Jardin du Luxembourg
Marie de' Medici built it to echo the Florence of her childhood; Paris made it the city's backyard.
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Twenty-three Senate-owned hectares that pack a grotto fountain, a sailboat pond, and over a hundred statues, monuments, and fountains into a single walk.
What to look for
- The octagonal Grand Bassin, where children push model sailboats across the water.
- The Medici Fountain grotto: Ottin's giant Polyphemus looming over the lovers Acis and Galatea.
- The ring of statues of French queens and illustrious women around the central green, plus Bartholdi's small-scale Statue of Liberty.
The Palais du Luxembourg is the seat of the French Senate; the southwest corner holds the apple-and-pear orchard and the marionette theatre, with tennis courts among the amenities.
Jardin du Luxembourg 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.