The grand parks and public spaces in the City of Lights are well known – and well visited. But step off the boulevards and avenues and you can discover a wealth of hidden gardens and parks that only locals frequent.
Parc Monceau
A rare municipal park where you’re allowed on the grass, Monceau dates to 1778 and has long been a favourite of locals: Monet painted there and Marcel Proust visited frequently. Original features include a tiny pyramid, along with trees, lawns, flower beds, statues, waterways and bridges.
ADDRESS 35 Boulevard de Courcelles, 75008.
HOURS 7am to 10pm in summer, 7am to 8pm in winter.
METRO Monceau.
Photography: Max Kim-Bee and Mimi Connolly.
Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac
“To make a garden, you need land and eternity,” said Gilles Clément, the designer of this impressive garden conceived as an “invitation to travel”. Its seven discrete sections linked by paths create verdant and accessible grounds, flanked by a vibrant wall of greenery along the side of the museum building.
ADDRESS 37 Quai Jacques Chirac, 75007.
HOURS 10.30am to 7pm, Tuesday to Sunday.
METRO Iéna/Alma-Marceau.
Photography: Max Kim-Bee and Mimi Connolly.
Square Georges Cain
This hidden square feels like an open-air museum, notable not only for its flora (including a century-old fig tree) but for archaeological remnants such as columns and a clock face from the long-destroyed Tuileries Palace, a Renaissance era rose window and evenfragments of sarcophagi from the Merovingian dynasty. This is truly a unique experience in Paris.
ADDRESS 8 Rue Payenne, 75003.
HOURS 9am to 5pm, closed Tuesdays.
METRO Saint Paul/Chemin Vert.
Photography: Max Kim-Bee and Mimi Connolly.
Square Félix Desruelles
This tiny garden packs quite a punch. Among the lush and shady summer greenery, its most famous feature is the art nouveau arch: 12 metres high and 10 wide, it was built for the 1900 Paris Exposition to showcase the skill of the ceramic workshops of the Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres. After the exposition closed, it was installed in the square in 1905.
ADDRESS 168 bis Boulevard de Saint-Germain, 75006.
HOURS 8/9am to 5.45pm.
METRO Mabillon/Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
Photography: Max Kim-Bee and Mimi Connolly.
Musée Bourdelle
In the two beautifully kept gardens of this museum are more than 50 bronzes by renowned sculptor Antoine Bourdelle (1861–1929), a student of Auguste Rodin and a teacher of both Alberto Giacometti and Henri Matisse. The benches that dot the tranquil gardens are perfect for enjoying both the sculptures (such as Sappho, right) and the many flowers that bloom among them.
ADDRESS 18 Rue Antoine Bourdelle, 75015.
HOURS 10am to 6pm, closed Monday.
METRO Montparnasse-Bienvenüe.
Photography: Max Kim-Bee and Mimi Connolly.
Jardin Lazare-Rachline
The sort of garden you might stumble upon unawares, this was created in 1974 and sits in the courtyard of the Hôtel Donon. It’s a beautiful, formal French garden, with small, carefully pruned trees, meandering gravel paths and masses of flowers in the warmer months.
ADDRESS 9 Rue Payenne, 75003.
HOURS 10am to 5pm, closed Tuesdays.
METRO Saint Paul.
Photography: Max Kim-Bee and Mimi Connolly.
Petit Palais
Moments from the Champs-Elysées bustle, the inner garden of the palais – where Schiaparelli shows its haute couture in fashion week – is a haven of calm. Semicircular and verdant, it nestles in a colonnaded walkway with mosaic floor. Gaze at the portico’s frescoed ceiling, and relax in a shaded deckchair.
ADDRESS Avenue Winston Churchill, 75008.
HOURS 10am to 5.15pm, closed Mondays. Late opening Fridays.
METRO Champs-Elysées Clemenceau.
Photography: Max Kim-Bee and Mimi Connolly.
This is an edited extract from Secret Gardens of Paris: Green Hideaways in the Heart of the City by Elli Ioannou (Hardie Grant, $39.99).
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