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Starting point and access: Arboretum car park, 140 Avenue Jean-Jaurès.
- RER - Line B, Robinson station (terminus). Exit at the front of the train and head towards Rue Houdan. At the crossroads, turn left onto Rue des Quatre Chemins, then right onto Rue Anatole France. Follow this winding street to the end. Then turn left onto Rue Chateaubriand and rejoin the route at the exit of the wooded park, just before the entrance to the arboretum. The walk is about 1 km.
- Bus - Line 194 or 294. Jean-Jaurès station. From the roundabout, follow Avenue Jean Jaurès on the even-numbered side in ascending order and you will immediately find the arboretum car park.
- Car - Take the D63 between Châtenay-Malabry and the Robinson RER station and turn onto Avenue Jean Jaurès at the roundabout.
N.B. There are a few directional and information signs along the route. The trees mentioned in the description as landmarks or points of interest are identified on site by small signs.
(S/E) From the car park entrance, turn right (north), follow a wide gravel path and pass the arboretum reception hut. Ignore a path on the left (which you will take on the way back) and continue straight ahead towards the alder collection (sign).
Take the next path on the left, leaving a Caucasian walnut tree on your right. Pass under a sequoia tree on your right. Ignore a path leading to the right towards a small pond and enter under the foliage of a weeping Atlas cedar (information sign). At the fork under the foliage (see photo), take the path on the right and walk along the pond on your right. Cross a small bridge on the right and step onto a small island.
(1) Turn right and start walking around the island in a counterclockwise direction. Two-thirds of the way around, cross the pond again on a second bridge, which is larger than the first.
At the end of the bridge, follow the path on the left and turn right immediately afterwards. Pass the entrance to an old ice house on your right (information board). Go down a few steps and turn left at the bottom. At the T-junction that follows, turn right and follow a small ditch on your left.
After passing a myrtle-leaved oak tree on your right, turn right at the T-junction. After a few metres, follow the path on the left, leaving a purple beech stump on your right.
After passing a tall hut on your left, leave the path and turn left onto a stony track which soon gives way to a wooden footbridge. Cross the collection of alders, taking the right-hand path at each fork, alternating between the pontoon and the path and following a fence on your right in places. You will eventually come out onto a cement path. Follow it to the right.
At the start of a sharp left turn, leave the path and take a cement path on the right. Climb a few steps and turn right at the top. Go through a turnstile to exit the arboretum, enter the wooded park and head towards Île Verte (sign). At the T-junction that immediately follows, turn right. Turn left along the path and take the first exit from the wooded park. Cross Rue Eugène Sinet (a cobbled street at this point) and enter the Île Verte park (information sign).
(2) Then turn right to go around a pond (not shown on the map), keeping it on your left. Go slightly uphill on a paved path and you will come to the foot of an uninhabited house. Go around the house on the right, following the paving stones, and you will come to a paved courtyard (with a fountain on the right).
Before passing the end of the house, climb the steps on the right, followed by a path, noting a well on the left and beehives on the right. At the top (gate opposite), descend to the left onto a paved path. Before a crossroads, take a paved path on the right at an acute angle and climb towards a small garden pavilion.
Walk along a greenhouse on your right. At the end, go down and, after two flights of steps, turn left under an arbour. Halfway along, turn right and go around a fountain. At the end of the path, turn left. At the end, turn right under a plant-covered archway and cross a small bamboo grove on a wooden footbridge. At the exit, turn left and return to the park entrance.
(2) Cross Rue Eugène Sinet again and re-enter the wooded park. Start walking around it in an anti-clockwise direction and ignore two exits on the right, the first onto Rue Sinet and the second towards the red brick buildings on Rue Chateaubriand. Finally, take the third exit on the right and turn left onto Rue Chateaubriand. You will arrive at the entrance to the arboretum (on the left) and the Maison de Chateaubriand park (on the right).
(3) Turn left and enter the arboretum again. Immediately after the reception hut, turn right onto a cement path that zigzags through the meadow. At the end, follow a cement path to the right that makes a wide loop to the left, skirting a sheep pen in the hollow.
At the next fork (another sheep pen opposite), turn right. Ignore a path on the right and walk along a building on your right. Cross a ditch and you will come out near the pond you crossed earlier.
Then turn right towards the bonsai collection (sign). On a paved lane, pass under a cedar tree on the left, turn left and follow a building on your right. Pass another cedar tree, go through a gate and you will see a half-timbered house on your right.
When you reach this house, turn left onto a path interspersed with steps that branches off between two wider paths perpendicular to each other. In the middle of lush vegetation (including a few palm trees), at the successive forks, go right, left and finally right to reach the tropical greenhouse. Continue for a few metres and you will find the entrance to the bonsai collection (information panels) in an open greenhouse on your left.
N.B. The building shown on the IGN map is the tropical greenhouse; the open bonsai greenhouse is not shown.
Leaving the bonsai collection, turn left and go around the open greenhouse, keeping it on your left (the path is circular and not straight as shown on the IGN map). At the fork, turn right and leave a section of wall on your right. Walk along the rows of flat stones (pseudo-menhirs?) on your left. At the end of the path, turn right and return to the car park (S/E).
Visorando member
Association / Club / Walk leader
Moderate 
