Walking in the Buttes-Chaumont

Enjoy freshly baked bread, and clamber up and down fake mountains in Paris’s most dramatic park.

Enter the park at the corner of rue de Crimée and rue Manin. But before entering, follow the smell of baking bread a few doors downhill to La Boulangerie par Véronique Mauclerc (1, 83 rue de Crimée). This lovely old bakery is one of the last places in Paris where bread is baked in a wood-fired oven, which is visible in back. Buy bread, croissants, and pains au chocolat to eat in the park. Or do as Parisians do and eat lunch at one of the local cafés. A good bit farther up rue Manin is La Kaskad (2, 2 place Armand Carrel), a relaxed but stylish place with good bistro fare and a friendly staff. After fueling up, cross the street into the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont with its unexpected hills, artificial waterfalls, and a dramatic rocky mountain rising up in the middle of a lake created from old stone quarries. Children enjoy climbing up to the classical gazebo, known  as the Temple de Sibylle (3), at the mountain’s top, reached by the wooden suspension bridge. Go down the other side via the tall Pont des Suicides and stroll across the lawns toward the lake. This is the entertainment side of the park with a playground (4), pony rides, iron swingboats (5) and a café. Also nearby is the Théatre Guignol Anatole (6), an old-fashioned outdoor puppet theater that puts on shows in fine weather during summer.

Metro Station : Danube (Line 7B), Botzaris (Line 7B), Buttes-Chaumont (Line 7B)