Park in Paris
FreeCosts nothing to visit.
The Grand Canal is a cruciform artificial lake at the western end of the Palace of Versailles Gardens, roughly 1.6 kilometers along its long arm. Free to walk to on most days, since the Versailles gardens are free except on fountain-show days in summer. Andre Le Notre designed it as a mirror for the sky and the vanishing point for the garden’s central axis, so the whole layout draws the eye down the water. In the Sun King’s time the canal hosted staged naval spectacles, with gondolas sent over from Venice. Rowing boats can be rented near the canal in the warmer months for a modest fee, but the free move is to walk to the far end, lie on the grass, and look back toward the palace across the water. The canal sits well away from the crowded parterres near the palace, and the Trianon district with Marie Antoinette’s Estate lies at its northern end. Budget travelers take the cheap regional train out from Paris, skip the paid palace interior, and spend the day on the free grounds.
Nearby
Other places worth the walk, and what each one costs.
The Arc de Triomphe is Napoleon's triumphal arch at the western end of the Champs-Elysees, the largest triumphal arch in the world at nearly 50 meters tall. Napoleon commissioned it in 1806 to honor the Grande Armee, and it was finished in 1836, long after his fall.
Canal Saint-Martin is a tree-lined waterway in the 10th arrondissement, threaded with arched iron footbridges and a chain of locks that still raise and lower passing boats. Napoleon ordered it dug to bring clean water into the city, and it opened in 1825.
The Avenue des Champs-Elysees runs from the Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe, the most famous boulevard in the world. It forms the central stretch of the historic axis that lines up with the Tuileries Garden and the Louvre Museum to the east. Free to walk.
The Eiffel Tower is the most recognized structure in the world, built for the 1889 World's Fair by Gustave Eiffel's engineering company and never taken down. It was meant to be temporary, a 20-year exhibit, but its usefulness as a radio and telegraph mast saved it and it has stood in the 7th arrondissement ever since.
Ile de la Cite is the island in the Seine where Paris began, the spot where the Gallic Parisii and then Roman Lutetia first took root before the city spread to both banks. It is the historic heart of Paris, and almost everything on it can be seen for free.
Ile Saint-Louis is the smaller of the two natural islands in the Seine, a quiet residential island of 17th-century townhouses, one main street with ice cream shops (Berthillon is the most famous), and views of Notre-Dame from its western tip. Free to walk.
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The whole of Paris