Parks and Gardens in Paris

Paris doesn't offer only monuments for sightseeing ; if you need a fresh-air bowl and a moment of quietness, just choose one of the numerous parks or woodlands scattered all over the city.
If you have children, it would be all the more funny for them as they will have space to play and will be offered many attractions and activities.
Come to Paris and visit the most famous gardens and parks!

Jardin des Tuileries

The first gardens on this site were built at the same time as the Tuileries palace, in the 1560s. It was Catherine de Médicis' idea. Her new pleasure park, designed by Philibert de l'Orme and others, was soon the wonder of Paris; symmetrical and neat, it became the model for Le Nôtre's work and all the classical French landscaping that followed. Accounts suggest it was much more beautiful, and more fun, than the present incarnation. Louis XIV opened the park to the public and the new Tuileries became Paris' most fashionable promenade; it continued as such through the 18^th century, featuring such novelties as Paris' first public toilets and first newspaper kiosk.

The centre of the park is shaded by avenues of chestnust trees, the 'Quinconces des Marroniers'. Further up the Grande Allée (heading for the Place de la Concorde) is the octogonal bassin, surrounded by some statues that have survived from the days when the Tuileries was a royal park. The Chevaux Ailés, two winged horses at the gates facing Place de la Concorde, are by Louis XIV's chief sculptural propagandist, Coysevox: Mercury and Fame (both copies). Le Nôtre's plan included narrow raised terraces at the northern and southern ends, the 'Terrasse des Feuillants' and the 'Terrasse du Bord de l'Eau', both favourite tracks for Parisian joggers. At the Concorde end, the terraces expand into broader plateaux supporting buildings from the time of Napoléon III.

We propose you a wide range of hotels near Les Tuileries.

Jardin du Luxembourg

The Jardin du Luxembourg is a welcome Left Bank oasis of greenery. Metal chairs are scattered under the trees and around a shady café and bandstand, although the scarce lawns are out of bounds. But the kids have all the fun, on an opulent carousel designed by Charles Garnier, riding pony carts and mini-cars, sailing boats in the Grand Bassin, or watching performances of 'Guignol' in the Théâtre des Marionettes du Luxembourg. Near the gate, the park remembers its foundress, Marie de Médicis, with the long pool of the Fontaine de Médicis (just east of the Palais du Luxembourg), a romantic rendez-vous under the plane trees, dating from 1624 and adorned with 19^th-century statuary.

Widowed Marie de Médicis, Regent of France, always dreamed of a replica of her girlhood home, Florence's enormous Pitti Palace. Architect Salommon de Brosse managed to dissuade her in favour of a more traditional French mansion, the Palais du Luxembourg, but decorated it with Florentines touches-the rusticated bands of stone that give it a corrugated look, and it's 'ringed' Tuscan columns. At the west end of the big Palace, at Rue Vaugirard, the delightful Petit Luxembourg was Paris' first public art gallery, and the Musée de Luxembourg still puts on temporary exhibitions.

Stay in one of our hotels near the Jardin du Luxembourg.

Bois de Vincennes

Like the Bois de Boulogne, its matching bookend at the other end of Paris, Vincennes owes its existence to the French kings' love of hunting. They set it aside for that purpose in the 1100s and Philippe Auguste even built a wall around it to keep out poachers. In the 14^th century the Valois kings built its castle at the northern end of the park – a real fortified castle, not just a château, for this was the time of the Hundred Years War. As long as the nearby Marais was fashionable, so was Vincennes, but when Louis XIV left Paris in the opposite direction, for Versailles, the neglected hunting ground was turned into a public park. Besides the open spaces, the main attraction is the zoo, one of the largest in Europe. Adjacent is one of the prettier parts of the park, the Lac Daumesnil with its islands, one blessed with a fake ruin like the one in Buttes-Chaumont. Further east is the Parc Floral : water lilies, orchids and dahlias, with rides and entertainments.
The castle, the finest example of medieval secular architecture in Paris, shows what the French could build even in the sorrows of the 1300s. Begun under Philippe IV in 1337, it was completed in 1380. Louis was always short of prison cells and Vincennes made a convenient calaboose.
Napoleon, another ruler who liked to keep its cells full, made it a prison again while rebuilding the fortifications just in case. During the First World War, the trenches around it were used for shooting pies. The highlight of the tout is the donjon, the 14^th-century keep, strong and taciturn outside but a beautiful residence within, containing stained glass and sculptural work. The Salle des Gens d'Armes is a lovely gothic vaulted space. In the bedroom on the second floor England's King Henry V died in 1422. Besides these, the tour inside takes you through the Résidence Royale, built by Le Vau for Louis XIV, and the Sainte-Chapelle, almost a copy of the famous one.

We propose several hotels near the Bois de Vincennes.

Bois de Boulogne

After the Eiffel Tower, the Bois de Boulogne was not so long ago the most visited place in Paris – the 'world capital of prostitution', not less. The Bois owes its current appearance to Napoléon III, who spent his early years in London and gave the Bois to the city as its own Hyde Park. Roads, riding and walking paths crisscross it, but for anyone with children in tow the biggest attraction is on Neuilly side, to the north where the Jardin d'Acclimatation has nearly every possible activity for kids-camel and canal-boat rides, playgrounds, a small zoo, a doll's house with antique toys, a guignol (puppet show), children's theatre, bumper cars, crafts and games.
The most scenic spots in the Bois include the Lac Inférieur, with its islet and emperor's kiosk, the Shakespeare garden by the open-air theatre in the Pré Catelan, the Grande Cascade, and artificial Swiss Alps waterfall just east of Longchamp ; and for garden-and-rose-lovers, the sumptuous Parc de Bagatelle.

If you want to stay in this area, we offer you hotels near the Bois de Boulogne.

What can be more pleasant than going to a green place after a day of walking all around the city? You can relax yourself on a bench or lay on the grass in the shadow of a tree.
You will be amazed by the beauty of these places, full of greeness, plants and flowers and by the attractions proposed.
If you are a nature-lover, then you will be pleased to come and spend some times in one of the gardens or parks we've chosen for you.