Best Paris Picnic spots - suggestions?

First of all, wine or beer pose absolutely no problem at a French picnic in a public park.

The Luxembourg garden is about the last place that I can imagine wanting to have a picnic -- too crowded and too snooty. First of all, you are unlikely to see anybody else having a picnic there (too much forbidden grass!).

Parisians have picnics mostly in the "outer" parks -- Villette, Buttes Chaumont, Montsouris, André Citroën, Belleville, Bercy or of course the Bois de Boulogne or Bois de Vincennes.

Two places closer to the center of town where picnics are deemed appropriate are the Champs de Mars or the Esplanade des Invalides (but watch out for the football games there).

As for picnic supplies, I suggest a supermarket, because such places also have paper napkins, plastic glasses, etc. -- you may need a corkscrew or bottle opener and probably a knife that really cuts. They also have a very good selection of packaged salads and such.

Any market street can supply a roast chicken if you want one.

I am very sorry to say that you will see a lot of the French with McDonald's bags having a picnic.

One of the newest places for an evening picnic on a warm night is the Passerelle Simone de Beauvoir, a pedestrian bridge that crosses the Seine linking the Bercy park and the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand.

This is a good list of parks and gardens:

http://piurl.com/ba

One of my favorite spots in Paris (though I've never taken a picnic there) is the garden at the very tip of Ile de la Cite. I love sitting there and watching the boats glide by on both sides.

I don't know for sure, but don't know any reason you couldn't have a picnic there.

Hello Jenn_Mitch

How about an evening picnic on the banks of the river near the Notre Dame Cathedral? Sit on the embankment, watch the boats go by, and see the cathedral all aglow by the lights. Truly beautiful!

We returned just last night from our French vacation, and each evening while in Paris, we noticed many couples doing just this. They'd have their wine (with or without cups--sometimes drinking straight from the bottle), some meat, cheese, bread, or other delicacies.

Then there were the 2 girlfriends, sharing a bottle of champagne and strawberries on a park bench. One was wearing a plastic tiara. When asked what the occasion was, she said it was her 19th birthday!

The Pont des Arts (pedestrian bridge) is another popular place for a picnic. Great views up and down the river.

It's very easy to have a lovely picnic in Paris. But we really liked the river. So quiet in the midst of the busy-ness of the big city, esp. if you go down below the street level. At night it's truly intoxicating.

Happy travels!

Jenn Mitch:

We are leaving the 16th for Paris - are you as excited as I am? Hope you have a wonderful trip.

We depart for Paris on the 22nd - have been many times, but never enough! Our picnic plans are for a spot the locals are said to like, but I have never been: the Arene de Lutece.

I agree with JeanneB, the tip of Ile de la Cité. And the gardens of the Rodin Museum, though there's a café there so they're not always receptive you letting you bring your own food. Depends on who's there.

And the Parc Monsouris. And the Parc St-Cloud. And the Ile des Impressionistes.

Sorry to cut in Jenn_Mitch but I wanted to ask about having wine with your picnic.

My husband and I had a picnic in Place des Vosges and a man in a uniform came over and told us we couldn't have the bottle of wine there.

We couldn't work out if wine was not allowed, as I did notice other people just drinking water, or whether it was the glass bottle we were not allowed to have.

Everyone around us clapped and cheered when the man came over, but if you're not allowed wine or glass, why aren't there signs, or did we just miss them?

Could somebody please clarify was the glass or the wine the problem, or is it just in certain parks, because everyone had wine bottles on the champs du mars?

There are open bottle laws:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Picnic-in-Paris---Pick-a-Paris-Park-for-a-Picnic!&id=624388

Well, sorry; you will have to copy and paste that link. It says:

There are actually very real open bottle laws that the mayor of Paris has passed to reduce public drinking but they are very selectively enforced. The average picnicker probably won't encounter them unless they are clearly drunk or publicly offensive but they are law nonetheless. The law is clear; it's illegal to have an open bottle of any alcoholic beverage in a public park. The reality is to be discreet and you'll be treated discreetly by the police. The police may approach people having picnics and ask them "please hide the wine bottle", followed by a polite "bon appetit" as they move on. Just be aware that technically it is against the law.

Yes, those city ordinances exist to be able to do something about rowdy drunks and various winos.

You can actually see the signs indicating it in the park at Les Halles, which used to be the biggest problem.

To get back to why Parisians generally prefer the outlying parks for their picnics, it's because in the center of the city the massive numbers of people walking by at all times gets tiring after a while. La Villette is very popular because not only do people have room for their picnic, they even have room to play frisbee and things like that.

Thanks Ronda

Didn't know about that law.

We certainly weren't singled out for our drunken behaviour as we'd only had half a glass each and were sitting quietly people watching and enjoying the sun like everyone else.

I must say though that the officer was very polite.

"The Luxembourg garden is about the last place that I can imagine wanting to have a picnic -- too crowded and too snooty. First of all, you are unlikely to see anybody else having a picnic there (too much forbidden grass!)."

This is not good news, in June we will be staying in an apartment across the road from the Luxembourg garden and we had planned on having several picnic dinners

Glad to have the tip about being discreet with our wine!

Of course, one's concept of a picnic makes a lot of difference. Some people are happy just to eat outside sitting on a bench, while others enjoy the 'real deal' with a sheet or blanket spread out on the ground and paper plates with real food, along with the digestive siesta flat on your back after eating. Bench sitters can be happy in the center of the city with no problem. My recommendations are more for the second group.

