This site was a gypsum quarry and municipal dumping ground until Napoleon III had it transformed for the 1867 World's Fair — engineers built a cliff-top temple, an artificial lake, and a suspension bridge over what had been an open pit mine. The result is the hilliest, most theatrically landscaped park in Paris, and one that draws far more locals than tourists.
- The Temple de la Sybille sits atop a 30-meter cliff in the middle of the lake, reachable by a footbridge and a suspension bridge
- Locals picnic and jog here constantly; on a sunny weekend it can feel more like a neighborhood park than a tourist site
- The steep, winding paths and grottoes make it genuinely different from Paris's flatter, more formal gardens
- Hours
- 7:00–20:00 (later in summer)
- Price
- Free entry
- Tip
- Climb to the temple for one of the best (and least crowded) viewpoints over Paris's rooftops.
Nearby
- B Belleville · neighborhood
- C Canal Saint-Martin · neighborhood
- P Place de la République · square