Le jardin des plantes
Like London, Paris has a lot of green space with many gardens and parks. In central Paris, there are different types of gardens and most are beautifully designed with fountains, sculptures and hedges. Usually these gardens forbid visitors to sit on the lawns but recently some are providing a designated patch for people to stretch their legs or have picnics (probably not easy to do because it gets very packed when the weather is nice).
The most famous and popular garden in Paris has to be Le Jardin des Tuileries near Concorde. It is not only the oldest garden but it has the best location, so tourists can always drop by after hours of shopping or sightseeing. Not far away is the smaller but unique Le Jardin du Palais Royal, which has arcade of shops and restaurants on the sides and a modernised part with poles. (Currently there are renovations going on inside the garden)
Le jardin du Palais Royal
Another popular garden is the 17th century Le jardin du Luxemberg on the left bank. It is large and grand with a palace in the middle as well as fountain, sculptures, children's playground and tennis courts etc.
Le jardin du Luxemberg
One of my favourites is the 17th century Le jardin des plantes (Botanical garden) near Gare d'Austerlitz. It is large with several museums inside including the natural history museum, an aquarium and a zoo. There is a huge variety of plants here and even the alpine garden only has over 3000 species, it's quite amazing! In order to fully appreciate the garden, it's probably best to spend at least 3 hours because there is just so much too see here!
Le jardin des plantes
It's hard to believe that in the rather unappealing part of Montparnasse lies a rooftop garden and what's even more strange is that it is on top of Gare Montparnasse! It's almost impossible to find a sign post directing to Le jardin Atlantique inside the station, so it's probably easier to go outside and follow the sign and use the rather slow and dodgy glass elevator on the side of the station. Although I don't think this is a spectacular garden but it's worth visiting if you desperately need to find some tranquility in the middle of Montparnasse.
Le jardin Atlantique
Museum gardens
Many museums in Paris have gardens either at the entrance, at the back or sometimes in the courtyard. My favourite is the sculpture garden at the back of Musée Rodin in the 7th district. This is a beautiful garden where you can relax and enjoy Rodin's sculptures in a tranquil setting. Not so far away is another sculpture garden but much smaller in size. Musée Zadkine is a museum dedicated to the work of Russian, sculptor Ossip Zadkine and it's very close to Le Jardin du Luxemberg. Although compact it is still plesant to sit and enjoy Zakine's sculptures.
Small sculpture garden at Musée Zadkine
The pretty semi-circular courtyard garden at Petit palais is a great place to admire the splendid architecture.
Musée Galliera (or Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris) near the Trocadero has by a large 19th century style garden that is esp. plesant in the summer.
Musée Galliera
The modern garden at Musée du quai Branly is designed by Gilles Clément but the most unique part is the 'living wall', a 200 metre vertical garden outside of the building designed by Patrick Blanc , who also designed the vertical garden inside Perhsing Hall Hotel near George V and a tree wall between 1991-1994 at the Fondation Cartier in the 14th district.
Musée du quai Branly
Like Musée du quai Branly, Fondation Cartier is another Jean Nouvel design with a garden named 'Theatrum Botanicum' created by German artisit, Lothar Baumgarten. The trees and plants are planted behind the glass walls so passerbys can enjoy the landscape from the streets. There is also an area at the back for visitors to sit, relax and watch the outdoor glass lifts going up and down...
Fondation Cartier
The 17th century manion, Musée Carnavalet in Marais has a formal and well-groomed French garden which is not too dissimilar to another nearby 17th century mansion, Hotel de Sully.
Hotel de Sully
In the same area, another lovely 17th century private mansion, Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature also has a small French garden which looks charming but I am not sure if it is open to the public?!
Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature
Others:
I love the wonderful Moorish courtyard garden at La Grande Mosquée de Paris because it makes you feel like you are in Morocco rather than in the middle of Paris!
Moorish garden at La Grande Mosquée de Paris
Vertical garden
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