Founded in 1626 as a medicinal herb garden for Louis XIII, Paris’ 24-hectare botanic gardens are an idyllic spot to stroll or visit its museums or zoo.
Visually defined by the double alley of plane trees that run the length of the park, these sprawling gardens allow you to escape the city concrete for a spell.
Highlights here include peony and rose gardens, an alpine garden, and the gardens of the École de Botanique, used by students of the school and green-fingered Parisians. The gorgeous glass-and-metal Grandes Serres (Website: www.jardindesplantes.net; Address: Jardin des Plantes; Ticket Price: adult/child €7/5; Operation Hours: 10am-6pm April - September, to 5pm October - March; Metro: Jussieu) – a series of four greenhouses – have been in use since 1714, and several of Henri Rousseau’s jungle paintings, sometimes on display in the Musée d’Orsay, were inspired by his frequent visits here.
Museums & Zoo
Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Website: www.mnhn.fr; Address: place Valhubert & 36 rue Geoffroy-St-Hilaire, 5e; Metro: Gare d’Austerlitz, Censier Daubenton, Jussieu)
Despite the name, the National Museum of Natural History is not a single building, but a collection of sites throughout France. Its historic home is in the Jardin des Plantes, and it’s here you’ll find the greatest number of branches: taxidermied animals in the excellent Grande Galerie de l’Évolution (Website: www.grandegaleriedelevolution.fr; Address: 36 rue Geoffroy-St-Hilaire, 5e; Ticket Price: adult/child €9/free, with Galeries des Enfants €11/9; Operation Hours: 10am-6pm Wed-Mon; Metro: Censier Daubenton); fossils and dinosaur skeletons in the Galeries d’Anatomie Comparée et de Paléontologie (Website: www.mnhn.fr; Address: 2 rue Buffon, 5e; Ticket Price: adult/child €7/free; Operation Hours: 10am-6pm Wednesday - Monday April - September, to 5pm Wednesday - Monday October - March; Metro: Gare d’Austerlitz); and meteorites and crystals in the Galerie de Minéralogie et de Géologie (Website: www.galeriedemineralogieetgeologie.fr; Address: 36 rue Geoffroy-St-Hilaire, 5e; Ticket Price: adult/child €7/5; Operation Hours: 10am-6pm Wednesday - Monday April - September, to 5pm Wednesday - Monday October - March; Metro: Censier Daubenton).
Created in 1793, the National Museum of Natural History became a site of significant scientific research in the 19th century. Of the three museums here, the four-floor Grande Galerie de l’Évolution is a particular winner if you’re travelling with kids: life-sized elephants, tigers and rhinos play safari, and imaginative exhibits on evolution, extinction and global warming fill 6000 sq metres. The temporary exhibits are generally excellent. Within this building is a separate attraction, the Galerie des Enfants (Website: www.galeriedesenfants.fr; Address: 36 rue Geoffroy-St-Hilaire, 5e; Ticket Price: adult/child €11/9; Operation Hours: 10am-6pm Wednesday - Monday; Metro: Censier Daubenton) – a hands-on science museum tailored to children from ages six to 12.
(Website: www.zoodujardindesplantes.fr; Address: 57 rue Cuvier, 5e; Ticket Price: adult/child €13/10; Operation Hours: 9am-6pm Monday - Saturday, to 6.30pm Sunday March - October, to 5pm or 5.30pm November -February; Metro: Gare d’Austerlitz)
Like the Jardin des Plantes in which it’s located, this 170-species zoo is more than a tourist attraction, also doubling as a research centre for the reproduction of rare and endangered species. During the Prussian siege of 1870, the animals of the day were themselves endangered, when almost all were eaten by starving Parisians.
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