Luxembourg Gardens

Marie de Medici commissioned the palace and its gardens from 1612, wanting something that recalled the Boboli gardens of her childhood in Florence, and the result is a hybrid: a formal French parterre around an octagonal basin, and a looser wooded English section, with the Medici Fountain in a shaded alley at the eastern edge. The palace now houses the French Senate. What makes the gardens work is use: children sail model boats on the basin with sticks, chess and tennis are played daily, the metal chairs can be dragged anywhere, and an orchard grows heritage apple and pear varieties in the southwest corner.

What you actually see

• The octagonal basin - model sailboats pushed with sticks by children.
• The Medici Fountain - a shaded Italianate fountain in a side alley.
• The movable chairs - green metal seats dragged wherever people want them.
• The orchard and apiary - heritage fruit varieties and beehives in the corner.

When to go

April to October, when the chestnuts are in leaf and the chairs fill; the gardens close at dusk, with the closing time shifting through the year and whistles used to clear them.

Honest expectations

Lawns are mostly off limits and sitting on the grass is not generally allowed. The gardens close at sunset, earlier than visitors expect in winter. Toilets are limited and charged.

Nearby

The Pantheon lies east; Saint-Germain is north.