#03 Bois de Vincennes, the Ultimate Paris’ Green Lung

About The Paris Green Lung Tour

Paris green lung, also known as Bois de Vincennes. A wonderful combo of park, gardens wood and cultural venues, a stone’s throw away from the city…

Some say Paris has beautiful parks, others say Paris has not enough greenery given its density of population. While one can hardly argue with these two statements, what’s certain is that within a 20min metro ride only from the very center of the city, a nature gem is waiting for us to enjoy!

This park, half covered by a forest, 3 times the size of Central Park in New York City, and slightly bigger than Richmond park in London, gives a real opportunity to disconnect completely from the city life, for an hour… or a day.

The Rich History of Bois de Vincennes

Its specificity — shared by Bois de Boulogne in the west — lies in the fact that this wood is named after Vincennes, a chic suburban city while being owned by Paris. This wood and the eponymous castle have indeed known many fates through the ages.

Originally a leisure residency and a private hunting forest for the kings (12th century), it was successively turned into a fortified castle, forgotten in favor of Versailles by Louis XIV, reused as a military arsenal and barracks by Napoleon, and finally transformed into its current form (mid-20th century), Paris buying the wood and letting the castle to the city of Vincennes.

Anecdotally, the creation of its artificial lakes was concomitant to the construction of the Viaduc des Arts — part of the Coulée Verte nowadays — as the backfill soil helped elevate this one.

Turned into Paris’ Green Lung

Since then the land has progressively been turned into a cultural and leisure park with lakes, theaters, a horse racetrack, a zoo, floral gardens, a fairground, a large network of forest paths… and even secluded remains of the controversial era of colonialism!

The Bois de Vincennes Tour

On this tour, we’ll admire the many species of birds and ducks when walking around the lakes, cross through the shaded forest paths, fantasize on mysterious totems, rejoice in the middle of a floral garden, and end up with a drink in a guinguette by the water.

Extra Options

A 1-hour picnic in the park can be planned to fully soak it all up.

For the curious, a 1-hour visit to a racetrack to attend races could be envisioned.