Once we were eating our lunch on a bench in a small park in the Marais - children's park with play equipment - when my sister tore off some bread to feed the birds (not even sure if they were pigeons). A lady police officer very sternly told her there was no feeding the birds.

kaz11, I think being discreet is probably the key - keep the bottle hidden and pour into a cup that isn't clear.

I myself don't find the tip of the Ile de la Cite very good for a relaxing picnic, as it is often extremely crowded with people. It's a very small area, and there are often tons of people there sitting on top of each other, loud, etc. Now maybe it will be different when you are there, but there are not large expanses of public grass, and it is very crowded due to its location (and tons of tourists stumble across it also, of course).

You can have a real picnic in the Square des Batignolles park, which is very lovely, I think. That's out in the 17th. At least, I seem to remember some folks on the grass picnicking there -- if they were on benches, its a real nice park anyway, and has a lot more interest than some of them which are just flat with formal gardens (it has a lake and a little waterfall). I think Parc Monceau is nice, also.

Oh, I forget about Parc Monceau! I didn't see it until my 3rd trip to Paris and it immediately became my favorite park. The surrounding neighborhoods are lovely, too.

Parc Monceau is good only for "bench picnics" -- too many forbidden lawns.

It is actually the park I hate the most, and I rarely set foot there.

Sorry, Kerouac, but I think you're wrong about Parc Monceau. I walked there this afternoon, and there were many, many people having "lawn" picnics (blankets, and the whole works). Of course, I didn't ask what they were drinking, but the only police enforcement I saw was to prevent scooters and bicycles from entering the park - a plus, in my opinion. The park is quite large (as neighborhood parks go), and beautiful, with flowering trees everywhere, providing ample areas of shade, and dotted with faux Greek ruins.

On the way there, we stopped at a little gem of a park, called the Park of Louis XVI, I think. This is a small neighborhood park on Boulevard Hausmann, and includes the Chapelle Expiatoire, where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were buried for 20 years before Louis XVIII moved their bodies to St. Denis. It has wonderful shade trees and open areas, but it's very small (you either have to be looking for it, or stumble upon it accidentally, as we did). It's ideal for "bench" picnics, and many local office workers were apparently enjoying their lunch there.

Les, if they have finally liberated some of the lawns of the Parc Monceau, that's great news. The city of Paris has been trying for years to allow the Parisians (and others) on the grass, but the city hall of each arrondissement has its say in the matter, and the mayor of the 8th arrondissement refused to let people on the grass for years, holding the traditionalist view that nature is to be looked at but not touched.

My other problem with Parc Monceau is that it is the rallying point for all of the prams in the neighborhood, not a bad thing in itself, but I find it exceedingly dismal that 80% of the children there are brought by their nannies and not by their parents. Of course, it is probably better for the children, because the Filipina and African nannies have a healthier attitude concerning child's play than the people who buy them those Baby Dior or YSL Enfants outfits -- just witness the shrieking by the botoxed grandmothers on replacement duty if a toddler bends down to pick up a dirty leaf.

I am currently living in Paris and have had several picnics (some random and some planned). So far my favorite spot to picnic (and others may not agree) was at Trocadero. We went down to the second level by the fountains and sat with our feet in the water while staring at the Eiffel Tower. There were not a lot of people by these fountains so we were not bothered. However, we weren't on the grass, which is what you may be looking for, but it is good to avoid ants and itchy green blades of grass! Plus the view is amazing.

Pick up the book Quiet Corners of Paris. There are a lot of of places to have a quiet picnic. Frequently when in the 1st on a crowded day, we escape into the garden in Palais Royal at the far end close to Vefour.

Hi Jenn

2 spots not yet mentioned are the Arenes de Lutece, an ancient Roman Arena kind of near rue Mouffetard, and Cemetiere Pere Lachaise. Both of these would be of the (dreaded by Kerouac) bench variety, but I and my back prefer sitting up anyway.

I also cast a vote for the (dreaded by Kerouac) Luxembourg Gardens, for some of the best people watching anywhere.

And as for wine, we've had and seen dozens of picnics with wine, and never saw a problem, but we've always been very discreet, with a bag over the wine even when pouring, and colored plastic cups for the wine.

A picnic in Père Lachaise? "That is not done" (ça ne se fait pas), as the French say.

All I can tell you is the last time we had a bench picnic in Pere Lechaise (and it wasn't the first time), the cemetary workers who drove by in their scooter did yell at us, but it was "Bon appetit!", not "ça ne se fait pas."

The cemeteries do not allow picnics, according to the brochures offered by the City of Paris:

http://www.paris.fr/portail/english/Portal.lut?page_id=8222

"..Picnic, introduction and consumption of alcohol are forbidden..."
http://www.paris.fr/portail/viewmultimediadocument?multimediadocument-id=30542

I love the idea of sitting down on the embankment and having a picnic on a spread out cloth (I guess I'll just buy something in Paris - the room in my carry-on will be precious).

Are there spots by the river that are best for picnicing?

For sitting on the ground or grass, I pack a cheap $1.00 plastic tablecloth from the 'Dollar Store'.

bookmarking

French hypermarkets certainly sell disposable tablecloths, and I'm pretty sure that the larger supermarkets inside the city would have them as well.

A lovely area not mentioned yet is the garden of the Rodin Museum. We've had several lovely brunch & lunch picnics in the grassy area by the cafeteria. Have picked up fresh bread a block or two away & a grocery store is on the street leading to the entrance. Don't know about wine/beer since we just had bottled water w/our picnic but we've had wine at the cafeteria.

They've an exhibition of Camille Claudel through June.