From Parc de Saint-Cloud to Bois de Boulogne

Starting point and access: Rhin et Danube roundabout.
- Metro - Line 10, Boulogne-Pont de Saint-Cloud station (terminus). Take exit 4 Avenue du Maréchal-de-Lattre-de-Tassigny odd numbers, at the front of the train, then the stairs on the right.
- Bus - Lines 52, 72, 126, 160, 175, 260, 467. Pont de Saint-Cloud - Albert Khan stop.

No signage

(S) Follow Avenue du Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny as the stairs continue, i.e. away from the roundabout. At the traffic lights, cross Quai Alphonse Le Gallo in several stages. Take the Pont de Saint-Cloud to cross the Seine. On the other side, turn left and, at the next traffic lights, cross to the right (construction work in progress, adapt to the layout of the area and follow instructions). Then go down the stairs on the left and take the tunnel that leads to Parc de Saint-Cloud.

Go through a gate in a fence and enter the park. Follow a very wide gravel path straight ahead. Leave the Grande Cascade pond on your right and continue straight ahead. At the next crossroads (sculpture group opposite), turn right uphill. When you reach the edge of the Bassin du Grand Jet, take the path on the left which climbs gently with a railing on the left-hand side. At the end, turn right at an acute angle and climb up a tarmac path. Pass a car park on the left, ignore a paved path on the right and continue to a large crossroads.

Red and white markings

(1) Continue straight ahead, go through a gate and follow a wide gravel path. Note a modern sculpture below on the right. Go around a basin and an oval lawn on the right. Immediately ignore two paths on the right, then a third.

No markings

Shortly before the end of the lawn, take a path on the right. At the foot of the statue of the Young Wounded Warrior, turn left and walk to the statue of the Discobolus. Go around a small pond on the left and climb two staircases to reach the Bassin des 24 Jets (statue of a lion).

Then turn left, go through a gate and cross a tarmac path. Then turn right and go around the pond, passing successively at the foot of the statues of Bacchus, Hercules, Jupiter, Neptune and Venus. After the latter, take a path on the left. At the next intersection, turn sharply right (red and white arrow). Go through a gate and follow a wide path.

(2) After a few metres, go through a wooden gate on the left and enter the Jardin du Trocadéro. Immediately ignore a path on the left and walk past a large pine tree (former fountain). At a T-junction, turn left and cross a ditch. At the next junction, turn right and walk to a rotunda near a lake (there are several benches). Then turn left to go around the lake. At the next junction, go straight ahead and walk along a ditch on your right. Go through another wooden gate to leave the garden and come out onto a wide path.

Red and white markings

First turn right then left onto a concrete path. Go down a flight of steps (leaving the concrete path to your left). At the bottom of the steps, continue down the concrete path. At the bottom, turn left to leave the park via the Grille des Écoles.

(3) Follow a path between two walls. Pass a car park on your left and continue straight ahead into Rue des Écoles (ignore the turnings on your right). Cross Place de Silly and, at the crossroads, continue straight ahead into Rue Gaston Latouche.

(4) At the traffic lights, cross Rue Dailly at the pedestrian crossing on the right. Continue straight ahead on a tarmac path and walk past a nursery on your right. Ignore the steps on the left, turn right and go down a few flights of steps. Before the last steps, turn left and follow a tarmac path, then a gravel path, parallel to Rue Chevillon (path not shown on the map). Walk along a wall on your left and go down a small staircase. Immediately turn right and go down two staircases. Follow a path and then go down a final staircase to reach the street. Follow it to the left and cross Rue de Béarn on the right-hand side.

At the bridge (do not cross), cross Boulevard Jules Peltier at the pedestrian crossing and follow it parallel to the railway tracks below on the right. At the roundabout, continue slightly to the right and, after a few dozen metres, you will reach a crossroads (information sign for the Passerelle de l'Avre).

Red and white + yellow markings

(5) Turn right and take the footbridge. First cross the railway tracks (note the allotments on the embankment on your left) and then a few streets (view of the Bois de Boulogne and the Eiffel Tower opposite). Continue along the footbridge and cross the Seine (on your left, view of the towers of La Défense).

Red and white markings

At the bottom, turn sharply left, passing a small millstone and brick building on your left, and head for the riverbank. Follow the^GR®®1for about 1 km on a path that stays close to the river (on your left). Shortly before the end of this section, ignore the first staircase on the right that leads to a car park.

(6) At a black metal footbridge leading to a moored barge, climb the second staircase on the right. Leave the car park on your right and, just before a portico leading to a wide avenue, turn left into an alley lined with a hedge on the right-hand side. After about 50 metres, take an opening in the hedge on the right.

Cross the wide avenue at the traffic lights. On the other side, walk a few metres and take a path on the left that joins and runs alongside a river. Cross the river via a footbridge and, at the fork immediately ahead, turn left to walk alongside the Étang de Suresnes on your left. After a litter bin and before a bench, turn right at an acute angle.

Cross the Route des Tribunes at the pedestrian crossing, then the cycle path that runs parallel to it (cyclists coming from the right, see recommendations in the practical information). Then turn left and walk along the fence of the Longchamp racecourse on your right. Pass the Moulin de Longchamp.

No markings
In some places, you will see markings that are only mentioned when necessary.

