Bois de Boulogne
Napoleon III's answer to Hyde Park: 845 hectares of engineered wilderness on Paris's western edge.
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Nothing here is accidental: Napoleon III ceded the land in 1852, and from 1853 engineer Alphand carved the straight royal hunting grounds into meandering paths, two lakes, and 420,000 planted trees. It's Paris pretending to be countryside, plus racecourses, rose gardens, and a Frank Gehry art foundation.
What to look for
- The Grande Cascade (1856), an artificial waterfall built from 4,000 cubic meters of rock hauled from Fontainebleau
- The giant sequoia in the Pré Catelan, planted in 1872 and now towering over the lawn
- The glasshouses of the Jardin des Serres d'Auteuil, holding some 100,000 plants
It's big and spread out, so rent a rowboat on the Lac Inférieur or pick one zone (Bagatelle, Auteuil, or the Fondation) rather than the whole park.
Bois de Boulogne is one of 33 sights worth the detour in Paris, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Paris pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Paris
- Eiffel TowerThe 300-metre iron tower Parisian artists petitioned against before it was even finished.
- Louvre MuseumThe world's most-visited museum lives inside a 12th-century fortress that became a royal palace.
- Notre-Dame de ParisThe spire fell on live TV in April 2019; since December 2024 you can walk back inside.
- Musée d'OrsayVan Gogh and Monet hung inside a Beaux-Arts station built for the Paris–Orléans railway.
- Champs-ÉlyséesA single 1.9-km straight line runs from the Concorde obelisk to the Arc de Triomphe — Paris's ceremonial spine on the Axe historique.
- Place de la BastilleThe prison that lit a revolution is gone — and the mob that stormed it on 14 July 1789 came for gunpowder, not the seven forgotten men inside.