- Download/View Walk Map
- 3.5 kms / About 1:20 hrs
- Start : Parvis de Notre-Dame (Metro Cité, Line 4)
- Finish : Jardin des Plantes (Metro Gare d’Austerlitz, Line 5 or 10)
- Spring, Summer (The Alpine Garden is closed during winter)
The “Point Zéro”.
The Point Zero of the roads of France
Get to Notre-Dame. On the plazza just outside, a bronze medallion with a wind rose symbolises the starting point for calculating the distances separating Paris from other cities. It is very easy to miss, especially when dozens of people are queuing to enter the Cathedral and standing on it. Today it is said to bring luck to whoever drops a few coins on it. Read our story about this medallion.
Paris’ oldest tree in Square Viviani
Saint-Julien-Le Pauvre’s Church.
When facing Notre-Dame, head to the right and over the Seine via the Pont-au-Double bridge. In the square Réné Viviani across the street you will see the oldest tree in Paris, planted in the 17th century by botanist Robin (who called it a robinier — Robin tree). Exit the park walking by Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre’s church then head left, and left again into narrow Galande street, whose old colored medieval houses and cobblestones make for the passers-by’s delight.
The inaccessible garden
Zig-zag along Hotel-Colbert and la Bûcherie streets down to a small square whose north-eastern corner is occupied with the Restif-de-la-Bretonne garden. This garden’s noteworthy features include a) being ridiculously modest in size (basically, it’s just two trees behind a fence) and b) inaccessible (no public access from the street). It is however a public garden, as mentioned in the list of parks in the 5th arrondissement.
At Seine-level
Shops in rue Saint-Louis-en-l’Île.
Keep walking rue des Grands-Degrés to get back to the bank and turn right again. Once you pass by the bouquinistes‘ stalls, turn left on Pont de l’Archevêché to go back to l’Île de la Cité behind Notre-Dame, then take a right further on, the Pont Saint-Louis will take you to the eponymous Île. Reach rue Saint-Louis-en-l’Île and walk it all along until the Square Barye across Boulevard Henry IV. At the deep end of this garden you can enjoy a nice view on the Seine, but if you climb down the stairs on the right you will be able to get an even nicer view from the embankment. You can thus walk around the garden at Seine-level but unfortunately you have to walk back since there is no way out at the end. Climb back up to the garden, exit towards Pont de Sully on the left to reach the Left Bank again.
The sculpture garden
Across Pont de Sully, opposite l’Institut du Monde Arabe (Arab World Institute), take a hard left into Tino Rossi garden. In this terraced park spotted with wide open spaces, you might come across hip-hop or tango dancers who regulary use these spaces for open-air practice. Stroll along until Pont d’Austerlitz and enter the Jardin des Plantes through its south gates.
A stegosaur keeping watch outside the Gallery of Paleontology.
The mountain garden
The Jardin des Plantes (Garden of Plants) offers enough to spend several days there. For now, just head to the garden of the Botanical School (Jardin de l’école de botanique, on the right of the main garden) and take the underground passage to the Jardin Alpin (mountain garden — closed in winter) which, even in such a touristic place, is very quiet. This lush garden is dedicated to mountain flora and counts 2,000 different species, including its popular pistachio tree, the other elderly tree of this walk (the oldest in all Jardin des Plantes). You can end this walk by reaching Gare d’Austerlitz on the east side of the park.
