Échappée Belle and Coulée Douce in the south of the Hauts-de-Seine

(S/E) From the Bourg-la-Reine RER B station, turn right onto Place de la Gare. Then turn slightly left onto the street that becomes Rue André Theuriet. Continue right onto Rue Laurin and follow it to the end. Turn right onto Avenue du Président Franklin Roosevelt/Avenue Victor Hugo to reach Villa Hennebique.

(1) Continue along this street, then turn right onto Avenue du Lycée Lakanal. Take the bridge and turn left onto Rue Laurin to return to the station and continue straight ahead. Cross the D920 to follow Rue René Roeckel and continue straight ahead to 25 Boulevard Carnot to find Villa Saint-Cyr.

(2) Continue straight ahead and turn left onto Avenue de Lattre de Tassigny. Turn left onto Rue de la Bièvre. Continue straight ahead until you reach Avenue du Général Leclerc, cross it and then do the same with Boulevard du Maréchal Joffre, continuing until you reach Rue Cécile Vallet.

(3) Take the street on the right. It becomes Rue Ferdinand Jamin, then Rue de la Faïencerie. Follow this street to the end. Then turn right and slightly left to join Rue du Port Galand.

(4) Turn left. When you reach the first roundabout, continue straight ahead to go around Place des Bas Longchamps and, as you leave the square, turn right onto Rue de la Sarrazine. Turn right until you reach the park.

(5) Keep right to cross Parc François Mitterand and exit onto Rue des Blains.

(6) Continue straight ahead on this street until you reach the intersection with Rue des Mathurins.

(7) Turn right, then left to reach Avenue Albert Petit. Take the first right towards the Maison de la Musique et de la Danse de Bagneux. Continue on your right to reach the Église Saint-Hermeland.

(8) Turn left twice onto Rue des Fossés and join Rue de la Mairie on your left to reach Rue Pablo Neruda.

(9) Continue straight ahead on this road. Then, at the second bend, turn right onto Sente des Brugnauts and join Rue de la Lisette on your right. Continue to Rue de Fontenay and turn right to join Rue Ledru Rollin.

(10) Follow it to the left and, continuing straight ahead, take the greenway at the end on the right. On Avenue du Général de Gaulle, turn left until you reach the roundabout.

(11) Cross the roundabout and join Rue Colbert, which you follow until Rue de Bagneux. Turn right at the Maison des Arts.

(12) Continue straight ahead to Rue de la Gare, located on the right after the church. Follow this street to Folie Desmares.

(13) Then continue straight ahead and take Rue Pierre Semard. At the third street on your left, enter Square Léo Malet to reach the greenway and continue along the greenway until you reach Chatillon-Montrouge, crossing four roads.

(14) Turn left, then right to follow Boulevard Camélinat. Continue straight ahead and take the first street on your right, Rue Guy Môquet.

(15) Follow this street to the right and continue to the end on Avenue Augustin Dumont. Turn right and then left onto Rue Caron. At the end, continue and cross Boulevard Gabriel Péri.

(16) Continue straight ahead until you reach Rue Louis Blanc. Turn left and go up Avenue du Président Wilson on the right until you reach Rue Béranger. Turn right onto Avenue Pierre Larousse (second intersection after Place du 11 Novembre 1918).

(17) Go down the avenue on the right, pass the Notre-Dame-de-la-Médaille-Miraculeuse church, cross Boulevard Gabriel Péri and turn left onto Rue Alfred de Musset to return to Boulevard Gabriel Péri. Turn right then left onto Avenue du Maréchal Leclerc until you reach no. 18.

(18) Go straight ahead, then turn left onto Rue Gambetta and continue to Rue Chauvelot (on the left at the corner of the park), turn left, then right and continue straight ahead to reach Sentier du Tir.

(19) Go up this road on the right and take the first left to join Rue de la Tour on the left, then take the^first right, Rue Ernest Renan, before turning left again. Take Passage Larousse to join Avenue Pierre Larousse.

(20) Keep left, join Rue Raymond Fassin on the right and continue straight ahead. Pass the square on your left and continue along Avenue Jules Ferry until you reach the end, where you will cross a boulevard.

(21) When you reach Rue Paul Bert, follow it and, after the railway tracks, turn right onto the second street to take Boulevard des Camélinat, pass under the railway tracks and turn right onto Avenue de Verdun until the end.

(22) Continue along Rue Barbès. Go straight ahead. At the end, turn left and then right onto Rue Marcel Yol, go to the end and then turn left twice to reach Rue Julien and Lycée Michelet.