(7) About a hundred metres after the mill, leave the^GR®®1and the racecourse and follow a path on the left. At the pedestrian crossing, cross the cycle path again (cyclists coming from the left, see recommendations in the practical information) and then Avenue de l'Hippodrome. Continue straight ahead on a path, pass a stele representing a bear and follow the Route de Suresnes on your left. At the traffic lights, cross in two stages. Then cross a car park and head towards a large cedar tree on the edge of the small lake at the Grande Cascade. Turn right and follow the lake on your left.

(8) After a few dozen metres, turn left and go under the artificial rocks that make up the waterfall (red and white marker). Go behind the waterfall, then climb a staircase that starts under the rock and ends in the open air. At the top, descend opposite (red and white cross) to reach the edge of the reservoir lake. Walk along the lake on your left. At the end, go straight ahead, come out onto a tarmac path and follow it to the right until you reach the monument to those who were shot.

(9) Continue on the tarmac and, just before the junction with another tarmac road, take a path on the left. After about 75 m, turn left onto a path (not shown on the map). The path curves to the left, becomes more clearly marked and leads to a junction.

Yellow markings

Turn right and follow a PR®^®. Cross Allée de la Reine Marguerite (unmarked pedestrian crossing). Further on, cross a stabilised path and then a sandy path (bridleway). At a fork, take the left-hand path, which is less clearly marked. Cross a tarmac driveway and pass close to the buildings on the left-hand side. Turn right then left and cross another tarmac driveway.

No markings

At the next junction (entrance to a Republican Guard barracks on the left), follow a road to the right. Cross Avenue de l'Hippodrome at the pedestrian crossing.

Red and yellow markings

(10) Follow the avenue to the right, initially on a cement path. After a few dozen metres, turn left off the avenue and follow a path that runs alongside a stream on the left-hand side. At the crossroads, turn left, cross the stream and, at the fork immediately ahead, take the path on the right. You will come out onto a wide tarmac avenue. Follow it to the left for about 50 metres. Then turn left and walk along a fence on your left.

After about 50 metres, leave the marked trail for a moment and take the first path on the right to bypass an area that is not very clean (as of December 2019). Ignore a path coming from the left and follow the GRP®® again^. At the crossroads, turn left. At the next crossroads (fitness trail equipment), turn right. At another crossroads (equipment), go straight ahead and you will come to a tarmac path.

No markings

(11) Follow the lane on the left. Go through a forest gate and then a metal gate to reach a car park at the foot of the stands of the Auteuil racecourse.

Turn right, ignore a dead end on the right and follow the 30 km/h road that runs alongside the racecourse. At Portillon des Chênes, cross the road and continue on a gravel path close to the racecourse fence. Follow this path to Porte d'Auteuil (E).

To return home:
- Metro - Line 10 (metro entrance immediately on the left). N.B. At this station, all trains go in the direction of Boulogne. To return to central Paris, towards Gare d'Austerlitz, get off at the first station, Boulogne-Jean Jaurès, and take a train in the opposite direction from the same platform.
- Bus - Lines PC1, 32, 52, 123. Cross Avenue de la Porte d'Auteuil to the right, then to the left to reach the bus station.

Hiking boots are useful. Wet and potentially muddy passages along the Seine, before (6).

A few water points, marked on the OSM map. Bars, restaurants and shops in the centre of Saint-Cloud, between (3) and (4).

Detailed map required (at least the one accompanying this description).

Opening hours of public areas:
Domaine National de Saint-Cloud:
- Opening: 7:30 a.m.
- Closing times: November-February, 8:00 p.m.; March-April and September-October, 9:00 p.m.; May-August, 10:00 p.m.
N.B. Between 10 August and 5 September, access is limited due to the Rock en Seine music festival and preparations for it.
Bois de Boulogne: 24 hours a day.
N.B. Access to the undergrowth is prohibited from nightfall until dawn.

Warning:
Twice, between points (6) and (7), the route crosses the cycle path that runs around the Longchamp racecourse. This path is used by many cyclists who ride in pelotons at high speed. Although there are pedestrian crossings, do not count on cyclists stopping... Be extremely careful: cross after a peloton has passed and check carefully that another is not following close behind. Cyclists travel in one direction only, clockwise: on the first crossing, they come from the right, on the second from the left.

Hike completed by the author on 14 December 2019.

In the Parc de Saint-Cloud, from (S) to (3):
- French formal gardens.
- Large waterfall, ponds, statues.
- English-style garden at the Trocadéro.

From the Passerelle de l'Avre (5) to the Grande Cascade in the Bois de Boulogne (8):
- Beautiful view of the Seine and the towers of La Défense.
- Pleasant walk along the Seine, moored barges.
- Suresnes Pond.
- Longchamp Racecourse (flat horse racing).
- Stele representing a bear (tribute to the Norwegians of Paris?).
- Magnificent cedar tree on the banks of the Grande Cascade lake.

From the Grande Cascade in the Bois de Boulogne (8) to the Porte d'Auteuil (E):
- Waterfall and artificial rocks.
- Reservoir lake.
- Monument to those shot at the Grande Cascade, in tribute to 35 resistance fighters, most aged between 17 and 28, who were shot on the spot on 16 August 1944. As a sign indicates, an oak tree near the monument still bears the marks of bullets from the shooting.
- Auteuil Racecourse (horse racing with obstacles).