Jardin des Tuileries

Green metal chairs give the Tuileries a particularly Parisian scale. They sit beside basins and along gravel paths within a landscape designed around much larger lines: the long axis towards Place de la Concorde, avenues of clipped trees and the palace frontage to the east. The garden works both as a formal composition and as a public park where people read, meet and pause between parts of the city.

Water, sculpture and the garden’s long views

Its name comes from the tile works that preceded Catherine de’ Medici’s palace and garden in the sixteenth century. André Le Nôtre reshaped the grounds in the seventeenth century. The Tuileries Palace has gone, but the landscape’s relationship with the Louvre still shapes the approach. Walking from the Cour du Carrousel into the garden makes that transition especially clear.

Sculpture interrupts the long views. The collection includes works associated with Maillol and Rodin, alongside other periods and materials. These are outdoor works encountered within a planted setting, rather than an enclosed sculpture museum. A short route can follow a few pieces; a longer circuit takes in the basins, terraces and shaded avenues that give them different backgrounds.

From the Louvre to the Orangerie

The western end offers two distinct indoor possibilities. Musée de l’Orangerie is known for Monet’s enveloping Water Lilies rooms; the Jeu de Paume has its own exhibition programme. Each is a separate visit with its own entrance and opening arrangements. The garden itself remains worthwhile without either admission.

The surrounding edges change the walk. Rue de Rivoli brings arcades and the Angelina tea room, while the southern terrace opens towards the Seine. Returning through a tree-lined path gives a different experience from following the central axis, with the palace, water and city streets remaining close by.