Jardin des Tuileries

Jardin des Tuileries Review

The quintessential French garden, with its verdant lawns, manicured rows of trees, and gravel paths, was designed by André Le Nôtre for Louis XIV. After the king moved his court to Versailles, in 1682, the Tuileries became the place for stylish Parisians to stroll. (Ironically, the name derives from the decidedly unstylish factories which once occupied this area: they produced tuiles, or roof tiles, fired in kilns called tuileries.) Monet and Renoir captured the garden with paint and brush, and it's no wonder the Impressionists loved it—the gray, austere light of Paris's famously overcast days make the green trees appear even greener.

HIGHLIGHTS

The garden still serves as a setting for one of Paris's loveliest walks. Laid out before you is a vista of must-see monuments, with the Louvre at one end and the Place de la Concorde at the other. The Tour Eiffel is on the Seine side, along with the Musée d'Orsay, reachable across a footbridge in the center of the garden. A good place to begin is at the Louvre end, at the Arc du Carrousel, a stone-and-marble arch ordered by Napoléon to showcase the bronze horses he stole from St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice. The horses were eventually returned and replaced here with a statue of a quadriga, a four-horse chariot. On the Place de la Concorde end, twin buildings bookend the garden. On the Seine side, the former royal greenhouse is now the exceptional Musée de l'Orangerie, home to the largest display of Monet's lovely Water Lilies series, as well as a sizable collection of early-20th-century paintings. On the opposite end is the Musée du Jeu de Paume, which has some of the city's best temporary photography exhibits.

Garden buffs will enjoy the small bookstore at the Place de la Concorde entrance, open 10 am to 7 pm. Aside from volumes on gardening and plants (including some titles in English), it has gift items, knickknacks, and toys for the junior gardener. The Tuileries is one of the best places in Paris to take kids if they're itching to run around. There's a carrousel (€2.50), trampolines (€2) and, in summer, an amusement park. If you're hungry, look for carts serving gelato from Amorino or sandwiches from the chain bakery Paul. Also, there are four cafés with terraces in the center of the garden. The two closer to Place de la Concorde— Café Renard and Le Médicis—serve fare a bit more upscale.