Which Paris park will you visit on your next trip?
If you’ve already spent a week in Paris, then you have no doubt, just like me, that Victor Hugo (1802-1885) hit the mark when he called Paris “perfect” in Les Misérables. And if ever since your first visit you’ve been left wanting more, itching to go back to the City of Light, then you’re in the right place. Welcome to the club of Paris lovers.
Many members of this club write to me saying they’ve already seen all the usual things a first-time visitor sees on their debut trip to Paris, and ask what I’d suggest for a second visit that’s already taking shape.
Assuming you’ve already visited all the main sites and neighborhoods of Paris, I’d like to suggest trips that focus on the parks, gardens and forests of this wonderful city, no museums and no clothing stores. I’m also assuming you’ve already visited the famous royal parks: the Luxembourg Gardens, the Tuileries Garden, the Palais-Royal gardens, and the gardens of Versailles, since those show up on every basic Paris sightseeing site.
So now that you’ve covered those places, let’s move up a level and focus on spots that all share the same theme: a bit of quiet away from the city’s bustle. I have no doubt you’ll enjoy them a great deal.
The Bois de Vincennes
One of my favorite places to find peace and quiet is the Bois de Vincennes, the green lung of eastern Paris. In the Middle Ages it was used as a hunting ground for the kings of France and was closed to the public. It only became a public park in 1860. You’ll find several lakes there, the best known, largest and most accessible being Lac Daumesnil, with two striking islands connected by bridges that are well worth a visit. To reach them, walk around the lake on its right side. Near the lake is the largest zoo in France, with an artificial rock at its center rising more than 70 meters high. You can reach this part of the forest via Porte Dorée (metro).
In another part of the forest (metro: Château de Vincennes) stands the fortified complex of the Château de Vincennes. The kings of France lived in this castle, which overlooks eastern Paris, back in the 14th century. Louis XIV spent his honeymoon there. Next to the château is a royal chapel built in the Gothic style.
If you’d like to read more about this magical forest, go ahead and check out the Bois de Vincennes in Paris: a walking route and attractions for the whole family.
The Parc Floral de Paris
Near the Château de Vincennes sits the Parc Floral de Paris, home to hundreds of kinds of flowers and plants, some of them quite rare. The park’s character changes with the seasons. It’s actually a large and striking botanical garden with a wide variety of plants, trees and flowers. Here you’ll find hundreds of flower varieties in every type, color and size, including irises, orchids, lotus flowers, an impressive dahlia garden, water lilies, and a range of special medicinal plants. The flower garden also has a large playground for the kids to enjoy. On summer evenings, you can catch live concerts there.
The Bois de Boulogne
On the other side of the city, the Bois de Boulogne is Paris’s western green lung. It sits right next to the upscale 16th arrondissement. Like the Bois de Vincennes, the Bois de Boulogne originally served as a royal hunting ground. In 1852, Napoleon III ordered it opened to the public.
Among the many attractions in the Bois de Boulogne is the Jardin d’Acclimatation. If you’re traveling with kids, this is a pleasant and quiet amusement park for them, with plenty of rides, boat trips, a puppet theater, pony rides, a miniature train, and more. You can get there via Sablons (metro, line 1), plus about a 10-minute walk.
Near the amusement park sits the Louis Vuitton Foundation, a new, modern and striking center for the fine arts. A short distance behind the museum is a small, intimate and charming lake. But the two famous lakes of the Bois de Boulogne are elsewhere: the larger one is called Lac Inférieur, where you can rent rowboats, and right next to it is a smaller but equally attractive lake called Lac Supérieur.
The Bois de Boulogne has many more attractions, including the Shakespeare Garden, the horse racing tracks, the famous Roland-Garros tennis courts, and the Parc des Princes football stadium.
If you’d like to read a deeper dive into the Bois de Boulogne, go ahead and check out the Bois de Boulogne: the complete traveler’s guide.
Parc de Bagatelle
In the northwestern part of the Bois de Boulogne is a wonderful and unique park: Parc de Bagatelle. Built in 1778, this garden features a château, a rose garden, artificial grottoes, ponds, and wide lawns filled with colorful peacocks. Particularly interesting are the magical Japanese garden, the iris beds, and the small lake with its stunning water lilies. Every year in June, the park hosts an international rose-growers’ competition.
Bus number 244, which departs from Porte Maillot and connects most of the attractions within the forest, also stops at Parc de Bagatelle.
The Albert Kahn Gardens
South of the Bois de Boulogne are the Albert Kahn Gardens, breathtakingly beautiful gardens established in Paris by the Jewish banker Albert Kahn. They include a whole collection of gardens: Japanese, English, French, a rock garden, a rose garden, and more. At the entrance is a small museum covering Kahn’s life’s work. It’s a unique spot on the Paris landscape, or if you like: a little paradise well worth a big visit.
Getting there by metro: Boulogne-Pont de St-Cloud.
