Founded in 1626 as a garden for growing medicinal plants for the king, the Jardin des Plantes expanded over four centuries into a sprawling complex housing France's natural history museum, a small historic zoo, tropical greenhouses, and some of the oldest botanical collections in Europe. It's quieter and less visited than Paris's more famous gardens, which is exactly its appeal.
- The Grande Galerie de l'Évolution, inside the natural history museum, marches a herd of taxidermied animals down its central hall — a genuinely striking sight
- The Ménagerie, France's second-oldest zoo, is small enough to see in an hour or two, without the scale of a modern safari park
- The greenhouses (Serres) hold desert and tropical plant collections inside restored 19th-century ironwork structures
- Hours
- Garden 7:30–20:00 (varies by season), Ménagerie and museum have separate hours and tickets
- Price
- Garden free; Ménagerie around €13, Grande Galerie around €12
- Tip
- Combine the free garden with just one paid attraction rather than trying to see everything — the complex is larger than it looks on a map.
Nearby
- G Grande Galerie de l'Évolution · museum
- M Ménagerie · zoo
- L Latin Quarter · neighborhood