Bois de Boulogne

History and description of the Bois de Boulogne

More than 20 centuries ago, the place was a huge forest called the forest of Rouvray.
It became also a place where some monasteries was built and a former hunting ground for the kings of France.

In 1852, under the reign of Napoleon III, the place was convert to a park.
The works was done by Varé who was quickly fired and replaced by the engineer Alphand and the landscape designer Barillet-Deschamps, the Baron Haussmann led the works. The Wood became also a fashionable promenade.

Today the Bois de Boulogne is a 846 ha park (2.5 times bigger that Central Park, New York)located in the west side of Paris city.
It holds pleasant walkways, bridle paths, boating on the lake, bike trails...

In addition of several lakes, ponds and streams, the Bois de Boulogne welcomes the Parc de Bagatelle, the Jardin (garden) du Pré-Catelan, the Jardin d'acclimatation, the hippodrome de longchamp...as well as more than 400 000 trees.

Location of the Bois de Boulogne

It's located in the XVI arrondissement of Paris.

How to get to the of the Bois

To go to the Wood, you can use the Paris metro line 10 or Paris metro line 2
Line 10: Porte d’Auteuil station
Line 2: Porte Dauphine station
It's possible to go by the Paris metro line 1:
- Porte Maillot station + bus or small train
- Pont de Neuilly station + bus.

Or
the Paris rer line Porte Maillot or Avenue Foch station (rer C)

Entrance fee and opening hours

It's a free-admission Paris park and it's not closed.

The Bois de Boulogne map