Parc des Buttes-Chaumont
One of the most beautiful and unique gardens in Paris (in my opinion) is in the 19th arrondissement: Parc des Buttes-Chaumont. This is a truly magical park. Spending time here makes you completely forget you’re in the middle of a large, busy city. Most tourists don’t even know it exists. The park has an artificial hilly structure and an impressive panoramic view.
You’ll find everything a great garden needs here: artificial hills and valleys, a stunning lake, bridges, a grotto, a waterfall, a cliff topped with a small temple in an ancient Roman style, with a breathtaking view toward the Sacré-Cœur. Don’t skip the waterfall tucked inside a grotto next to the lake, at the foot of the cliff topped by the Roman temple. Sometimes it’s a bit tricky to find, just follow the sound of running water. The ceiling of the grotto is covered in artificial stalactites. It’s simply a little paradise in the heart of Paris.
If you’d like to read more about the park, go ahead and check out Parc des Buttes-Chaumont: from garbage dump to wonderful park.
You can reach Parc des Buttes-Chaumont via the metro stations Buttes-Chaumont or Botzaris.
The arrondissements of Paris
- Confused by all the different arrondissements of Paris? This article will clear things up for you
Parc Monceau
Another park you shouldn’t miss is Parc Monceau, at Monceau (metro). It spans the 8th and 17th arrondissements. It’s close to central Paris, relatively small but with its own distinctive character. In short, a charming romantic corner with a mix of old and new: ancient-looking classical columns resembling Roman ruins alongside rich, varied blooming plants and a small, striking, unique lake. Large trees grow in the garden, some over 150 years old, casting shade over the park’s paths. The garden is designed in the English style, and you’ll find a range of interesting statues and gold-plated ornamental gates.
A juicy detail: the world’s first parachute jump landed in Parc Monceau on October 22, 1797.
If you’d like to read more about this garden, go ahead and check out Parc Monceau: a visit to my favorite garden in Paris.
Parc Montsouris and the Cité Internationale Universitaire
This park, located in southern Paris, spans 150,000 square meters and forms the main green lung of the south of the city. It features grand, wide-canopied trees that shade the surroundings, expansive lawns, impressive outdoor sculptures, and a beautiful lake with an island and small grotto at its center, which serve as a shelter for birds.
It’s a pleasant spot for a short break and some rest. Many locals from the area spend their weekends here. In the fall months, the park is covered in a stunning display of colorful foliage, which can be a real treat for any photography lover. Across the main road from the garden is the Cité Internationale Universitaire, a small, friendly international city of its own where students from all over the world come to study. This huge complex includes restaurants, libraries, a swimming pool, and a theater. It’s a lively, cheerful area during the school year and quiet during vacations.
The easiest way to reach the park is by suburban rail (RER) to the Cité Universitaire station.
Parc André Citroën
One of the newer gardens in Paris is Parc André Citroën, in the 15th arrondissement. The park, which opened in 1992, was built on the site of the former Citroën car factory, which is where the name comes from. It’s made up of seven colorful gardens combined with fountains, greenhouses, and water pools.
In summer, on weekends, thousands of residents flock to the huge central lawn and the fountains, exposing themselves to the gentle Paris sun and turning the place into an improvised beach. It’s also a great spot to see Paris from an unusual angle: from a bird’s-eye view, by floating up in a giant hot air balloon operated from within the park. The park itself is less manicured and orderly than the city’s older parks, but it sits in a developing area with a different feel from classic Paris.
One way to get there is via Rue Balard, using the metro station of the same name, which is the last stop on line 8. Another option is via Lourmel (metro). Javel (metro) is also a short walk from the park.
You can combine your time at Parc André Citroën with a visit to Aquaboulevard de Paris, which is within walking distance. It’s a huge, one-of-a-kind leisure, sports, and recreation complex, an impressive spot that’s not well known to tourists, unlike anything else in Paris. It’s a kind of lively country club that includes a range of gyms and enormous, striking swimming pools, some covered and some open, with plenty of attractions inside the pools: islands, cafés, climbing walls, water currents, giant slides, bubble baths, a wave machine, and more.
Parc Georges-Brassens
One of the large parks built in Paris in recent years is named after one of the greatest singers in French history. It’s a park with large grassy areas and a small lake at its center. At the main entrance is a used book fair that opens every weekend. The park is a great source of fun for local kids.
Among other things, there are special play areas for kids, ping-pong tables, pony rides, and occasionally a puppet theater. The park has a large hill covered in tall trees, overlooking the surrounding area and doubling as a playground for children. A special corner of the park was planted with 80 varieties of strongly scented plants, designed for the city’s visually impaired residents.
Getting there via Porte de Vanves (metro) or Convention (metro).
The Jardin des Plantes
The Jardin des Plantes of Paris is a botanical garden spanning 280,000 square meters in the very central 5th arrondissement. Built in 1635, the garden is designed in the classic French style, with straight lines and remarkably precise landscaping. It also includes a small zoo, the oldest in France, and a large, very attractive natural history museum for kids.
