Highlights Around Parc Montsouris: From Hidden Water to Secret Villages

(28 reviews)

Paris audio tour: Highlights Around Parc Montsouris: From Hidden Water to Secret Villages

This is a 2.3mi walking tour

It takes an average of 90 mins to complete.

Paris

France

$11.99

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About the Tour

Escape the crowds that linger on Paris’ large avenues to a neighborhood filled with bucolic scenes within the city.

On this walking tour, I’ll show you a side of Paris that most people don’t see. We’ll wind our way through streets adorned with art nouveau mosaics around Parc Montsouris in the 14th arrondissement, to a small plaza surrounded by palm trees. Along the way, I’ll tell you about Paris’ complex water system and let you in on where the city’s drinking water comes from. (Here’s a hint, it doesn’t come from the Seine River!)

Highlights on this tour include:

Hidden streets with small, ivy-covered houses, including the home of a ménage à trois, characteristic of the 1920s when neighbouring Montparnasse was an artistic mecca
Incredible centuries-old ruins, with queue-free access
Stories of diverse locals including a lesbian painter and socialist who joined the resistance in WWII, and a comedian who ran for President
A glimpse of the super-secure underground cathedral of water

Allow 1.5 hours for this walk. There are several stops, some with benches for you to rest on, and public restrooms along the way.

Let's enjoy this refreshing slice of Paris together!

Tour Producer

Comte de Saint-Germain

4 tours

I was born in Paris 2200 years ago, wasn't always a Count, and am now a mere immortal spirit, eager to walk the city again. Be my feet, and I'll be your ears!

You can expect some debunking of French myths, sound effects conveying the spirit of the city, and personal stories told by someone who survived through the best and worst of Paris' tumultuous history.

The streets you will walk will often be named after old, white, bourgeois men: I will gladly mention them, but will also show you that Paris became what it is thanks to people of colour, women, members of the proletariate and young people with equally important fates!

Preview Location

Location 7

Montsouris Reservoir

Make sure you face the green fence with lots of signs and cameras and stop there. To get a different view, you can also walk a bit further past the corner, towards the sign that says number 115 and stop there, but always keep the pedestrian crossings behind you.

Maybe you ... Make sure you face the green fence with lots of signs and cameras and stop there. To get a different view, you can also walk a bit further past the corner, towards the sign that says number 115 and stop there, but always keep the pedestrian crossings behind you.

Maybe you can’t see it, but you are actually facing a giant body of water. Belgrand's workers finished building this réservoir in 1873, and at that time it was the largest of its kind in the world. There’s no opening on the top, the grass slopes go all the way over the block, to prevent the water from evaporating, and protect it from pollution.

Look up at the strange glass house on the top of the building, and imagine all the pipes coming from all over the countryside to this building. The names of the sources and the year they got connected are written in mosaic on the wall facing you. Below that room is a fake stone grotto --they were big on fake grottos in the 1800s, it showed dominion over nature.

This grotto contained "troutometers". That’s right until 1996 they kept trout in aquariums, each filled with the water from a different source, and when the fish in an aquarium looked a bit sick, they concluded that water was not fit for human consumption. They are now thankfully using slightly more scientific methods.

From there the water flows down below through giant pipes, a bit like the big green one you see outside on the ground, into reservoirs taking up the entire city block. The deepest is “the cathedral of water” a beautiful forest of stone pillars, 7-meter tall stone arches and lagoon blue water. It’s so glorious, I can’t resist, just wait for a second, I’ll take a dip!

Aaah… It is so cold! 12°C is nice but cold! But nice! Well, after all this talk about water, maybe you’re a bit thirsty and frustrated you can’t get to that green fountain in front of you. Let’s walk towards one you can actually use.

OK, so put your back against the green gate in the fence at the very corner of the réservoir. To your right is a café-brasserie, a bit to the left is the tiny playground island where we came from.

We will now cross the street back towards that playground island but will turn left and away from the pirate ship slide. With the pirate ship behind you, walk towards the sound of running water, keeping the réservoir Montsouris to your left. Read More

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Major Landmarks

Le pavillon de la Porte d'Arcueil
Réservoir de Montsouris
Square Montsouris
Parc-de-Montsouris
Marie-Thérèse Auffray Garden
Floral City

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Getting There

Route Overview

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a set starting point. It’s how we give turn-by-turn directions and tell a story greater than the sum of its parts.

Start location
Rue Émile Deutsch de la Meurthe, 75014 Paris, France
Total distance

4km
Final location
5 Sq. des Mimosas, 75013 Paris, France
Distance back to start location

837.78m

Directions to Starting Point

To reach the Pavillon de la Porte d'Arcueil, your best options are to take the T3 tram, stopping at "Montsouris" or the RER B, stopping at "Cité Universitaire". If you prefer the metro, "Porte d'Orléans" on line 4 is not too far either. Walk towards 41 boulevard Jourdan and look for a low, wide building with giant metal plates on top.

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Tips

Places to stop along the way

Enjoy the eclectic architecture of Cité Universitaire Internationale before the walk. After the walk, walk back to relax in Parc Montsouris, or keep walking to explore the much more modern buildings surrounding Jardin Charles Trénet: they may even take you to the former Petite Ceinture train tracks!

Best time of day

Daytime to fully enjoy the architectural details. A nighttime walk will have more of a more film noir atmosphere and may require using your phone's flashlight for certain details. The walk does not go inside Montsouris park so you don't have to worry about its opening hours.

Precautions

Uneven ground in some small streets. From spring to autumn, you can bring an empty bottle of water, the tour includes a fountain!

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App Store Review

“Great app. walk around at your own pace, stop where you want, move on or speed up when you want. Read the script before you go or during the commentary, speed it up or replay it. Repeat the tour whenever you like.”