The southern 14th arrondissement, from Alésia to the Petite Ceinture

Take the metro to Alésia station.

(S/E) Upon exiting the metro, in front of Alésia Church, cross Avenue du Maine and turn right onto Rue d’Alésia. At the first junction, you’ll reach the Villa d’Alésia.

(1) Turn left onto this street, which is very picturesque with its workshops and beautiful houses. You can follow it to the junction with Rue des Plantes, but you can also take a detour to visit the small Lionel Assouad garden, tucked away at the end of a block of flats’ courtyard. After turning left onto Rue des Plantes, turn immediately right onto Rue Louis Morard, with its astonishing succession of rather whimsical bow windows. The street continues, changing its name to Rue Paulette Jacquier, and features a few pockets of greenery on either side. You’ll reach the junction with Rue Didot.

(2) We turn left onto this street, which is characterised by a series of cul-de-sacs, referred to here as ‘villas’. Once again, turn left into Rue de l’Abbé Carton and, immediately afterwards, right into Rue Joanès, with its succession of charming little low-rise houses. It ends in Rue Boulitte (actually a cul-de-sac), which you follow to the right to rejoin Rue Didot.
Almost directly opposite, after a brief first turn left then right, we visit the superb Villa Mallebay, lined with numerous artists’ studios and architects’ houses, which ends in a cul-de-sac at a sports ground.
Back on Rue Didot, we head south once more. You can skip the rather uninteresting Villa Duthy and carry on to the pleasant and very deep Villa Deshayes, which is on the left-hand (or south-eastern) side of the street.
Leaving the villa, carry on along Rue Didot, still heading south-west. Pass the beautiful brick buildings of the Broussais Hospital and the Red Cross on your right, until you reach the bridge spanning the Petite Ceinture.

(3) A metal staircase, which is completely inaccessible, leads down to the old railway tracks. Follow these tracks, with their mix of greenery and graffiti, until you reach the junction with Rue de Coulmiers, near the former Montrouge Ceinture station, now converted into a restaurant. Cross Avenue du Général Leclerc, then head slightly left along it before turning right onto Rue Beaunier and continuing to Rue du Père Corentin. (You can also go straight on into Villa Virginie, which runs alongside a section of the Petite Ceinture that is inaccessible to the public, before rejoining Rue du Père Corentin.)

(4) Follow Rue du Père Corentin for quite a distance; it’s a motley mix of buildings of varying heights. The streets on the right (Henri Régnault, Lacaze) offer a glimpse, at the far end, of the grassy hill of the Montsouris reservoir.
When you reach the impressive red-brick building of the Franciscans of Paris, turn left into Rue Marie Rose, before turning right into Rue Sarrette. Turn left again into Rue Couche, continuing until you reach Rue d’Alésia, which you cross to take Rue de la Saône, directly opposite. Rue de la Saône bends to the right and leads onto Rue du Commandeur, which you take to the left.

(5) Take the hairpin-bend Passage Montbrun on the left. Just past several garages, on the right-hand side, there is a narrow passageway leading into the Villa d’Orléans. This ends at a greengrocer’s and a fishmonger’s, and opens onto Avenue du Général Leclerc, which you can follow to the left to return to the starting point, Alésia metro station (S/E).

Public toilets are available on Avenue du Général Leclerc, just to the right of the exit from the Villa d’Orléans.

A little further on (4), instead of taking Rue Marie Rose, you can head in the opposite direction, Rue du Douanier Rousseau, then immediately left onto Rue de la Tombe-Issoire and straight away right to visit the superb Villa Seurat, lined with artist’s studios, most of which were built by the architect André Lurçat in the 1920s, notably including Chana Orloff’s studio.
(S/E) After the walk, you can treat yourself by walking up Avenue du Maine for about a hundred metres, where you’ll find, on the left-hand side, an amazing patisserie, Wonderland, serving cakes shaped like cacti and Breton lighthouses.