Country:
City:
Starting point and access: Porte Dorée.
- Metro - Line 8. Take Exit 1 to Place Édouard Renard.
- Tram - Line T3a. Take the outer side of the boulevard towards the Palais de la Porte Dorée.
- Bus - Lines 46 and 201.
For the most part, the route follows theGR®®14, theGR®®2and theGRP®® in the Bois de Vincennes. It also followsPR®® paths, but only intermittently. In the description below, only theGR®® andGRP®® markings are mentioned, as these are more than sufficient.
Red and white + red and yellow markings
(S) Walk up Place Édouard Renard towards the Palais de la Porte Dorée, keeping the pools of the Monument to the Combatants of Indochina on your left. At the end, turn right onto Avenue du Général Laperrine. At numbers 15–13, climb a flight of steps on the left and enter a wooded park. At the junction you’ll soon come to, continue straight ahead along a gravel path and cross over the Boulevard Périphérique.
Then cross a tarmac path and continue straight on to Lac Daumesnil. Walk along the left-hand side of the lake, following the Promenade Maurice Boitel. At the Pagode de Vincennes (on the right-hand side), turn left and follow a small tarmac road to a bridge.
No signposting
(1) Cross the bridge towards the Îles de Reuilly and Île de Bercy. At the end of the bridge, take the second path on the right which leads up towards a pseudo-Greek temple. Go back down the other side, turn left onto a path and ignore the steps on the right. Then begin the tour of the island by walking along the lake on your right and you will reach a second bridge.
(2) Cross the bridge on the right and step onto the Île de Bercy. Turn immediately right and walk along the lake again on your right. Pass the first path lined with plane trees on your left and take the second path on the left at the foot of a tall, solitary plane tree. Return to the lakeside and turn left, passing a playground on your left. Cross the second bridge again.
(2) Turn immediately right onto a small tarmac road. Follow this road along the lake to the first bridge, and cross it again.
Red and white + red and yellow markings
(1) As you leave the bridge, turn immediately left and walk along the lake on your left. At the end of the lake, ignore the paths on the right and cross a small bridge over a river. Continue along the lake for a few dozen metres until you reach an information sign.
(3) Then turn sharply right and head up towards a clearly visible traffic light. Cross the roads in three stages at the pedestrian crossings. On the other side, zigzag left then right to join a path through the woods (large building on the left). At the corner of a fence on the left, turn right, cross a tarmac path and reach the Ruisseau de la Gravelle.
(4) Continue along the artificial stream on your right, ignoring the paths branching off to the left and the small bridges on the right. Cross three tarmac paths in this way; there is a fountain on thesecond one, and thethird is called Allée des Buttes.
(5) At the confluence with another stream coming from the left, cross the main stream via a small bridge and now follow it on your left. After a few dozen metres, cross another tarmac path and the stream at the same time. Turn sharply right and follow the Ruisseau de la Gravelle on your right again, either on a wide path where the signposting is located, or on a path closer to the stream. You will come to a roundabout.
(6) Go round the roundabout on the right and take the first road on the right, which curves in an arc. After a few metres, leave the road and take a path on the left. Walk alongside a pond and then the Ruisseau de la Gravelle on your left. Cross the stream via a bridge and then follow it on your right.
At the next junction, turn right and cross the stream again. You’ll come out onto a road; follow it for a few metres to the left. At the junction (with the Vincennes racecourse opposite on the left), cross the Route du Pesage at the pedestrian crossing.
(7) Follow the Route du Pesage to the right. Ignore the first arrow pointing left onto a gravel path. After passing a restaurant on the other side of the road, turn left onto a dirt track, climb up, leaving a small car park on your right, and you’ll reach a hill topped by a bandstand.
Red and white markings
Keep the bandstand on your left, turn sharply right at the foot of a bench, follow aGR®®2signpost and head down towards a clearly visible pedestrian crossing. At the bottom, cross the avenue at the pedestrian crossing and head down the opposite side, first via a short flight of steps then along a steep path.
(8) At the bottom, follow the Sentier Laurent Fignon to the right. After a few metres, go down the steps on the right, take the small tunnel on the left and turn left again along an avenue. Cross the avenue at the first pedestrian crossing on the right and head straight ahead onto the access ramp to the footbridge spanning the A4 motorway. On the other side of the motorway, go down the ramp to the left. Then take the footbridge over the Marne on the right.
(9) Before a short flight of steps, turn left and join the towpath. Stay on the towpath, known as the Promenade Paul Cézanne, despite a sign pointing you to go up to the right onto the quay (caution: there is no railing on the towpath).
Pass under the first two bridges of the A86 motorway and you’ll see the signposts again. Continue along the towpath, which has a railing here, and pass under the other two A86 bridges.
Continue straight ahead on the towpath, ignoring the access points to the quay on the right-hand side. When you reach a kiosk, the towpath ends: climb the stairs on the right and join the quay along Avenue Joffre. Then turn left and walk gently uphill until you reach the Pont de Maisons-Alfort.
(10) Cross the bridge over the Marne and keep to the left-hand pavement. Then enter Joinville-le-Pont and continue straight on until you reach a black building with the number 18 written in large letters (Paris Fire Brigade’s River Division). Then take a sharp left and follow the towpath (tarmac). Pass a small bridge on your right, turn left onto the tarmac and go under the Pont de Maisons-Alfort.
Continue along the tarmac towpath. Cross a channelled river running perpendicular to it and continue along Quai Schaken. At the end, turn left onto Boulevard du Général Ferrié. After passing a playground on your right, take the central tarmac path.
At the junction, use the pedestrian crossing, veer right, pass a kiosk on your right and continue along the central path lined with plane trees. At the next kiosk, turn left onto Avenue Noël. At the end, turn right until you reach the pedestrian crossing. Then cross Rue du Pont de Créteil and first turn left then right to follow Rue Leroux. Turn left to reach Saint-Maur - Créteil station (E).
To get back home:
- RER - Line A, towards Paris or Boissy-Saint-Léger.
Visorando Member
Moderate 
Local authority
