Paris parents know the neighborhood square with one slide and a sandpit. These are the playgrounds worth crossing the city for: big, built around an idea, and good for more than ten minutes. Most are free, and several sit inside bigger parks with room to run after. Here's what we checked, from the giant dragon slide at La Villette to the adventure course at Les Halles.
A fenced play garden inside Parc de la Villette, designed by Isabelle Devin and Catherine Rannou and inspired by the Breton seaside. Kids pedal to spin wind turbines, push walls of movable sails and bounce across waves of air cushions, all built to train balance and coordination.
The smallest kids get their own play pieces, and loungers let parents sit close by.
A giant multicolored dragon sculpture is the centerpiece of this playground in Parc de la Villette. Its tongue is a long tunnel slide, with climbing to get up to it. Under the dragon's belly, younger kids get swings and seesaws of their own.
The park's other themed gardens, big lawns and the Canal de l'Ourcq are a short walk away, so it fits easily into a longer day out.
Two playgrounds sit in this 4-hectare garden between the Canopée and the Bourse de Commerce, with Saint-Eustache church as a backdrop. Toddlers have a play area for ages 2 to 6.
Older kids get the Terrain d'aventures, a maze-like course designed by sculptor Henri Marquet's team, with the Mégamachines slide structure, a trampoline, swings, spinning tops and planted corners to hide in, run by city play workers.
LudoJardin is the fenced playground inside the Jardin du Luxembourg, built around a nature theme with wooden decks and paths. Kids cross hanging bridges, find their way through a labyrinth, fly down a zip line and take the slides.
Parents stay inside with their children. The garden's pony rides, carousel, puppet theater and toy sailboats on the pond are a short walk away.
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.
A 10-hectare park built on former rail freight yards, and one of the biggest green spaces in the city. Kids get a playground with log climbing frames, a skate park, basketball courts, ping-pong tables and a boules pitch, with wide lawns in between. Wind turbines, solar panels and rainwater harvesting are part of the design. Locals usually call it Parc Martin Luther King.
Jardin d'Éole is a long, narrow park built on former rail land beside the tracks, on the edge of the 18th and 19th arrondissements. Its 4-plus hectares hold toddler playgrounds, a basketball court, ping-pong tables, a tennis practice wall and space for ball games, along with a big meadow, a planted canal and a gravel garden. One of its eight drinking fountains pours sparkling water.
A long, narrow garden on the Left Bank of the Seine, running along Quai Saint-Bernard between Pont de Sully and Place Valhubert. Kids get a playground, a skate park, ping-pong tables, a soccer pitch and street workout bars, with sculptures set along the riverside paths.
Paris parents know the neighborhood square with one slide and a sandpit. These are the playgrounds worth crossing the city for: big, built around an idea, and good for more than ten minutes. Most are free, and several sit inside bigger parks with room to run after. Here's what we checked, from the giant dragon slide at La Villette to the adventure course at Les Halles.
A fenced play garden inside Parc de la Villette, designed by Isabelle Devin and Catherine Rannou and inspired by the Breton seaside. Kids pedal to spin wind turbines, push walls of movable sails and bounce across waves of air cushions, all built to train balance and coordination.
The smallest kids get their own play pieces, and loungers let parents sit close by.
A giant multicolored dragon sculpture is the centerpiece of this playground in Parc de la Villette. Its tongue is a long tunnel slide, with climbing to get up to it. Under the dragon's belly, younger kids get swings and seesaws of their own.
The park's other themed gardens, big lawns and the Canal de l'Ourcq are a short walk away, so it fits easily into a longer day out.
Two playgrounds sit in this 4-hectare garden between the Canopée and the Bourse de Commerce, with Saint-Eustache church as a backdrop. Toddlers have a play area for ages 2 to 6.
Older kids get the Terrain d'aventures, a maze-like course designed by sculptor Henri Marquet's team, with the Mégamachines slide structure, a trampoline, swings, spinning tops and planted corners to hide in, run by city play workers.
LudoJardin is the fenced playground inside the Jardin du Luxembourg, built around a nature theme with wooden decks and paths. Kids cross hanging bridges, find their way through a labyrinth, fly down a zip line and take the slides.
Parents stay inside with their children. The garden's pony rides, carousel, puppet theater and toy sailboats on the pond are a short walk away.
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.
A 10-hectare park built on former rail freight yards, and one of the biggest green spaces in the city. Kids get a playground with log climbing frames, a skate park, basketball courts, ping-pong tables and a boules pitch, with wide lawns in between. Wind turbines, solar panels and rainwater harvesting are part of the design. Locals usually call it Parc Martin Luther King.
Jardin d'Éole is a long, narrow park built on former rail land beside the tracks, on the edge of the 18th and 19th arrondissements. Its 4-plus hectares hold toddler playgrounds, a basketball court, ping-pong tables, a tennis practice wall and space for ball games, along with a big meadow, a planted canal and a gravel garden. One of its eight drinking fountains pours sparkling water.
A long, narrow garden on the Left Bank of the Seine, running along Quai Saint-Bernard between Pont de Sully and Place Valhubert. Kids get a playground, a skate park, ping-pong tables, a soccer pitch and street workout bars, with sculptures set along the riverside paths.
