Tuileries Garden

The Tuileries is the first royal garden in Europe that let the public in, and it has outlived the palace it was built for. Catherine de' Medici created it in 1564. André Le Nôtre redesigned it between 1664 and 1672 into the formal French garden it still is, and it opened to the public in 1667. The Tuileries Palace at its eastern end was burned deliberately during the Commune in 1870 and demolished in 1883, which is why the Louvre now has an open western end and the garden runs straight into it. Open daily with seasonal gates, generally 07:30-19:30 winter, to 21:00 spring/autumn and 23:00 summer. Step-free entrances or public approaches, lifts where required, and accessible toilets serve principal visitor areas. Garden access is free; fairground rides and events charge separately. Metro Concorde or Tuileries; Louvre-Rivoli serves the east end. Worship, events, maintenance, weather and security can change ordinary access. Special tours, exhibitions and upgrades use separate tickets.

Two museums, a Napoleonic arch, and the statues André Malraux swapped. The Musée de l'Orangerie, built as a greenhouse in 1852 and converted into a gallery in 1927, holds Monet's Water Lilies in the oval rooms designed for them. The Jeu de Paume, a real-tennis court of 1861, is now a contemporary photography gallery. Both are at the Concorde end. The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, built by Napoleon in 1809, stands at the Louvre end. Garden access is free; fairground rides and events charge separately. Metro Concorde or Tuileries; Louvre-Rivoli serves the east end.

Forty minutes to walk it, half a day if you take the two museums. The Grande Allée is 350 m and the garden 25.5 hectares, but the shape is simple and there is no risk of getting lost. The Orangerie is ninety minutes and is the better of the two galleries — the Water Lilies rooms were built to Monet's specification and are one of the few places where a painting and its room were designed together. Step-free entrances or public approaches, lifts where required, and accessible toilets serve principal visitor areas.

Open daily with seasonal gates, generally 07:30-19:30 winter, to 21:00 spring/autumn and 23:00 summer. Metro Concorde or Tuileries; Louvre-Rivoli serves the east end. Step-free entrances or public approaches, lifts where required, and accessible toilets serve principal visitor areas. Garden access is free; fairground rides and events charge separately.

Garden access is free; fairground rides and events charge separately. Open daily with seasonal gates, generally 07:30-19:30 winter, to 21:00 spring/autumn and 23:00 summer. Step-free entrances or public approaches, lifts where required, and accessible toilets serve principal visitor areas. Metro Concorde or Tuileries; Louvre-Rivoli serves the east end.

Metro Concorde or Tuileries; Louvre-Rivoli serves the east end. Step-free entrances or public approaches, lifts where required, and accessible toilets serve principal visitor areas. Open daily with seasonal gates, generally 07:30-19:30 winter, to 21:00 spring/autumn and 23:00 summer. Garden access is free; fairground rides and events charge separately.

Step-free entrances or public approaches, lifts where required, and accessible toilets serve principal visitor areas. Open daily with seasonal gates, generally 07:30-19:30 winter, to 21:00 spring/autumn and 23:00 summer. Garden access is free; fairground rides and events charge separately. Historic surfaces, crowds and security remain relevant.

The axis is the photograph: standing on the Grande Allée with the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel behind and the obelisk ahead, at either end of the day when the sun is on the line. The octagonal basin, 60 m across, reflects the sky and the Concorde obelisk beyond it; the reflection is the frame, not the water. The Maillol bronzes are the best-lit sculpture in central Paris — they stand in the open on gravel with nothing behind them — and reward a longer lens. Garden access is free; fairground rides and events charge separately.