(23) Continue straight ahead until you reach Avenue Victor Hugo (four-way intersection) and turn left, then right onto Rue Solférino to reach the first street on the right, Rue Sadi Carnot.

(24) Keep right and, at Boulevard du Lycée, turn slightly left to reach Rue Gaudray.

(25) Go down the street, then turn left onto Rue de l'Église and go down a small path on your right to reach Rue Kleber and Place du Président Kennedy. On the other side of the square, turn left onto Rue Falret and continue to Parc Frédéric Pic.

(26) Keep going straight ahead and take Rue Larmeroux on the right. Then take Rue de Châtillon on the left until you reach Cité Pavret Dortail.

(27) Continue straight ahead and join Rue de l'Avenue, following the railway line.

(28) At the end of the street, go under the railway line and join Boulevard de Stalingrad. Follow it to the left until you reach Allée Hoche.

(29) Cross the railway line again and join Villa Eugène Drouet, then turn right onto Rue Aristide Briand, then Rue Diderot on your right, then Villa d'Arcueil on your left. Go around the houses and exit onto Rue René Coche.

(30) Turn right, then left and continue straight ahead to join Avenue Jacques Jézéquel on your right. Turn right onto Avenue Arblade and go up Rue Paul Vaillant Couturier, then Rue Paul Bert (third street on the left) and turn right to rejoin Boulevard Camélinat until you reach Chatillon-Montrouge and the greenway.

(15) Next, join the Coulée Verte and follow it straight ahead for four streets until you reach Square Léo Malet, where you will come out onto Rue Pierre Semard. Continue straight ahead on the Coulée Verte and then straight ahead again to rejoin the Coulée Verte until you reach Rue des Sorrières and Fontenay-aux-Roses.

(31) Then take Rue des Bénards on the left. Cross one street, then take Rue des Sorrières on the right, then Rue Scarron on your right. Turn right at the end, then completely left onto Avenue Gabriel Péri. Continue along Rue Rémy Laurent, then straight ahead until you reach the Church of Saint-Stanislas.

(32) Continue straight ahead on Avenue de Bourg-la-Reine and turn right at the fourth street. Continue straight ahead to Rue Massenet. Turn left at the second intersection, continue straight ahead on Rue Mozart and turn left onto Rue Arnoux. Continue straight ahead and take the second left. At Rue des Blagis, turn right towards the Bourg-la-Reine RER station (S/E).

On the greenway, you will find toilets, bike racks and water fountains.

1 - Villa Hennebique
This family home, built between 1901 and 1903 by engineer François Hennebique, is a true architectural feat. It is a veritable manifesto of the technical and aesthetic possibilities of reinforced concrete, a material that was controversial at the time in the field of housing. The volumes are arranged in a complex and original way: recessed wings, differences in levels, corbelled projections, cantilevered walls, high glass roofs and irregularly spaced windows, integrating the garden into all levels of the house. The tower includes a water tank used to water the hanging garden, located on the roof of the house. Designed as a "family palace", the building has now been converted into apartments and has been listed as a Historic Monument since 12 January 2012.

2 - Villa Saint-Cyr
A beautiful millstone house built between 1920 and 1925, with a surface area of 400 m², the Villa Saint-Cyr offers a pleasant setting on three levels, including a beautiful collection of ceramics by François Laurin (1826-1901). Under the impetus of its patron Paul Carrière, a visionary industrialist whose activities had an international impact, the Villa Saint-Cyr lived through the "Roaring Twenties" and hosted glamorous soirées. Acquired by the town in 1993 and restored in 2018, it is now the venue for various festive events organised by the town and its associations.

3 - Saint-Hermeland Church
Saint-Hermeland Church was built in 1011 on the remains of an earlier building. Restored in^{the 19th} century, the building, which is listed as a Historic Monument, still features elements from its original construction: the interior of the bell tower (first half of the^12th century), the choir and the western portal (around 1180) and the nave (around 1230-1240). Nearby, Le Clos des Brugnauts: a town with a very long wine-growing tradition, Bagneux, which saw its last vineyard disappear in 1965, has revived its past by reintroducing two varieties of white vines, Sauvignon and Semillon, to the "Clos des Brugnauts". The Balnéolais wine won gold medals in 1996 and 1997, and every year the grape harvest is celebrated with a big festival in September.

