Parc des Buttes Chaumont Is My Favorite Park in Paris
The Parc des Buttes Chaumont is my favorite, at least for now, park in Paris. It is both similar and dissimilar to Parc Montsouris which is another favorite park of mine. Buttes Chaumont is in the north of Paris (19th arrondissement) whereas Montsouris is in the south of Paris (14th arrondissement). Both parks are English in style and a pure joy to explore. Parc Montsouris provides you with 15.5 hectares of lovely tree shaded lanes to wander, water features and a guignol theatre just like Parc des Buttes Chaumont.
Looking down on the lower path that circles the lake
How does Parc des Buttes Chaumont compare? Buttes Chaumont is almost half again as grand as Parc Monsouris with 24.7 hectares. Oh how we love this park! It has 3.4 miles of roads and another 1.4 miles of paths. But in most instances, it’s paths and roads cannot be described as gently rolling like Parc Monsouris.
Isn’t this a lovely building even though it’s not in Parc de Buttes Chaumont
19th arrondissement mairie
We arrived at the park via Laumière Metro 5 because I wanted to see the mayor’s office for the 19th arrondissement on Place Armand Carrel. It is especially lovely (yes, I have a list of the mayor’s offices that are photographically interesting on my “to do” list).
Parc des Buttes Chaumont – La Pavillon du Lac
La Pavillon du Lac
Entering the park we followed the road to a bench near Le Pavillion du Lac restaurant just to do a bit of people watching and parrot watching. Yes, the trees were filled with wild parrots! According to a local who walks here frequently, several domestic parrots were released many years ago and today the trees are filled with them. I have no idea to the truth behind this but it seems to be “common legend”.
Les perroquets – do you see all 3 of them?
Parc des Buttes Chaumont Suspension Bridge
This almost 207 foot long suspension bridge takes you to the island and the Temple de la Sybille. Can you see the top of the Temple peaking out of the trees? The legacies of Gustav Eiffel abound in Paris.
Suspension bridge
The Temple de la Sybille is 50 meters above the lake and following the path to the top yielded spectacular views of Paris!
Gustav Eiffel’s suspension bridge
This is possibly my most favorite view of Sacre Coeur.
Temple
We made it! The Temple de la Sibylle located at the summit of the Île du Bélvèdere, a miniature version of the Temple of Vesta in Tivoli Italy.
Luckily by entering the park “at the top” we walked downhill to exit the park.
Parc des Buttes Chaumont – getting around
Parc des Buttes Chaumont, opened for the Universal Exhibition in 1867. The map below we found to be much more useful than google maps.
La Mouzaïa – a village like neighborhood
We exited the park at the Botzaris metro because we wanted to explore the pedestrian streets off of rue du Général Brunet. This neighborhood is atypical to Paris; detached houses with gardens in the front grace the pedestrianized streets that provide a peaceful the atmosphere. As you can see below, the walls separating the homes from the street prohibit the views. This quartier is called La Mouzaïa. Pariszigzag site is in French but they have some nice courtyard photos. (Just hold your cursor over the slide if you wish to pause the rotation.)
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