Underground & cool · Elevated walk · € · 12e · Bastille, Bercy & Aligre

Coulée verte René-Dumont

Nearly five kilometres of linear park along a railway viaduct closed in 1969 — the elevated walk that predates and prompted New York's High Line. The first stretch runs ten metres up over the brick arches of the Viaduc des Arts, whose vaults hold craft workshops.

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Getting there

• Bastille158110 m · 2 min walk
• Bréguet-Sabin5350 m · 7 min walk
• Ledru Rollin8370 m · 7 min walk

Walks that pass nearby

• Bouillons & Brasseriesstop 4 of 6 · 40 m

  Brasserie Bofinger

  5-7 Rue de la Bastille, opened 1864 — claims to be the oldest brasserie in Paris. The first Parisian establishment to serve draught beer. The stained-glass dome is 1919 and original; ask for a table directly under it.

  When booking, ask for "sous la coupole" — under the dome — that's the room you came for. The choucroute is the menu staple; the seafood plateau is also excellent and fairly priced compared to Le Dôme.

• Marais & Bastillestop 3 of 6 · 100 m

  Place de la Bastille

  The fortress was demolished in 1789; the marks on the pavement around the Colonne de Juillet trace where its walls stood. The column itself commemorates the 1830 revolution, not 1789.

  The cobble outline of the fortress walls is on the western side of the square — easy to miss in traffic. Take Rue Saint-Antoine back west; the fastest way to Hôtel de Ville is along Rue de Rivoli, on the south side of the street under the arcades.

• Markets of Parisstop 6 of 6 · 330 m

  Marché Bastille

  Boulevard Richard-Lenoir, Thursdays and Sundays only. The biggest open-air food market in Paris — over a kilometre of stalls. Locals come for fish (the Atlantic stalls are direct from the boat overnight) and for the seasonal mushrooms in autumn.

  Thursday and Sunday only, 7 am to 14:30. Walk the central row, then double back along the side rows — the cheaper stalls are the inner ones. The chicken-rotisserie stalls are the lunch move; bring cash.

• Sundays Onlystop 4 of 6 · 330 m

  Marché Bastille

  Boulevard Richard-Lenoir, Sundays only (and Thursdays). The biggest open-air food market in Paris — over a kilometre of stalls. Lunch is the move: rotisserie chicken, oysters from the Atlantic stalls (overnight from the boat), and a bottle of cidre or rosé from a wine stall.

  Closes at 14:30 sharp. Walk the central row first, then double back along the inner side rows where prices are 20% lower. The chicken-rotisserie stalls are the lunch standard; the cheese stall mid-market lets you taste before you buy.

Within a few minutes' walk

• Le BalajoHistoric dance hall€€ · 3 minA 1936 musette hall on the old accordion street, the Balajo keeps its mirrored Deco room and still opens it on Monday afternoons for a thé dansant before the week tips into salsa classes and clubbing to dawn.
• Born Bad Record ShopRecord shop€ · 5 minTrading since 1999 and the eastern anchor of Paris vinyl, near Bastille. The bins lean garage, punk, post-punk, cold wave, surf, soul and French 1960s, in rare originals and quality reissues, much of it on the shop's own label.
• MoonshinerSpeakeasy bar€€ · 6 minA working pizzeria, Da Vito, fronts the operation. The cocktail room sits behind the walk-in fridge at the back, and you get in by pulling open the fridge doors — a 1920s register of leather, low light and a record player.
• SupersonicFree live-rock club€ · 6 minA Bastille rock bar that has put on free concerts most nights since 2016, across two rooms and a mezzanine where a mock food-truck bar looks down on the stage. Three bands deep, the late set holding until six at weekends.
• Le Temps des CerisesTraditional bistro€€ · 9 minA genuinely small bistro on a quiet street near the Bastille edge of the 4th, where the weekday lunch still lands at €13 and the zinc counter predates most of the neighbourhood's boutiques. Plat-du-jour French without apology.
• Bistrot du PeintreArt Nouveau brasserie€€ · 9 minA 1902 brasserie with a listed Art Nouveau interior of curved wood and etched glass, the kind of room that justifies a plainer plate. Come for the onion soup gratinée and a tarte Tatin, and for the fact that it serves through the day when neighbours have closed.

Where to stay near Coulée verte René-Dumont

• Maison TraversièreBoutique hotel€€ · 12 minA 32-room hotel on a slip of side street off the Gare de Lyon concourse, close enough to wheel a suitcase to the platform but angled away from the noise. The rooms were redone one at a time, each different.
• SO/ ParisRooftop-view splurge hotel€€€ · 13 minA bold five-star on the Seine whose top-floor Bonnie wraps a 360° terrace around the city, with Sunday sunset DJ sets. A splurge you remember.
• Hôtel Émile Le MaraisBoutique hotel€€ · 14 minA 29-room independent off rue de Rivoli, two minutes from Place des Vosges, done in high-contrast black-and-white graphics that have aged better than most of the Marais's mid-2010s makeovers. Top-floor rooms take the rooftop view.

Landmarks nearby

• Ruins of Bastille · 130 m

More underground & cool, nearest first

• Pavillon de l'ArsenalArchitecture & urbanism centre · 4e · 650 m€