Tell me about the Bois Boulogne, Paris
 

We love the greens paces of Paris and have yet to spend any time in the Bois. Where is the best place to enter, what is there to see & do, etc.?

The Marmottan Museum is on our "to do" list this Sept. If we went there in the morning, could we walk to the Bois for an hour or two? How about lunch?

We are staying on Ile St. Louis so we will take the Metro to the Marmottan. I've looked in the guide books, but there really isn't much said on Bois Boulgne. Is it worth a look-see?

The park is extremely large, so the best area to enter would depend on what you wanted to do when you were there. I've been there for a concert in the parc de bagatelle, but there is even a horse racing course at the other end. The rose garden park is nice, if you don't know where to go. There is even the musee national des arts et traditions populaires at the upper end of the park near Neuilly, and that is a nice little museum I enjoyed. I've been a couple times, I guess I've taken the metro to Sablons and walked from there (to the museum), and I've also take a bus from Porte Maillot when I went to the Parc de Bagatelle. It's basically a large park, though, although I don't think you find a rose garden like that in other Parisian parks. I think you can walk to part of it down near the Marmottan if you want, I am not familiar with that part of it so don't know if there's anything special to see there (there is a hippodrome) compared to the park on the other side of the Marmottan in the city. I believe you have to cross the peripherique somehow. But the things I mentioned aren't down there, there is horse racing and some lakes, although of course, there is still grass and park.

Here is a plan of Bois de Boulogne :

http://www.zoomorama.com/6b57a8843b8...8593899077a32c

It includes the Parc of Bagatelle, 2 romantic gardens (Pré Catelan, Jardin Shakespeare) a botanical garden (Jardin des serres d'Auteuil, 2 lakes, waterfalls, 2 racing tracks (Auteuil and Longchamp) and more ......

See : http://www.paris.fr/portail/Parcs/Po...t?page_id=6567

Though it is very safe during the day, avoid Bois de Boulogne at night.

There's a lovely park - Ranelagh - within steps of Musee Marmottan.

Nice place for lunch:

http://www.restovisio.com/restaurant...aris-16eme.htm

It sounds kind of complicated. I don't know if it's doable, if you know what I mean.

It's doable, just large so best to pick off just one part such as the Bagatelle, which I think is lovely. Compare it to trying to walk all of Central Park--normally you would just explore a specific area of it at a time.

I wish to stress that it is to be avoided during the night. Do not venture in there without knowing where you are heading. As all huge places many things go on in there, I have been told.

<i>avoid Bois de Boulogne at night.</i>

Well that just depends, anyone who wants to see what many consider to be the real Paris should drive past at night at least once.

It's a heck of a show.

I don't really know if it's doable, either, as I've never gone to the part down that way and I don't know how you'd cross over the peripherique. There is a road over it, of course, for traffic, but I don't know if there is a pedestrian walkway along its side. I really wouldn't bother myself, as I suspect there isn't anything great to even go to down that way, it's got a lot of racetracks, big roads, etc. whatever you'd heard about probably has nothing to do with the part down across from the Marmottan.

I took a walk in the bois after a trip to the Marmottan. I think I would just go for a drink or ice cream, rather than lunch, because there are good places to eat near the Marmottan (including a highly regarded moules & frites place, as I recall, whose name now eludes me),

You should take a look at the RER options for getting to the Marmottan from the Ile (cross the river into the 6e) or getting back from the woods to the ile. I seem to recall using the RER for the return trip from the bois -- but perhaps I'm not recalling correctly.

I've heard some bizarre stories about the Bois after dark, enough to scare me out of ever going.

After reading all of the info above, the Bagatelle sounds doable but the Ranelagh Park sounds really easy from The Marmottan, so that's probably what we will do.

I love the look of the Le Chalet des Iles restaurant so that's a possibility also.

Merci! ;;)

bookmarking

well, you walk through the Ranelagh park on the way to the Marmottan, you can't get there otherwise.