After arriving in Paris and dumping our stuff at our Airbnb apartment, we were keen to get out and explore nearby. As I mentioned in the first of the Paris 24 posts, we were staying in the 17th arrondissement in the north west of the city, in the Porte de Clichy neighbourhood, not far from the Périphérique.

Wandering round Parc Clichy-Batignolles – Martin Luther King

Leaving our apartment, we found a nearby bakery to grab some lunch, then made our way across Avenue de Clichy towards Parc Clichy-Batignolles – Martin Luther King (bit of a wordy name, I’ll just call it the park). The park is relatively new, opening in stages between 2007 and 2021 and is located in the Clichy-Batignolles eco-district.

The area of the used to be a SNCF rail yard and was at one point earmarked to be the Olympic village, as part of Paris’ unsuccessful 2012 Olympic bid. Since then, it has become an eco-district, with features like:

• Energy-efficient buildings
• Renewable energy production
• Extensive planting and green spaces
• Limited access for motor vehicles
• Vacuum waste collection

Coordinated by architect and urban planner, François Grether and with landscape architecture Jacqueline Osty, the area has some pretty striking looking buildings. Many of these were designed by renowned architects such as Renzo Piano, MAD Architects and Fresh Architectures.

The park was designed to be sustainable, featuring low maintenance plants and rainwater harvesting, as well as solar panels and wind turbines to generate power. In addition to the green spaces, there’s a skatepark, basketball courts and children’s play area.

Entering the park, tables and chairs had been set out with games from a small shipping container, with a few people spending their Sunday playing games. We didn’t have time for that, as we wanted to explore, but it was a great thing to see, more parks should have things like this.

Wandering round, there’s some lovely green spaces and lots of variety, from tree-lined, shaded paths to open spaces with water features. Everything is well designed and high quality materials are used throughout. There’s little details, like the lines in the path to denote railway tracks, referencing the area’s previous life as a rail yard.

It was clear to see the park is well used, with lots of people out enjoying the sunshine, walking round and sunbathing, plus lots of kids having fun in the play areas and skatepark. It would have been nice to have spent the rest of Sunday there, but we wanted to carry on further.

Walking to Palais Garnier

Leaving the park, we continued our wander, initially through the lovely Place du Dr Félix Lobligeois, with its pleasant streets filled with trees, cafés and restaurants, with people sat outside, enjoying the afternoon.

We made our way onto Rue des Batignolles, which is now filtered for motor traffic and features a pleasant little traffic-free square, Place Richard Baret. The square is shaded with some established trees, while the asphalt has been replaced with pleasant public realm and planting.

This square used to be filled with traffic, but has been pedestrianised since 2022. A fantastic example of the great work Mayor Hidalgo is doing in Paris to remove traffic from the city’s streets.

We arrived at Boulevard des Batignolles, which for a lot of its length is a large two-lane boulevard with a central tree-lined walkway running between the lanes. Part of the walkway has been converted to a bidirectional cycle path, giving people a safe place to ride under the trees.

On the Sunday we were there, there was a flea market on the boulevard, with lots of stalls selling a variety of secondhand items. It was really pleasant wandering along the market in the middle of the boulevard. Well it was to start with, until there was an almighty downpour, when everyone ran for shelter!

Once the rain had passed, we made our way along Boulevard des Batignolles until we reached the Rome Métro station. At this point, we turned onto Rue de Rome, where you get some fantastic views of the railway tracks leading to Gare Saint-Lazare.

We continued along Rue de Rome, spotting the odd modal filter and cycle lane, as well as people getting about on a variety of bikes. This took us past some impressive buildings, such as the Printemps Haussmann department store and the Palais Garnier opera house.

We arrived at the Place de l’Opéra, where the front of the Palais Garnier is, though the front itself was covered, due to ongoing renovation work. We stopped for a break and an ice cream, enjoying a brass band playing on the steps.

It was then time to head to our next destination, the Arc de Triomphe. People weren’t in the mood for more walking as it had been quite a long day by this point, so I saw an opportunity for a short ride on an RER train, something I’d not done before.

We headed down the steps to the Opéra Métro station and then to Auber station, via an underground tunnel and tavelator. Saved a bit of walking I guess! Arriving at the station, we didn’t need to wait long for an RER A train to take us on our way.

Up the Arc de Triomphe

Before the trip to Paris, I spent many an evening watching various YouTube channels and guides on the best things to do in Paris, as well as a few things off the beaten track. In particular, the fantastic Jay Swanson and his guide Paris in My Pocket, which was really helpful, especially in finding decent coffee!

One thing that many guides said was that if you wanted to get really good views of Paris, one of the best places to go is up the Arc de Triomphe, rather than the perhaps more obvious Eiffel Tower.

Always a sucker for a good view from a tall building (see Top of Berliner Fernsehturm, Berlin’s TV Tower for example), a trip up the Arc de Triomphe seemed like a good idea for our first day. Particularly as it helps you get your bearings, when you’re somewhere unfamiliar.

I was pleased to see there’s a subway to get to the Arc de Triomphe, rather than having to cross the crazy roundabout at Place Charles de Gaulle. Once across, we queued for a little time, before making our way to the top.

The views from the top didn’t disappoint! It’s amazing what you can see from the Arc de Triomphe, from the obvious Eiffel Tower, which isn’t too far, to Montmartre on the hill and the huge business district, La Défense.

A bit closer, there’s the twelve impressive avenues that meet at the Arc de Triomphe, with the most famous being the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, which is now under development, to make it greener and more people-friendly, though at the time, looked like it was closed to filming or something.

After some time taking many photos, videos and selfies, and after a wander round the gift shop, everyone was tired and had enough for the day. So we jumped onto a Métro train back to the 17th arrondissement, to find somewhere to grab some food and drink, before retiring to our Airbnb apartment.