Bois de Vincennes
Three times the size of Central Park, Napoleon III's park on Paris's eastern edge still has room to lose a whole afternoon.
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Created between 1855 and 1866, this 995-hectare expanse is Paris's largest park — it covers roughly ten percent of the city's total area. An English landscape garden with four lakes, a zoo, an arboretum, and a botanical garden sit side by side, all within walking distance of the Château de Vincennes, a former residence of the Kings of France.
What to look for
- The four lakes inside the English landscape garden — the clearest way to feel the park's scale
- The Château de Vincennes on the park's border, a royal castle whose donjon was begun in 1336 under King Philip VI
- The arboretum and botanical garden, two distinct collections that occupy the grounds alongside the zoo
Visit during daylight; the park has a well-documented reputation for prostitution after dark.
Bois de Vincennes is one of 39 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.