Parks and gardens in Paris: our selection for an event and going green
- June 10, 2020
- culture, news, team building, tourism
It’s easy to think of Paris as a beautiful city of stone and architecture, but you’d be missing the beauty of all its green spaces and hidden gardens. However, our lovely capital city is overflowing with green treasure, and we’re going to introduce them to you! Join Booster2Success in exploring our beautiful parks and gardens in Paris. Focusing on the gardens within Paris itself and Bois de Boulogne or Vincennes (Bois = woods in French) are worth the journey. Join us and find out why!
Buttes-Chaumont park: mountainous landscape in the eastern Paris (19th district)
This garden located in the 19th district of Paris is quite amazing. This park was created during Napoleon the 3rds reign in order to offer a strolling area for Parisians. It is both green and mountainous, a huge garden of 25 hectares reproduced into a mountain landscape with rocks, waterfalls, small lake, and so much more. But let’s stop describing it, we let you discover it by yourself during a bucolic stroll and with the pictures below!
B2S’ super tip: a suspended footbridge, at 8m height above the lake and measuring 65m long, was constructed by Gustave Eiffel himself!
» TO READ ABOUT – Combine cultural discovery and team cohesion in business, that’s possible!
Gardens in Paris: Monceau park a charming verdant space (8th district)
One of our favorite parks in Paris is probably the Parc Monceau located in the 8th district of Paris. It saw the light of day at the end of the 18th century. Created by the Duke of Chartres: Louis-Philippe d’Orléans, he wanted his park to compete with the garden of Versailles! He desired a place outside of time and realized an Anglo-Chinese with a pagoda, a pyramid, a Roman temple, and even a small river. Nowadays there are still some remains of that period with an ornamental lake lined with Corinthian columns, numerous statues, and a small pyramid.
This park of eight hectares is an ideal place to have a run with colleagues or to try our adult treasure hunt in Arc de Triomphe-Monceau district.
Paris 15th district: the surprising Georges Brassens park
Let’s continue our exploration of Parisian gardens with this big park located close to Porte de Versailles. It’s perfect to go green with your colleagues after participating in a fair in the exhibition center close by. This history of the garden, named after a French singer, is quite unique. The park Georges Brassens was created on the location of the former Vaugirard slaughterhouses.
Active until 1975, it was closed and space totally redesigned in the 1980’s and finally inaugurated in 1985. The space preserved architectural elements of the old times like the horse covered market or the belfry from the rowdy market. Other unique pieces referring to its original use were added later, such as bull sculptures or the meat porter.
The Palais-Royal garden: an historic garden dated back to 1633 (1st district)
This garden, located in the 1st district of Paris, was created by the King’s gardener Cardinal Richelieu (a French statesman). He wanted to construct components to liven his palace up (the actual Palais-Royal). After the cardinal’s death, the palace and its garden were passed down to King Louis XIII, who settled there. Since 1920 the garden has been listed as a historical monument. In the heart of the Palais-Royal, in the main courtyard, you can admire the famous 260 columns of the artist named Buren!
B2S’ super tip: in the garden have a look to a quirky object: a small bronze cannon that used to fire until 1911 at noon in order to set the Parisians clocks. You can discover it and many more fun facts in Booster2Success’ team building scavenger hunt in Palais-Royal district!
Gardens in Paris: the emblematic park of Belleville (20th district)
Located in the 20th district of Paris, this 45 000 sq ft garden was inaugurated in 1988. It is equidistant from the Buttes-Chaumont garden and the Père-Lachaise cemetery and situated on Belleville hill. The top is 108 meters high and after climbing a little bit you will enjoy an amazing view of Paris. Many varieties of plants are available and you can even see vines near the top! Also worth noting is a 100-metre long waterfall to refresh your summer events in the park!
The Luxembourg garden and its palace in the heart of Paris (6th district)
In our list of gardens in Paris, go with the Luxembourg garden. This huge park of 23 hectares was ordered by Marie de Médicis in 1612 to surround her palace. Restored during the first French Empire it is now the property of the Senate (French parliamentary body). You will enjoy in the park numerous artworks, statues, and also one replica of the famous Lady Liberty in Paris! It is a historic place but also a really sporty one. Indeed, you can play at Luxembourg garden: basketball, tennis or even sail a miniature boat on the main pond!