4 - The House of Arts
Your walk continues through old Châtillon: the Maison des Arts is located in a mansion that was renovated in^{the 19th} century by its owner, the publisher Louis Hachette. Today, it is an essential venue for contemporary art. The Maison des Arts draws its richness from an eclectic programme, where young artists rub shoulders with renowned artists from all disciplines. Today, the reputation of the Maison des Arts in Châtillon extends far beyond the town's borders.

During exhibitions, the Maison des Arts is open Tuesday to Friday from 4pm to 6pm and Saturday to Sunday from 2pm to 6pm (free admission).

5 - La Folie Desmares
This former neoclassical building houses the Maison des Arts, Malakoff's contemporary art centre. In the 1960s, André Malraux, Minister of Culture, noticed this house while visiting Louise de Vilmorin in the Chevreuse Valley. Today, Malakoff's contemporary art centre operates in two locations: the Maison des Arts, an exhibition space with a programme of two exhibitions per year, and the Supérette, a space for experimentation and research dedicated to artist collectives.

Free admission – Wednesday to Friday from 12pm to 6pm and Saturday and Sunday from 2pm to 6pm. Mondays and Tuesdays by appointment. Tel: 01 47 35 96 94

6 - The Calcquesin Distillery
A jewel of early^20th-century industrial architecture, the Clacquesin Factory is a former distillery listed as a historic monument that has retained its original character with its stills and outdoor chimney. In 1860, herbalist and pharmacist Paul Clacquesin developed Clacquesin, an aperitif made from Norwegian pine resin mixed with sugar and around thirty spices. Clacquesin won an award at the 1900 World's Fair.

7 - Léon, the last gas lamp

Léon is the last gas-powered street lamp in the Île-de-France region that continues to burn night and day in order to preserve its mechanism. It owes its survival to the association "Les Amis de Léon" (now dormant), which opposed its electrification in the 1970s. Its name is inscribed in white letters on its glass lantern, along with the names of its inventors: Frenchman Philippe Lebon, Briton William Murdock and Austrian Karl Auer.

8 - The Lycée Michelet
In 1698, Jules Hardouin-Mansart drew up plans for the château known as the Pavillon Mansart, which was then bought by the Prince of Condé in 1717. During the French Revolution, his property, including the château in Vanves, was confiscated. Since the Second Empire, the Lycée Michelet has been one of the most prestigious schools in the Paris region.

9 - The Sainte Bathilde Priory
Built in 1934 by the monk-architect Dom Bellot, the complex of buildings is arranged around a cloister and a single-nave chapel and is home to the Congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of Vanves. Using the golden ratio technique, it favours brick as its basic material and has become a master in the art of working with light and colour. Listed as a^20th-century heritage site, this monastery is a place of spiritual life and prayer.

10 - Frédéric Pic Park
Owned by Cardinal Duprat in the^16th century, then by the Duchess of Mortemart in the early^18th century, before being sold as national property during the Revolution, the estate was acquired in 1822 by Doctors Voisin and Falret to set up a health centre for the treatment of the mentally ill in 1830. Acquired by the town of Vanves at the instigation of Frédéric Pic, mayor from 1919 to 1940, the park has borne his name since 1962. Restoration work on the park's two ice houses has just begun. These ice houses were used to store natural ice. One was converted into a chapel in^{the 19th} century when the doctors bought the estate.

11 - The Pavret Dortail housing estate
Built in the late 1920s by architect Maurice Payret-Dortail in collaboration with the "Office public des Habitations à bon marché de la Seine" (Public Office for Low-Cost Housing on the Seine), for which he built several garden cities, this housing estate comprises apartment buildings and detached houses, including 27 artists' studios, most of which have adjoining accommodation within the estate. The architecture, similar to that of the HBM social housing buildings constructed during the same period, is notable for the overall harmony of its layout and its preservation.

12 - Fontenay-aux-Roses
In the heart of Fontenay-aux-Roses, Sainte Barbe Park is the former grounds of a college of the same name where Valéry Larbaud (1881-1957) was educated. It offers a large, wooded area. Pass in front of the Théâtre des Sources (1986) and enter the Church of Saint-Pierre Saint-Paul (1832), whose bell, Marie, from the old building and cast in 1743, was listed as a historic monument in 2001. The church also houses a painting, La Vierge et l'Enfant et Saint Jean-Baptiste (The Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist), attributed to Pierre Mignard (1612-1695), circa 1650, which was also listed as a historic monument in 2020. Finally, admire the Château Sainte-Barbe, dating from 1701, frequented by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc between 1826 and 1829 and enlarged by Henri Labrouste (1801-1875) in the 1850s. It now houses the media library.