The best parks and gardens in Paris for 2025

This is the spot for picnics, views over the 19th, aperitifs at buzzing park bar Rosa Bonheur. More chilled out than both the Tuileries and Jardin du Luxembourg, which can feel a little formal, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont is worth making the trip for. ‘Trip? What do you mean trip?’ Well, it’s set high up in Belleville, so although that does mean a 30-minute walk from Gare du Nord, it also means you’re unlikely to be elbowing tourists for space. Plus it’s huge. Numerous pathways wind their way past the lakes, trees, waterfalls and rocky cliffs – yep, thanks to this man-made beauty on the site of a former quarry Paris has a few cliffs to its name. Climb up to Temple de la Sybille (you can't miss it) for extra special views.

Time Out tip: As well as its winding paths, sloping lawns, still lake and little caves, you’ll also find the largest tree in Paris here – a 40-metre-high giant sequoia with green, scale-like needles. 

Address: 1-7 Rue Botzaris, 75019 Paris, France

Neighbourhood: Buttes-Chaumont

📍 Discover our ultimate guide to Buttes-Chaumont

Ready for cute zoo animals, exotic smells, plants and trees of all stripes? Paris’s enchanting botanical garden contains more than 10,000 species and includes tropical greenhouses and rose, winter and Alpine gardens. Founded by Louis XIII’s doctor as the royal medicinal garden in 1626, it opened to the public in 1640. The formal garden is like something out of Alice in Wonderland. There’s also the Ménagerie (a small zoo) and a plaque on the old laboratory which declares that Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity here in 1896. 

Time Out tip: Discover its crowning jewel, the Japanese shirotae cherry tree, impressive at 8 meters tall, 12 meters wide, and with an unusual flattened shape. 

Address: 57 Rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, France

Neighbourhood: Latin Quarter

Want to see a truly magnificent tree? In 1601, the mathematician Pierre de Fermat starts counting, former queen Louise of Lorraine kicks the bucket, and the king’s gardener Jean Robin plants a black locust tree just a stone’s throw from Notre-Dame. And 424 years later, in what is now Square René-Viviani, the tree still stands – 15 metres tall with a girth of 3.5 metres – claiming the title of the oldest tree in Paris. And she’s a beauty. Sit for a while and you’ll spot even more: enjoy the old bits of Notre-Dame here and the bronze fountain created in 1993 by Georges Jeanclos. 

Address: 2 Rue du Fouarre, 75005 Paris

Neighbourhood: Latin Quarter

Now here’s a place that truly lives up to its name. At the end of the 19th century, Jules Gravereaux – a retired industrialist with a slight obsession with roses – asked a landscape gardener to organise the 1,600 species and varieties of roses in his garden in L’Haÿ. The result was the world’s first rose garden which, after numerous transformations, now boasts 11,000 rose bushes from 2,900 different species. Here’s a bit of history for you: Gravereaux himself created several varieties, and was even painted by Renouard among his roses. In 1914, the town even added ‘les Roses’ to its name. 

Time Out tip: You can visit this spot between May and September, but blooming peaks in June. Oh, and there’s a small admission fee of €4. 

Address: 8 Rue Albert Watel, 94240 L'Haÿ-les-Roses, France

Neighbourhood: L'Haÿ-les-Roses commune (the perfect opportunity to impress your pals with a history soundbite)

The most colourful of the capital’s many parks, Montsouris was laid out for Baron Haussmann by Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand. It includes a series of sweeping, gently sloping lawns, an artificial lake and cascades. On the opening day in 1878 the lake inexplicably emptied, and the engineer responsible committed suicide.

Address: 2 Rue Gazan, 75014 Paris, France

Neighbourhood: Parc-de-Montsouris, 14th arrondissement

Ready to feel like a royal? Between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde, the alleyways of these gardens have been a chic promenade ever since they opened to the public in the 16th century. Landscape architect André Le Nôtre created this prototypical French park with terraces and a central vista running down the Grand Axe through circular and hexagonal ponds. The gardens are also dotted with beautiful statues – including copies of ancient works like Coysevox’s winged horses, and more modern ones like Dubuffet’s Le Bel Costumé.