Its official name is the Grande Galerie de l’Évolution, which features, among other things, a safari-like display of giant, life-size animal sculptures. The garden dazzles with the colors of its special flowers, sorted by theme. It has tropical greenhouses, gardens arranged by season, extensive beds of roses and irises, an alpine garden (rock garden), medicinal herbs, and wild plants.
You can reach the garden from Jussieu (metro) or Gare d’Austerlitz (metro).
Parc Yitzhak Rabin
A short trip to the renewed Bercy neighborhood is well worth it. Get off at the Bercy metro station and you’ll find the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy across from you, a kind of giant pyramid covered in greenery. The venue hosts performances by well-known artists, cultural and arts events, and indoor sports competitions. This impressive, massive complex can hold up to 17,000 spectators. Next to the complex is a large public garden, green and well kept, with water pools, abundant flowers, and outdoor sculptures, fitting for a city like Paris. Parts of the garden are filmed and shown live inside a pavilion by the lake at the center of the park.
A few years ago, in a moving gesture by the city of Paris, the park was renamed Parc Yitzhak Rabin. At the entrance stands a sign reading: “Jardin Yitzhak Rabin, 1922-1995, Israeli military commander and statesman, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, assassinated on November 4 in Tel Aviv.” Overlooking the garden is the modern American Cultural Center, and on the bank of the Seine stands the new building of the French Ministry of Finance.
Further along, you’ll find Bercy Village, a relatively new pedestrian street at Passage Saint Vivant, with a range of bars, restaurants, cafés, shops, movie theaters, a Club Med, a health club, and more. The pedestrian street is built from light-colored stone, unusual for the old Paris landscape. It’s a pleasant, different, relaxing place.
Getting there via metro line 14 to Cour Saint-Émilion station.
Also in this developing area, just a few minutes’ walk from the park, is the new national library, made up of four large buildings shaped like open books.
Parc de la Villette
Parc de la Villette is home to a relatively new science and culture complex, centered on a large science museum. It takes a lot of time to really explore this museum, especially if you’re visiting with kids. If you’re short on time and not wild about science and technology, it’s better to just walk around the many buildings of this huge park. Each building has its own character, shape, and purpose, and the most recommended and interesting one is the round movie theater, La Géode.
This is one of the most advanced movie theaters in the world, with a giant screen and a tremendous experience. It’s round, with a special concave screen of about 1,000 square meters, showing films at a scale you won’t have seen in regular movie theaters. Because of that scale, viewers feel like they’re part of the action. The theater sits inside a bright, shiny silver bubble, mirror-like, reflecting its surroundings.
The park also has many red pavilions with different purposes, postmodern outdoor sculptures, play structures for kids, wide lawns, the Zenith concert hall, a music complex, and more. In July and August, films are shown for free in the heart of the park on a giant screen, for the enjoyment of the huge crowds that flock here.
You can get here via Porte de la Villette (metro) or Porte de Pantin (metro).
The Viaduc des Arts and the Promenade Plantée
The Promenade Plantée is located in the 12th arrondissement, on the site of an old, abandoned railway line. The promenade sits two stories above the road below, and it’s lined with a variety of shrubs, trees and flowers. Walking along it, you can take in the life of the city happening alongside you and get an interesting view into the apartments of nearby residents.
The promenade, also known as “la Coulée Verte,” begins on Rue Daumesnil behind the new opera house, and runs for more than 4 kilometers all the way to the Bois de Vincennes. Of course, you don’t have to walk the whole length. Every few hundred meters there’s a staircase where you can come down to street level.
Beneath the promenade and the pink stone arches of the old railway, art and design lovers among us will find a special treat: the place is called the Viaduc des Arts, home to about 50 shops and workshops, with art galleries, home design stores, artisan workshops from various fields, interior designer boutiques and small studios, antique shops, carpenters, tapestry makers, jewelers, and more.
You can get here via Place de la Bastille. Next to the new opera house, walk along Rue Daumesnil toward Gare de Lyon, and all along the left side of the street you’ll see the modern, unique shops and workshops, with the promenade above them.
The Île aux Cygnes
The Île aux Cygnes, near the Eiffel Tower, isn’t really an island. It’s actually an artificial pathway, without any swans despite its name, built on the Seine in 1827. The path is just under a kilometer long and stretches from the Pont de Bir-Hakeim to the Statue of Liberty near the Pont de Grenelle. The statue’s face is turned west, toward the original Statue of Liberty in New York.
The island is quite picturesque and romantic, with plenty of trees and benches along its length, and is a favorite spot for wedding photos at sunset, with the river and the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop. It’s a place tourists don’t really flock to, despite its beauty and uniqueness.
Across from the Paris Statue of Liberty, you can see the large round building of Radio France, and on the other side of the Seine, the Front de Seine, with American-style skyscrapers, luxury hotels built with some of the finest contemporary architecture, a private yacht marina, and the Beaugrenelle shopping center.
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