic
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
SayatMozacChâteaugayBlanzatChâtel-GuyonRiomVolvic
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volvic | 100% | 57% | 1.9 |
| Sayat 2,529 · 4.5 km | 100% | 47% | 1 |
| Mozac 3,957 · 4.9 km | 0% | 1.7% | 2 |
| Châteaugay 3,189 · 5.2 km | 5.2% | 4.7% | 1.6 |
| Blanzat 3,709 · 5.8 km | 0.1% | 24% | 2.5 |
| Châtel-Guyon 6,299 · 6.1 km | 100% | 41% | 3.5 |
| Riom 18,820 · 6.8 km | 1.3% | 2.4% | 1.1 |
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 Volvic
Is Volvic in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Volvic lies in Volcans d’Auvergne Regional Nature Park (100% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Volvic?
OpenStreetMap maps 52 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.9 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 33 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Volvic is woodland?
57% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Volvic near the sea?
No: the coast is 269 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Volvic?
April to June, August 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.