Budget · 3-hour walk · Paris
The Canal Saint-Martin and Belleville in three hours
The iron footbridges of the canal, a 17th-century hospital courtyard, a street-art lane and the hilltop park that looks down on all of Paris.
The Canal Saint-Martin was dug under Napoleon to bring drinking water into Paris, and its locks and arched iron footbridges are now where the east side spends its evenings. This route follows the canal north, then climbs into Belleville, where the city's immigrant neighbourhoods meet its street artists, and finishes at the top of the Parc de Belleville, one of the few places in Paris that looks down on the whole of it. Start in the afternoon and finish at sunset.
The route, stop by stop
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Canal Saint-Martin
The locks and arched iron footbridges of the canal, opened in 1825. The Hôtel du Nord on the quay is the one in the title of Marcel Carné's 1938 film.
25 min here Walk here → -
Hôpital Saint-Louis
Henri IV founded the hospital in 1607 for victims of the plague. Its courtyard of brick and pale stone, in the style of the Place des Vosges, is open to walk through.
15 min here Walk here → -
Rue Sainte-Marthe
A short street of painted shopfronts and small restaurants at the foot of Belleville, with the feel of a village.
15 min here Walk here → -
Rue Dénoyez
A short lane whose walls street artists repaint every few weeks, so no two visits look the same.
15 min here Walk here → -
Parc de Belleville
Terraced gardens down the slope of the hill, opened in 1988. The belvedere at the top looks straight across the city to the Eiffel Tower, and is at its best at sunset.
35 min here Walk here →
More walks in Paris
Pont Neuf · Sainte-Chapelle · Notre-Dame de Paris · Shakespeare and Company · Panthéon · Jardin du Luxembourg
Moulin Rouge · Le Mur des je t'aime · Le Bateau-Lavoir · Place du Tertre · Sacré-Cœur · La Maison Rose · Musée de Montmartre
Galerie Véro-Dodat · Galerie Vivienne · Passage Choiseul · Passage des Panoramas · Passage Jouffroy · Passage Verdeau
Trocadéro · Eiffel Tower · Champ de Mars · Les Invalides · Musée Rodin · Le Bon Marché · Saint-Germain-des-Prés
Louvre Museum · Jardin du Palais-Royal · Galerie Vivienne · Place Vendôme · Palais Garnier · Galeries Lafayette rooftop
Place des Vosges · Musée Carnavalet · Rue des Rosiers · Musée Picasso Paris · Père Lachaise Cemetery
Notre-Dame Cathedral · Sainte-Chapelle · Louvre Museum · Jardin des Tuileries · Musée d'Orsay · Musée Rodin · Eiffel Tower · Trocadéro · Arc de Triomphe
Palace of Versailles · Grand Canal · Petit Trianon · Queen's Hamlet · Saint-Germain-des-Prés · Pont des Arts · Seine river cruise
More in Paris
Every walking route in Paris, the full Paris guide for where to stay and what a day costs, or walks in other cities.