Top Paris Parks
For a city of its size, Paris is very short of green space - while the city is peppered with more than a hundred small public spaces, the gravel, pigeon-filled pathways that pass officially for ‘parcs‘ sometimes offer little rest from the dustry streets around them.
While Parisians in search of fresh air will often head outside of the city (to the Bois de Boulogne in the west or the Bois de Vincennes in the east) there are still a few unmissable locations within the city limits. Read on for the lowdown on some of the best known Paris parks - and for details of a few of the city’s lesser known hidden gems…
1) The Tuileries
This long, narrow park running west from the Louvre’s famous glass Pyramid offers one of Paris’ best views - the legendary vista straight up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe (almost a mile away) is interrupted only by the Ancient Egyptian obelisk standing at the centre of Place de la Concorde.
A stone’s throw from all of Paris’ central attractions - and featuring an old-school miniature boating pool at it’s heart - a promenade through this proudest of Paris green spaces is a must for every visitor to the city.
2) Jardin du Luxembourg
The Luxemburg Gardens make up by far the largest park on the Left Bank. The gardens’ long promenades take in chess players, tennis matches and games of boules, and in the summer fill with stands selling ice cream and candy floss - all in the shadow of the Pantheon’s giant dome, which stands just across the road amongst the cafes and bookshops of the Latin Quarter.
3) Champs de Mars
The Champ de Mars is a wide rectangular green space running south west from the very foot of the Eiffel tower - and is completely overshadowed by Eiffel’s enormous iron construction. One of the only parks in Paris with any significant lawn, the Champs is often over-run with coach parties and tour groups, but on a sunny day still makes the perfect spot to admire Eiffel’s handiwork - or to recover from a trip up the stairs of Paris’ most famous monument…
4) Palais Royale
Both the French Government’s Ministry of Culture and the classic Paris theatre the Comedie Francaise inhabit the buildings of the Palais Royale just across the road from the Louvre - and the pleasant, public garden at it’s centre often offers sculpture exhibitions that reflect the interests of the quarters intellectual residents.
One installation stands there permanently - Daniel Buren’s black and white pillars, standing above trickling subterranean streams, make the Palais Royale garden an intriguing oasis just a few steps off the busy Rue de Rivoli.
5) Promenade Plante
Running through the heart of the 12th Arrondissement, the Promenade Plantee might well be one Paris’ strangest Parks - once a train line, it’s now a pedestrian pathway lined with flowerbeds and hedgerows, raised high above the bustle of the streets, and beneath which boutiques and workshops nestle in the viaduct’s stone arches.
6) Parc des Buttes Chaumont
One of Paris’ nicest parks sits in one of its scruffiest neighbourhoods - the Parc des Buttes Chaumant in the 19th arrondissement boasts its own small lake, and the temple ‘folly’ that crowns it’s steep central hill offers impressive views down over the city.
