Country:
City:
The walk begins at the Créteil Soleil shopping centre.
(S/E) Take exit 25 on the right-hand side of the Carrefour, and head towards Créteil Town Hall, one of Pierre Dufau’s works and an iconic example of the town’s urban design from the 1960s and 1970s.
(1) Cross Place Salvador Allende, recognisable by its wave-shaped paving slabs, designed by Maurizio Vitale. At the end of the esplanade, the Maison des Arts et de la Culture (MAC) cultural centre offers a programme of contemporary performances. On your right, go down the steps running alongside the town hall to reach Lac de Créteil. At the lake’s shore, enjoy the panoramic view of this vast, wooded leisure area covering around 60 hectares. From this vantage point, you can see the Choux de Créteil in the distance, a symbolic architectural complex of Nouveau Créteil, with its distinctive balconies. Continue to your right along the Quai de la Croisette for 200 metres.
(2) As you pass, admire a street art mural by Henry Hang on one of the walls at the rear of the town hall, celebrating various sporting disciplines. After the metal gate, continue to your left, behind the imposing Prefecture building. The path is lined with reed beds.
(3) After 300 m, at the end of the lake, passing through a small square, continue straight on to Rue Jean Gabin, then Route de Choisy. Turn right onto this busy road and follow it for about 700 m.
(4) After passing the Marcel Dadi Conservatoire, cross the busy junction and continue straight on along Rue des Mèches.
(5) After 200 m, stop off at Parc Dupeyroux, an English-style garden covering around 3.5 hectares, where you can admire an Italian-style villa, amongst other things. Take the second left onto Rue du Château, then the first right into Villa du Petit Parc. 100 metres on your right, nestled amongst the buildings, stands the Colombier de Créteil, a listed historic monument built at the end of the 14th century.
(6) Continue to the end of the street then turn right into Rue de Paris. Walk to the main crossroads to admirethe Church of Saint-Christophe de Créteil and its 11th-century fortified bell tower.
(7) Cross the pedestrian crossing to the right of the building to reach the pedestrianised shopping street (Rue du Général Leclerc), situated in the heart of old Créteil.
(8) After the charming Place Henri Dunant, dominated by the former town hall, the Maison du Combattant, turn left onto Avenue de la République.
(9) At the end of the avenue, take the small staircase on your right to reach Square Julien and its bandstand, and enjoy the view of the Marne, glimpsed through the foliage of the surrounding trees. Further down, continue to your right along the old towpath: the Chemin du Bras du Chapitre. Running alongside a narrow branch of the Marne on one side, and on the other, charming old-world houses nestled against the hillside, set off to explore the islands of Créteil. Interlaced by numerous channels and linked by small bridges and various footbridges with pleasant, evocative names such as Les Coucous, the islands of Brise-Pain, La Guyère and Sainte-Catherine are all inhabited. Beautiful properties and architect-designed houses are hidden behind the lush vegetation of the tree-lined gardens. The shaded river is lined with numerous wooden jetties where you can take a break on the banks. The small park on Île des Ravageurs, complete with a playground and picnic tables, is just as inviting.
(10) At the end of Chemin du Bras du Chapitre, 700 m away, near the water sports centre, US Créteil Canoe-Kayak offers paddleboarding or canoe trips around the islands. Continue along the footpath running alongside the river for 400 m to reach the port of Bonneuil-sur-Marne, the second-largest river port in Île-de-France. It is a striking industrial setting, where the ever-present water is flanked by a mix of warehouses and commercial premises, in a variety of colourful shapes. Walk along the Quai du Rancy for 1 km, watching the ballet of the barges.
(11) Then turn right onto Route de l’Ouest to reach Crazy Park, at 5 Route de l’Ouest: a multi-activity leisure park (freefall simulator, Formula 1 simulator, ski simulator, indoor football, synthetic ice rink, shooting range, virtual reality, etc.
(12) Opposite the leisure park, at the bend in Route de l’Ouest, enter Parc du Rancy via the steps on your left. Walk straight on for 100 m up the series of steps to come out onto Avenue de Paris. Cross at the pedestrian crossing on your left, continue left along the pavement on the opposite side, and turn right onto Rue du Regard.
(13) At No. 41, on your left, take the few steps and walk up the alley leading to Rue Pasteur. Continue straight ahead through the small tree-lined square and the pedestrian path of the Passage des Coudriers, then at the small car park, turn right onto Avenue Georges Duhamel. Turn left onto the aptly named Allée du Commerce and, at the very end, you’ll come out onto Place de l’Abbaye, flanked on the left by the modern building of the Nelson Mandela Abbey Media Library.
(14) Cross the esplanade, skirting the water features with fountains, and continue straight on along Rue René Arcos; at the very end, continue along Avenue des Compagnons de la Libération. Go up the steps after the roundabout to reach Place Salvador Allende.
(1) Head towards the Créteil Soleil shopping centre on the right (S/E).
Local authority
Moderate 
Visorando Member
Difficult 