Close to the Louvre: Tuileries garden and the Carousel one (1st district)
If you travel to Paris you can’t miss the Tuileries garden. Historically it was a small Italian style garden created in 1564 with the construction of the Tuileries palace by Catherine de’ Medici. However, the current appearance of the garden that we know dates back to 1664 when Louis XIV asked his gardener, André Le Nôtre, to redesign the space. Later on the writer Charles Perrault, famous for his fairy tales, convinced the King to open the garden to the Parisians. Incidentally, a statue in the garden is dedicated to him.
The Tuileries Gardens once bordered the Royal Residence of the Tuileries to the east. Burned down during the Paris Commune in 1871, it was never rebuilt. A garden, the Carrousel garden, has been laid out on this site, at the border of the Louvre. It is known for its statues by the sculptor Aristide Maillol and more particularly for the Carrousel triumphal arch, inaugurated in 1808 to celebrate the victory of Napoleon’s army at Austerlitz.
» READ ALSO – Team Building large group in the heart of the Tuileries garden
Gardens in Paris, the largest, parc de la Villette (19th district)
Come with us as we explore the 19th district of Paris to take in the Parc de la Villette. Constructed and inaugurated in 1984, it replaced a former slaughterhouse dating from the time of Napoleon III. This garden is now the largest in Paris and it extends over 55 hectares, including 33 hectares of green space!
The park is located between Porte de la Villette and Porte de Pantin, which is split in two by the Ourcq canal, making it a very popular area for joggers and organizing an event! The park is also a cultural and artistic mecca that hosts the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie (City of Science and Industry) and different major concert venues.
A Parisian garden with a view on the Seine River: the parc André Citroën (15th district)
This Parc André Citroën garden, in the east side of the 15th district, is at the exact location of the former Citroen car factory. Inaugurated in 1992, it is one of the most recent green areas of the capital city with 15 hectares of open green space. Two greenhouses border the upper part of the garden which is open to the Seine river in its lower part. The large lawns of André Citröen Park make for a pleasant space for an event. Don’t hesitate to take a ride on the balloon that offers you a panoramic view of Paris at 150m high!
One of the most famous gardens in Paris: the Champs de Mars (7th district)
Zoom in on the 7th district of Paris to (re)discover the iconic area where a very famous iron lady awaits you! Bordering the Ecole Militaire (Military school in French) this 24-hectare park is named after the Roman of war Mars and the Fields of Mars of ancient Rome. The Champs de Mars became a historic site on July the 14th 1790, for the first anniversary of the Bastille day. In 1889, two centuries after that period, a gigantic tower measuring more than 300 meters was installed by Gustave Eiffel. At that time it was the highest that had ever been designed!
Nowadays, this large garden hosts not only events and concerts, but also one step of the Booster2Success’ adult scavenger hunt in the Eiffel tower district.
The botanical garden of Paris: a green parisian adventure (5th district)
Let’s continue our list of the gardens in Paris by heading towards the 5th arrondissement. This large 20-hectare area is home to several sites: the National Museum of Natural History, greenhouses, and a menagerie for the delight of young and old alike! The site of the present plant garden was in the 16th century a place where the King’s pharmacist taught herbal medicine, then the Royal Garden of Medicinal Plants in 1626. One of the most famous directors of this garden was the Count of Buffon who enlarged the place at his own expense to make it one of the most important scientific research centres in Europe at the time.
The Parc Montsouris : green area in the south of Paris (14th district)
Now heading to the 14th arrondissement, we’re here to discover a 15-hectare English-style garden: the Montsouris Park. Montsouris Park was designed during the Second Empire in order to offer Parisians an additional walking area to the Buttes-Chaumont but in the western part of Paris. Built on the former quarries of Montsouris, the garden has a large artificial lake which gives a lot of charm to the place, perfect for an outdoor event on sunny days!
[Bonus] The green flow of Paris (12th and 15th district)
Our final atypical garden, the “coulées vertes” (green flow) area is located on former railway tracks in the 12th and 15th districts of Paris. Redeveloped in the mid-1980s, these spaces allow a unique space to walk in the shade of Parisian buildings. Over time the vegetation has partially covered the tracks, but some of them remain visible, which gives an undeniable character to these areas! The 1.3 km length of the Petite Ceinture du 15ème makes it an ideal place for a fun run with your colleagues!
There are many other gardens in Paris that are often smaller, but just as pleasant to explore on a stroll. Be sure to enjoy Viviani’s garden and its beautiful view of Notre-Dame, the majestic Place des Vosges, or the lesser-known Parc de Passy. There’s always more to explore with Booster2Success!
Photo credit: Booster2Success
Booster2Success introduces you to its favourite places near its team building scavenger hunts for adults in Paris.
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