Tulieries Garden

It is just a lovely place to be. There is the big carousel near Place Concorde. Mostly, it is my favorite people watching place. You can sit by the fountain, or in a cafe, or on a bench and watch old and young, tourists and French, stroll the gardens.

Great, my 12 year old might want to do the carousel!

On Sundays - you can often find families sailing toy sailboats at the fountains. Sometimes there is a sailboat vendor too.

Stop by a boulangerie and bring sandwiches and sit. Or - you can have a coffee at the small cafes in the garden.

I understand that the Tuilleries has an extensive and creative children's play area, including a giant trampoline and amusement park rides in the summer. Not sure if the rides will accomodate a 12 year old, but the trampoline might be of some interest!

I'm not sure...but are we confusing le Jardin du Luxembourg with Jardin des Tuileries ? I haven't been to either recently, but i thought Luxembourg was the one with the sailboat pond and the caged in kids' play area. For sure Tuileries is the one near Place de la Concorde and ther are fountains in the middle of the traffic, with views of up the street and Tour Eiffel.

There is a sailboat pond in the middle of the Tuileries, and at the end there is a large ferris wheel, right near the Place de Concorde, and also near the Orangerie museum. There is also at least one cafe there. I agree, it is a lovely place to stroll, sit and relax and people watch.

I think the Luxembourg Gardens are a 100 times nicer than the Tuilleries Gardens. Much, much prettier and lots more to do. The Luxembourg Gardens is the one with the absolutely wonderful children's playground, it also has puppet shows, a carousel, donkey rides, 2 cafe's, and a sailboat pool like the Tuilleries. They also have petancque (bocce balls) which is very fun to sit and watch while eating ice cream :) They also have tennis courts, basketball courts, Parisian men playing cards and chess. The Luxembourg Gardens are much more lush and green with far prettier flower beds.

regina, I agree we are confusing the parks. Tuilleries does have the Ferris Wheel, but not set aside play area which Luxembourg does. Last year Tuilleries had ponies, but they looked only suitable for the very young. . I think Luxembourg gardens are much much nicer also.

ride the ferris wheel. Great views of the city!

Thanks all! We are planning to go to the Luxembourg Garden as well. It sounds like the Tuliuries also has some things to offer. Has anyone ever seen a map of Tuliuries (like the RSs one of Luxembourg)?

There was no Ferris wheel in the Tuileries in May last year. I think its a summer thing. The playground is good for smaller children. The carousel is really just another carousel - they are all over Paris. Not to dis the Tulieries - it's a very nice park. It's just not terribly special.

Eli- Blvd. Montparnasse runs just south of Jardin du Luxembourg.

Nancy, thanks. I didn't have Rick's book in 2006 and had not planned a trip to Paris, so we spent five days stumbling around and I guess we had a surprise visit to the lovely gardens. I always wondered what it was called, LOL

For example, there was another "park" somewhere near to the Eiffel tower and we found some shade and hung out there with locals and visitors. Have no idea what it was called. Clueless travel that was, but fun nevertheless.

FYI - I was in Paris this past January and the ferris wheel was up and operating.

http://troi.cc.rochester.edu/~tdip/tomsguidetoparis.htm

Hi Nancy,
... copy and paste the above link into your Internet address box. Then click on "Tourist Things to Do" where you'll find Tulieries Garden info plus lots more. And if you still have questions, just click on "Contact Me" and email your remaining question(s) to Tom...
... bon voyage! P

What is the name of the gardens in Montparnasse? We visited one out there, but I might have mistakenly thought it was the Luxembourg gardens.