When the sun is beating down, these are the spots where kids can keep running around under the trees. Big parks and wooded corners with plenty of shade, room for a picnic, and cooler air than the open squares. Pack water and a ball, and save the hottest part of the afternoon for somewhere leafy.
The Senate's garden mixes formal French lawns with wooded English-style paths around the Grand Bassin, where kids rent toy sailboats and push them across the pond.
Elsewhere there are pony rides, a carousel, a puppet theater, a playground, swings and sandpits. Older kids can shoot hoops or play table tennis and chess, and 102 statues and the Medici Fountain line the walks.
Paris's first botanical garden, open to the public for almost 400 years, runs from Gare d'Austerlitz to the Grande Galerie de l'Évolution between long alleys of trimmed plane trees.
Kids can climb the labyrinth hill to Buffon's gazebo, one of the oldest metal structures in the world, and find a cedar planted in 1734. The Ménagerie zoo, the Grandes Serres greenhouses and the natural history galleries sit inside the grounds.
The Bois de Boulogne is an 845-hectare woodland on the western edge of the city, with two lakes, the Grande Cascade waterfall and long forest paths. Rowing boats can be rented on the Lac Inférieur, whose island holds the Emperor's Kiosk.
Inside the woods sit the Jardin d'Acclimatation amusement park and the Bagatelle and Pré Catelan gardens, plus a playground, pony rides and picnic tables.
The city's largest green space covers 995 hectares of woods, four lakes linked by streams, and open lawns on its eastern edge. Kids can rent a rowboat on Lac Daumesnil and cross the bridges to its two islands, ride a pony, catch a Guignol puppet show, or try the playgrounds, sandpits and swings. The Parc Floral and the Paris Zoo sit inside the woods.
Parc Floral is a 30-hectare botanical park in the Bois de Vincennes, laid out as themed gardens, an oak grove and pavilions of bonsai, ferns and Jurassic plants.
For kids there is a playground with sandboxes and swings, a Guignol puppet theater, minigolf, a treetop ropes course, an escape game and four-wheel pedal bikes to rent. On warm days the open-air stage hosts Pestacles, a children's music festival.
Parc Montsouris spreads across three big lawns linked by bridges, around a lake with ducks and, in winter, coots and gulls. Old trees shade the paths, including a giant sequoia and a ginkgo that turns bright yellow in fall.
Kids get a playground, carousels, a Guignol puppet theater, ping-pong tables and a basketball court. From May to September the bandstand hosts concerts.
Parc Monceau is an English-style garden laid out in 1861, with winding paths, a pond ringed by stone colonnades (the Naumachie), a small pyramid and other 18th-century follies. Kids head for the playground, the swings and the carousel, then go looking for the Oriental plane tree planted in 1814.
A 460-hectare former royal estate on the hillside above the Seine, laid out by André Le Nôtre. The Grande Cascade, the Grand Jet basin and terraces looking toward Paris anchor the formal gardens; beyond them are English-style lawns, woods and a 19th-century landscape garden, the Jardin du Trocadéro.
There are two playgrounds, six places to eat, and a small museum on the vanished château.
Parc de Sceaux is a formal French garden laid out by André Le Nôtre in the 17th century, spread over 181 hectares just south of Paris. Kids can follow the stepped cascades down to the Octagon basin, walk the 1,140-meter Grand Canal and hunt for the statues along the allées.
In spring, the grove of Japanese cherry trees draws families for hanami picnics. The château houses the estate's museum.
Parc de Bercy runs along the Seine on the site of the old wine warehouses, and its old rail tracks still show in the cobbled paths. The open lawns at the west end have a playground, a carousel, a skate park and ping-pong tables. Further east, gated gardens hold a vegetable patch, a vineyard, a maze, duck ponds and a small lake with an island.
The Tuileries is the formal garden stretching from the Louvre to Place de la Concorde, with over 3,000 trees, open lawns and ornamental ponds. Kids push little sailboats across the octagonal Grand Basin with a stick, a tradition here since 1850.
The north side, along Rue de Rivoli, holds a play area with a rope bridge in the trees, a carousel and trampolines set among palm trees.
Parc de Belleville covers a steep hillside, with the Willy Ronis belvedere at the top looking out over the rooftops of Paris. A cascading fountain over 100 meters long runs down the slope between stairs, pergolas and terraced lawns.
Kids head for the playground, the ping-pong tables and the foosball table, and can spot the small vineyard, replanted in 1992 where monks once made wine.
