Favorite picnic spot in Paris
 

We'll be on a budget on our upcoming trip, so will probably have a few outdoor picnics. Where's your favorite spot for a picnic in Paris?

Vicky,
We've always thought about having a picnic, but haven't done it, probably because April can be a little cool for a picnic or very rainy. If the weather's good, though, I'd picnic in the Jardin du Luxembourg or Champ de Mars. You could go to the grocery store on the lower floor of Monoprix on the rue de Renne, which isn't far from Jardin du Luxembourg or to the rue Cler to put together a picnic to take to Champ de Mars.
Sandy

I've got a couple: the east end of the Ile de la Cité, which is basically the park around Notre Dame, and the Parc St-Cloud. But there are so many places in Paris that lend themselves to picnics - don't be picky.

If you have a warm sunny day, go farther afield for your picnic -- to parks like La Villette, Montsouris or the Buttes Chaumont. It will give you a totally different feeling from central Paris, sans tourists.

bookmarking thankyou!
Rosie:)

Right here, the Vert-Galant just off the Pont Neuf in Paris...

http://babette.smugmug.com/photos/96688865-L-1.jpg

Pjk

If by picnic you mean just having a sandwich, bread and cheese, or premade salad and a drink somewhere, you have nearly endless possibilities...most parks/gardens--Luxembourg Gardens, Parc Monceau, etc. have benches or chairs where you can plop down to eat a snack.

If you mean a full picnic, where you can spread a blanket out and eat several different things at leisure, then one of the best places is the Parc Andre-Citroen in the 15th. Unlike most other Paris parks, you are more than welcome to relax on the grass at Andre-Citroen, kick a ball around, etc. The style of the park is more modern than most of the parks/gardens in central Paris. It's less touristy than the Champ du Mars (and should some medical mishap befall you, it's right next to one of the newest hospitals in the region).

Peter..thanks for that url, that was where I had my first picnic just a couple of hours off the plane from the US...awwwww.
Now I'd follow Kerouac's advice.

I spend an afternoon there every trip with a baguette sandwich and a book. Hemingway wrote about it...

"One of the best places to eat them [goujon – a small, dace-like fish] was at an open-air restaurant built over the river at Bas Meudon where we [Ernest and Hadley Hemingway] would go when we had money for a trip away from our quarter. It was called La Peche Miraculeuse and had a splendid white wine that was a sort of Muscadet. It was a place out of a Maupassant story with the view over the river as Sisley had painted it. You did not have to go far to eat goujon. You could get a very good friture on the Ile St.-Louis.

I knew several of the men who fished the fruitful parts of the Seine between the Ile St.-Louis and the Place du Verte Galante and sometimes, if the day was bright, I would buy a liter of wine and a piece of bread and some sausage and sit in the sun and watch the fishing.

Travel writers wrote about the men fishing in the Seine as though they were crazy and never caught anything; but it was serious and productive fishing. Most of the fishermen were men who had small pensions, which they did not know then would become worthless with inflation, or keen fishermen who fished on their days or half-days off from work. There was better fishing at Charenton, where the Marne came into the Seine, and on either side of Paris, but there was very good fishing in Paris itself. I did not fish because I did not have the tackle and I preferred to save my money to fish in Spain. Then too I never knew when I would be through working, nor when I would have to be away, and I did not want to become involved in the fishing which was good at times and its slack times. But I followed it closely and it was interesting and good to know about, and it always made me happy that there were men fishing in the city itself, having sound, serious fishing and taking a few fritures home to their families."

Pjk

You can find great picnic fare at any patisserie (Baggett sandwiches are divinely simple and quiches are great too). We had a great spontaneous picnic sitting in a random park watching old Parisian men playing bocce balls.

Luxembourg Gardens is my favorite. Also a little nieghborhood park near the Sorbonne. The Tuileries.

We had a great afternoon sitting on one of the lawns in front of Hotel des Invalides. We grabed a couple Kronenburg, some snacks and had our choice of entertainment options...a boules game to one side and a rugby game to the other. Perfect!

Thanks everyone. These are great suggestions.

The best picnic spot in Paris - The Arenes de Lutece - The ruins of the Roman Amphitheatre behind Hotel Monge - 55 rue Monge. Sit with some foie gras, a piece of cheese and a bottle of wine and watch the old men play boules, the youngsters playing footsie or the lovers playing.
Second favorite spot - Les vedettes - the sight seeing boats on the Seine at dusk. Same menu.

Without a doubt for Paris itself it has to be Luxemburg. Grab a bite from Dalloyau off of St. Michel (somewhat pricey, but you are dining in a Paris park). Also, you could go to quaint Ile St. Louis to purchase great/fresh cheese, charcuterie and fois gras then go to any of the places mentioned here... I love Paris in the Springtime.

bookmarking

Luxembourg Gardens are fantastic. A previous poster mentioned buying your picnic supplies on Ile St. Louis. That's a nice idea. Then you can walk to Place des Vosges not too far away and enjoy the picnic on the grass if the weather is nice.

On a bench on the Pont des Arts! My favorite panorama in the world-- view of the Louvre, Ile de la Cite, the Institute de France, and, further down the river, the glass roof of the Grand Palais. I wish I were there now, with a baguette sandwich and a fig tart...

I had heard that picnicing on the grass in Paris parks was not allowed. Where is this acceptable and where is it not?

Not - in most of Jardin des Luxembourg (benches ok)
OK - in parts of Champ des Mars (some areas are forbidden)
OK - most or all of Esplanade des Invalides
OK - Parc Andre Citroen, per BTilke (above post)