Recreation in Paris

Paris boasts more than 140 parks (parcs) and gardens (jardins), and two large wooded areas (bois). In all, these green spaces cover 22 sq km (8 sq mi), or about 20 percent of the city’s total area.

Three of the city’s central gardens were laid out in the 17th century by royalty: the Jardins des Tuileries west of the Louvre, and the Left Bank’s Jardin du Luxembourg and Jardin des Plantes. The latter also houses a small zoo.

The Bois de Boulogne, on the western outskirts of the city, and the Bois de Vincennes, on the east, were once royal hunting domains.

The 18th-century Parc Monceau in northwest Paris was remodeled in the second half of the 19th century.

Two new parks were designed at that time, the Parc des Buttes Chaumont in eastern Paris and the Parc Montsouris on its southern edge.

A growing awareness of environmental issues, especially since the 1980s, has led to extensive greening projects in the historically congested city.

In some cases, parks have replaced derelict industrial sites. Parc de La Villette in northeast Paris and Parc Georges Brassens on its southern edge were built on the sites of the Paris and the Vaugirard slaughterhouses.

Parc André Citroën, southwest of the Eiffel Tower along the Seine, was formerly the Citroën automobile factory.

The wine warehouses were razed to make way for Parc de Bercy, located along the right bank of the Seine in eastern Paris.

Gardens have been designed with great ingenuity on the roofings of railroad lines, notably the Jardin Atlantique above the high-speed rail tracks of the Montparnasse railway station.

The Promenade Plantée, a 4.5-km- (2.8-mi-) long strip of gardens between the Bastille and the Bois de Vincennes, has replaced a disused railroad track.

The Disneyland Paris theme park is spread over almost 20 sq km (8 sq mi) of land in Marne-la-Vallée, a suburb east of Paris.

Parc Asterix, another theme park, is located north of Paris and brings to life the adventures of Albert Uderzo’s comic strips about ancient Gaul.

The Stade de France, France’s largest stadium, is located in Saint-Denis, north of Paris.

Built for the 1998 World Cup of soccer, the stadium serves as the home field for both the national soccer and rugby teams.

The Parc des Princes, on the western edge of the city, is home to Paris’s soccer team, Paris St. Germain.

Also on the western edge of the city is the Roland Garros tennis complex, where the French Open—one of the four grand slam tournaments in professional tennis—is held in June.

The Paris Tennis Open is held in November at the Palais Omnisport in Bercy.