When the sun is beating down, these are the spots where kids can keep running around under the trees. Big parks and wooded corners with plenty of shade, room for a picnic, and cooler air than the open squares. Pack water and a ball, and save the hottest part of the afternoon for somewhere leafy.
The Senate's garden mixes formal French lawns with wooded English-style paths around the Grand Bassin, where kids rent toy sailboats and push them across the pond.
Elsewhere there are pony rides, a carousel, a puppet theater, a playground, swings and sandpits. Older kids can shoot hoops or play table tennis and chess, and 102 statues and the Medici Fountain line the walks.
Paris's first botanical garden, open to the public for almost 400 years, runs from Gare d'Austerlitz to the Grande Galerie de l'Évolution between long alleys of trimmed plane trees.
Kids can climb the labyrinth hill to Buffon's gazebo, one of the oldest metal structures in the world, and find a cedar planted in 1734. The Ménagerie zoo, the Grandes Serres greenhouses and the natural history galleries sit inside the grounds.
The Bois de Boulogne is an 845-hectare woodland on the western edge of the city, with two lakes, the Grande Cascade waterfall and long forest paths. Rowing boats can be rented on the Lac Inférieur, whose island holds the Emperor's Kiosk.
Inside the woods sit the Jardin d'Acclimatation amusement park and the Bagatelle and Pré Catelan gardens, plus a playground, pony rides and picnic tables.
The city's largest green space covers 995 hectares of woods, four lakes linked by streams, and open lawns on its eastern edge. Kids can rent a rowboat on Lac Daumesnil and cross the bridges to its two islands, ride a pony, catch a Guignol puppet show, or try the playgrounds, sandpits and swings. The Parc Floral and the Paris Zoo sit inside the woods.
Parc Floral is a 30-hectare botanical park in the Bois de Vincennes, laid out as themed gardens, an oak grove and pavilions of bonsai, ferns and Jurassic plants.
For kids there is a playground with sandboxes and swings, a Guignol puppet theater, minigolf, a treetop ropes course, an escape game and four-wheel pedal bikes to rent. On warm days the open-air stage hosts Pestacles, a children's music festival.
Parc Montsouris spreads across three big lawns linked by bridges, around a lake with ducks and, in winter, coots and gulls. Old trees shade the paths, including a giant sequoia and a ginkgo that turns bright yellow in fall.
Kids get a playground, carousels, a Guignol puppet theater, ping-pong tables and a basketball court. From May to September the bandstand hosts concerts.
Parc Monceau is an English-style garden laid out in 1861, with winding paths, a pond ringed by stone colonnades (the Naumachie), a small pyramid and other 18th-century follies. Kids head for the playground, the swings and the carousel, then go looking for the Oriental plane tree planted in 1814.
A 460-hectare former royal estate on the hillside above the Seine, laid out by André Le Nôtre. The Grande Cascade, the Grand Jet basin and terraces looking toward Paris anchor the formal gardens; beyond them are English-style lawns, woods and a 19th-century landscape garden, the Jardin du Trocadéro.
There are two playgrounds, six places to eat, and a small museum on the vanished château.
Parc de Sceaux is a formal French garden laid out by André Le Nôtre in the 17th century, spread over 181 hectares just south of Paris. Kids can follow the stepped cascades down to the Octagon basin, walk the 1,140-meter Grand Canal and hunt for the statues along the allées.
In spring, the grove of Japanese cherry trees draws families for hanami picnics. The château houses the estate's museum.
Parc de Bercy runs along the Seine on the site of the old wine warehouses, and its old rail tracks still show in the cobbled paths. The open lawns at the west end have a playground, a carousel, a skate park and ping-pong tables. Further east, gated gardens hold a vegetable patch, a vineyard, a maze, duck ponds and a small lake with an island.
The Tuileries is the formal garden stretching from the Louvre to Place de la Concorde, with over 3,000 trees, open lawns and ornamental ponds. Kids push little sailboats across the octagonal Grand Basin with a stick, a tradition here since 1850.
The north side, along Rue de Rivoli, holds a play area with a rope bridge in the trees, a carousel and trampolines set among palm trees.
Parc de Belleville covers a steep hillside, with the Willy Ronis belvedere at the top looking out over the rooftops of Paris. A cascading fountain over 100 meters long runs down the slope between stairs, pergolas and terraced lawns.
Kids head for the playground, the ping-pong tables and the foosball table, and can spot the small vineyard, replanted in 1992 where monks once made wine.