Address: Place de la Concorde, 75001 Paris, France

Neighbourhood: 1st arrondissement (Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois)

From the massive former slaughterhouses of Paris, Parc de la Villette has retained just one hall, a few buildings, and its vast dimensions. At 35 hectares, it’s the largest park in Paris. In 1987, Swiss architect Bernard Tschumi transformed this site on the eastern edge of the capital, intersected by the Canal de l’Ourcq, into a huge park. It’s one of the few parks in Paris that remains open all night, and while the grass seems endless, we particularly love the areas along the canal, where the Géode reflects in the water.

Time Out tip: Each season, the park hosts a multitude of open-air events, including the iconic Open-Air Cinema with its giant screen. 

Address: 211 Avenue Jean Jaurès, 75019 Paris, France

Neighbourhood: La Villette, 19th arrondissement

Ready for epic walks, summer jazz concerts, and somewhere to cool off after a trip to the Marché aux Puces de Montreuil? Welcome to Bois de Vincennes, Paris’s largest park, created like the Bois de Boulogne in the west, when the former royal hunting forest was landscaped by Adolphe Alphand for Baron Haussmann. There are boating lakes, a Buddhist temple, a racetrack, restaurants, a baseball field and a small farm. You’ll also find the Parc Floral – a cross between a botanical garden and an amusement park, where jazz concerts are held on weekends in summer.

Address: Route de la Pyramide, 75012 Paris, France

Neighbourhood: Bel-Air, 12th arrondissement

A hidden gem in the Parc de Bagatelle. Built in just 64 days by 900 workers after a bet between Marie-Antoinette and the Count of Artois – without a word from the labour inspectors – the Parc de Bagatelle (and its château) now boasts a world-renowned collection of 10,000 rose bushes from 1,200 varieties. It’s a must-visit during the blooming periods (from April to October, depending on the variety), when you’ll feel like you’ve stepped into a real-life impressionist painting. Bagatelle is also home to many other botanical and architectural treasures (like the Chinese pagoda), where you can relax on the grass and possibly be woken up by a friendly peacock. 

Address: Route de Sèvres à Neuilly, 75016 Paris, France

Neighbourhood: Bois de Boulogne, 16th arrondissement

We’re not here to talk politics, but still – we’d definitely vote for the Jardin du Luxembourg! Watched over by the Senate palace, the park unfurls its walkways, orangery, top-tier museum, formal flowerbeds and statues of all kinds around its iconic grand basin – complete with toy sailboats. Yes, in summer, you may have to elbow your way in to claim a patch of grass or one of the 4,500 chairs at the ‘Luco’, but the atmosphere is absolutely worth it. A little tip: if you can’t find a seat, try the neighbouring Square Marco-Polo – it’s also firmly aligned with the party of relaxation.

Address: 2 Rue Auguste-Comte, 75005 Paris, France

Neighbourhood: Odéon, 6th arrondissement

With its panoramic view over the north-eastern suburbs of Paris, the Parc de la Butte-du-Chapeau-Rouge and its tiered lawns is a must-visit. Near the Danube and Mouzaïa neighbourhoods, this park, shaped from 1938 onwards, is symmetrically laid out on a hill and a former quarry, much like the Buttes-Chaumont. The Silhouette Festival, with its open-air film screenings, is one of the unmissable summer cinema events, with the city lights as a backdrop. For tree lovers, the park hides a paper mulberry, a Siberian elm, a tulip tree from Virginia, a giant sequoia (35 metres tall), and several honey locusts. Enough to make you blush with delight.

Address: 5 Avenue Debidour, 75019 Paris, France

Neighbourhood: Danube-Mouzaïa, 19th arrondissement