My favourite places to relax in Paris

In a big city like Paris, sometimes everything is just too much. It is teeming with people, everyone bumps into you, the metro is completely overcrowded… At some point, everything is just unbearable and you just want to get out. And that is where you can go to one of the places that I will suggest to you now. There are some nice parks, which are easy and fast to reach.

From my apartment, it is easy to get to the Bois de Boulogne by foot, which takes about half an hour. This park is situated outside of the périphérique, the big circle road around Paris, but is therefore very large. I think, it might even be the biggest park in and around Paris, apart from maybe the Bois de Vincennes, which is located on the other side of Paris outside the périphérique. In the Bois de Boulogne, you will find a small lake with two small islands and you will hear the soft twittering of the birds – absolutely perfect for relaxing. Many ducks are swimming in the lakes, many joggers use this park for training and a lot of people walk their dogs in this region. All this makes it a very idyllic place, even the few streets that cross the park cannot destroy this perfect picture. On one of the islands is a restaurant, which you can reach by a small paddle boat. If I really want to get out of all the hectic and just relax in the sun, this is my first choice.

Another possibility is the Champ-de-Mars, the small park in front of the Eiffel tower. It is not the quietest place, but you have a great view of the Eiffel tower, which always creates a special atmosphere. When the weather is good, many people meet here, either on the benches on the sides or on the grass. They eat ice cream, make picnics, drink alcohol or just chat. It is a common place for young people to meet before going out. Only the tourists, who ask you to take pictures of them, and the street vendors, who sell mini Eiffel towers, selfie-sticks or alcohol, are a bit annoying. But with a little bit of exercise, you will learn how to cope with them. Same things are true for Trocadéro place on the other side of the Seine. I love sitting at the fountain and just looking at the Eiffel tower. One day, I sat there by myself, all day long and just enjoyed the view. And no, that was not at the beginning of my Erasmus semester, when everything was still new. It was in the end when I was reflecting on my awesome time that I had spent there.

If I need a timeout after university, which is the Sorbonne-Nouvelle in the 13tharrondissement, I can easily reach the Jardin des Plantes. Of course, in summer it is at its best with all the flowering trees and flowers, but also during the rest of the year, you can find interesting plants, some distraction and a pleasant quietness. The flowerbeds actually vary during the seasons, as they planted flowers for different seasons. When I arrived, the sunflowers were at full flower, later I could find all different kinds of pumpkins in the gardens. For animal lovers, there is also a zoo, but it costs extra entry and also some other small museums.

Also not too far away, is the Jardin du Louxembourg, which was constructed in a simple way, but with the impressive buildings in the garden also makes a good impression. Here are more trees than flowers and more stone paths than grass, but in the middle, is a beautiful big fountain. Lots of chairs around it invite to sit and relax. I often forget the time, while sitting there and watching other people or animals or just closing my eyes and feel the sun on my face.

In front of the Louvre is the Jardin des Tuileries, also a big park. It also has a big fountain and many chairs and some smaller ponds, which are constructed to look natural and even are home to some ducks and other animals. Sometimes, you will also find some temporary art exhibitions in this park with artworks that I would not describe as art, but however, you like to call it. Many Cafés and Crepe selling stands care about all your wishes and offer nice seating. Depending on your place, you will either have a good view of the Seine or the Louvre. And who is not satisfied by the artworks in the garden, can go to the Orangerie and look at the paintings of Monet. Same as for the other places: it’s only relaxing to that degree, where you don’t care about tourists and street vendors.

The Palais Royal offers only a small green park with a fountain, some artworks and a playground for children. The atmosphere is, of course, more royal because you are in the courtyard of the Palais Royal and the building has really noble looks. This would be my personal favourite. Here, you will not find many people, nor noise or wind, because the building forms kind of a protection. I always wonder, how it would be like to live in one of these apartments with this nice view. I really enjoy sitting here on one of the benches next to the fountain.

Close to the place de la Bastille, you will find the Place des Vosges, a small square park. Once again, it has a fountain in the middle and some trees. Around the park, are still the same old houses from early times. For example, the famous writer and poet Victor Huge lived here. He is especially known for his “Les misérables”, which has become even more famous after the shooting of a film. You can even visit his house if you are interested. It depicts his life and writing success. It is a very calm place, but in my opinion too square and too symmetric. I prefer the more natural places.

A bigger park than the last-named ones is the park of the Cité Universitaire. It is a lot greener, a lot more trees, which give shadow, and big grassy fields, which invite to sit down or play. Sadly, this is forbidden in autumn to not destroy the grass. This means that regularly someone will come and send you away and then half an hour later from the new place that you chose, this is the reason for quite some movements in the park, as no one is interested in this rule. There is also a pond and, of course as we are the city of artists, some art pieces. Even though the RER crosses the park, going for long walks is not hard, as there are two underpasses and a bridge give enough possibilities.

The other possibility to find nice and quiet places in Paris are the cemeteries. I already wrote about the Père Lachaise. I like being there and also at the cemetery in Montmartre as there are almost no people. These places are not so touristic, even though there are also some things to visit, what only a few people know: the graves of Édith Piaf, Oscar Wilde, James Morrison, Molière, La Fontaine, Hahnemann and Victor Noir at Père Lachaise and the grave of Heinrich Heine at Montmartre. Personally, I like the cemeteries very much because of the nice graves, sometimes almost seeming to be palaces, what you don’t find in Germany any more. Some people, for example, my parents, think it’s weird when I say “I like it here. I would like to be sitting here with a book and read”. But it’s true, the atmosphere is relaxing when the sun is shining, the light is especially nice and everything seems to be so quiet and far away.

Another place that I really like, is the small, oriental garden next to the Great Mosque of Paris. There they serve tea and traditional Arabic sweets, which are very sweet. The sparrows are very courageous and come very close to get also a part of it. The Petit Palais also has a small garden with a pond and a cute, little café. You just have to look around Paris and don’t only go to the well known and touristic places. Go and discover the real Paris and try to find treasures like these. You will find enough places for a short getaway, a distraction, a hideaway to read a book or just relax.

For all the places, I recommend sunshine. I, personally, only go out when the sun is shining, the sun literally lures me out of my apartment.

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