Meet the Nobel Prize winners

Take the RER B to Croix de Berny station, the starting point of the walk.

(S) Exit the station and cross Avenue du Général de Gaulle. Immediately after crossing, climb the stairs on the right. Walk along Parc de Sceaux via Avenue Le Brun. When you reach a roundabout, continue along the park, this time via Avenue Le Nôtre. You will arrive at No. 76, the home of Frédéric Joliot and Irène Curie.

(1) Continue along Avenue Le Nôtre until you reach Avenue Coysevox, then turn left to enter Parc de Sceaux. Continue along the path immediately to the right towards the orangery. Turn left to pass in front of the orangery towards the château. When you reach the top of the Grand Parterre, walk along the west façade of the château towards two staircases, about 100 metres after the château. At the top of the left staircase, just after the statue, a path leads diagonally into the trees, slightly to the left. At the end of this path, you will see the small château. Follow this path until you come to a tarmac path, then turn right. You will then arrive at the Jardin des Félibres, where statues of Provençal poets are reflected in a pond at the foot of the church. On the short side of the pond, on the park side, you can see the statue of Frédéric Mistral.

(2) Depending on the time of year, the garden is accessible either from Parc de Sceaux or from a gate next to the church. Leave the park through the Porte de l'Église gate and turn left onto Avenue du Président Roosevelt. Walk past the church of Sceaux, then in front of the old town hall. Continue straight ahead along Rue Houdan. The shops on this pedestrian street offer everything you need to prepare an excellent picnic or treat yourself to a gourmet snack.
At the end of Rue Houdan, you will come to a roundabout. Turn left onto Rue Voltaire. Turn right at the^first street, Rue Émile Morel. First, pass in front of the house of mathematician Augustin Cauchy. Immediately after, you will reach Lycée Marie Curie. At the end of the street, you will arrive at Rue Gaston Lévy. Cross it and continue straight ahead for 30 metres along Sentier de la Tour. This will take you to the Coulée Verte cycle path. Take it to the left, downhill. You will soon cross Rue des Cheneaux. Then take Rue Pierre Curie slightly to the right and, at number 10, you will reach the house where Pierre Curie lived before his marriage to Marie.

(3) Retrace your steps and continue down the Coulée Verte. As you approach the Château de Sceaux, the Coulée Verte widens. Turn right onto Avenue Jean Jaurès. Continue along this street after crossing Rue Jean Longuet. At No. 60, you will arrive in front of Sully Prudhomme's house.

(4) Continue until you reach Avenue Roger Salengro, cross it at the roundabout and continue along Avenue Jean-Jaurès. At No. 112, enter the Chatenay-Malabry Arboretum. Pass the wooden reception kiosk and take the^first path on the left to pass under the famous weeping cedar tree. Continue along the pond to reach the château. Walk past the château and continue, following the edge of the park fairly closely. This will take you to the west exit of the arboretum. Then take Avenue de Chateaubriand on the right for 50 metres, arriving at No. 108 in front of the entrance to another house occupied by Sully Prudhomme.

(5) Turn back to enter the wooded park of the Vallée aux Loups. Be careful here: take the gate on the right, as the one on the left leads to Chateaubriand's house, which is worth a visit but also adds to the length of the walk. Go up the^{first road} on the right. After a flat section and just after a wooden barrier, continue climbing on the left. Before this bend, a short detour of 200 metres there and back allows you to see an old guinguette with its typical concrete architecture imitating wood (exit and re-enter the park through the Fontaine gate). Reach the top of the park.
Leave the park via the Calvary Gate. Reach Rue de Malabry and turn right. At No. 21, just before the roundabout, you will see Luc Montagnier's house.

(6) Turn left onto Rue de l'Étang de l'Écoute-s'il-Pleut, then quickly leave it to enter Parc Henri Sellier. Walk along the wall of the esplanade, which offers an unobstructed view of the entire plain. Follow the wall to the end and then descend on the right. After a steep descent (very good tarmac path), leave the park near a crossroads. Take Avenue de Robinson towards Sceaux. You will then arrive at the RER B Robinson station. Continue for a few dozen metres on Rue Houdan, then turn left onto Avenue de la Gare. Take the^first right, Rue du Clos Saint-Marcel. Walk along the cemetery, then take Rue du Maréchal Foch. At the end of this street, turn left onto Rue de la Flèche, then take the^first right onto Rue Bertron. This part of the walk offers views of the large houses that are characteristic of Sceaux. Then take Rue de Fontenay downhill on the left and take the^first right onto Rue Jean Mascré. At number 6, you will arrive at the house where Marie lived after Pierre's death.

(7) Continue for about 100 metres until you reach Sceaux station (E).

Note: if you fancy a circular, you can walk up Avenue de Verdun, which will take you back to the Jardin de la Ménagerie, which you can cross to reach Parc de Sceaux. You will then need to cross the entire park, following the Grand Canal, to reach Croix de Berny station (S).

The Arboretum has slightly more restricted opening hours than the other parks (in particular, it opens at 9 a.m. regardless of the season).
(1) Maison Joliot Curie: built for Frédéric Joliot and Irène Joliot-Curie (daughter of Pierre and Marie), who both received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935. See also this. Page 2 of this leaflet provides some information about the house and reveals that there were a few radioactive surprises in store there.
(2) Frédéric Mistral: winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1904, whose work was mainly written in Provençal.
Between (2) and (3) House of the mathematician Cauchy, of Cauchy-Schwarz inequality fame, if that reminds you of your maths lessons. For the record, there is no Nobel Prize in Mathematics, and in any case, Augustin Cauchy lived a century too early.
Between (2) and (3) Marie Curie High School
(3) Pierre Curie's house before his marriage to Marie. They both received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903, and Marie also received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911.
(4) Sully Prudhomme, Nobel Prize in Literature 1901. This Parnassian poet was the first Nobel Prize winner in literature in history.
(6) House of Luc Montagnier, co-discoverer of the AIDS virus, whose career ended controversially.
Between (6) and (7): the cemetery where Pierre and Marie Curie were buried before their ashes were transferred to the Pantheon in 1995.
(7) Marie's house: she lived here after Pierre's death. Fans of the Curies can also visit Rue de la Glacière and Boulevard Kellerman in Paris to find plaques commemorating their stay in these neighbourhoods between their two periods of residence in Sceaux.

Sceaux Park and Castle
Church of Sceaux
Arboretum of the Vallée aux Loups
House of Chateaubriand