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Hidden Treasures of Paris: Promenade Plantée (Coulée Verte)

// December 27th, 2009 // Treasures

In the summer of 2009, shortly before I moved to Paris, New York City opened the now extremely popular “Highline” in Manhattan. The basic concept behind the Highline was to take the deteriorating and long-unused West Side Freight Railroad, which had become an eyesore to all New Yorkers, and turn it into something that could be appreciated by everyone. Needless to say, the project has turned out to be an enormous success.

Unbeknown to most New Yorkers and certainly many visitors of Paris is that the Highline has a predecessor in Paris which predated it by nearly a decade and a half—the Promenade Plantée (also known as the “Coulée Verte”). The Promenade Plantée is a 4.5 km-long (2.8 mile) park found in the 12th Arrondissement of Paris (The elevated portion of the promenade expands 1.5 km). In the early 1990’s the city of Paris transformed an abandoned 19th-century railway viaduct (which ceased operation in 1969), which originally connected the Bastille area of Paris to the eastern most suburbs of Paris, into the Promenade Plantée. As its name implies, the Promenade Plantée has an abundance of plant-life that lines its beautiful walkways. The feeling of being surrounded by so much vegetation within a major city like Paris can leave one feeling as though they are taking a walk on their own private forest trail, at times. At other points in the trail, the vegetation becomes sparse and the Promenade opens into large and expansive views of the 12th Arrondissement, giving you a beautiful view of the skyline and Paris as a whole. This was my first visit to the Coulée Verte and I can only imagine how much more beautiful it is in the Spring and Summer when all the flowers are in full bloom.

Though the Promenade Plantée was the only elevated park in the world for a long time, other cities have followed suit including the previously mentioned Highline in New York City, as well as Bloomingdale Trail in Chicago and the old Reading Viaduct elevated rail in the Callowhill section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Want to see this location on a map? Map of My Visits