Before the metro was invented in the mid-1800s, Paris had a circular railway called ‘la petite ceinture‘ (the little belt) that transported up to 14 million people per day. However, once underground trains arrived in the city, la petite ceinture fell out of favour and by 1935 it had closed to travellers, transporting only freight. Even that stopped twenty years ago, but interest in the land occupied by the railway never subsided.

Now, the various sites are slowly being transformed into walkways, gardens and allotments. We went on a walk across the Left Bank to enjoy the new green spaces created on the site of the railway, seek out the hidden areas where it goes beneath ground and enjoy the architecture of Paris along the way. It turned out to be a great walk with quite a few lovely surprises!

Here’s our photo report, with a map so you won’t miss anything or get lost!

Since it closed to the public in the 1930s and freight in the 1990s, la Petite Ceinture has been fought over by promoters, ecologists, resident groups like Sauvegarde Petite Ceinture and the city council itself. As you might imagine, a wide swathe of land that circles the entire city was ripe for redevopment.

Various projects have emerged over the years for a tramway, cycle route or garden. Although certain stretches of the line are lost forever (one is now the RER C line) much is left to re-use (especially on the Left Bank) and the Paris city council recently signed an agreement with rail company SNCF to open the spaces up to the public and even re-use some of the existing old stations.

Following the Petite Ceinture nowadays is a fascinating trip back in time coupled with a little detective work to find the parts now hidden under buildings and roads. We started in the southwest of the city at Balard métro station, although we couldn’t resist quickly going to the nearby Parc André Citroën too. Opened in the early nineties, it used to be the site of Citroën car factories whose wares were transported by… la Petite Ceinture.

The garden has really flourished over the years, with themed areas, water features and the Paris balloon which you take a ride on and see Paris from 50 metres up.

The southeastern edge of the park is less than ten minutes from Balard, and this marks the start of the longest open stretch of the Petite Ceinture: 1.3km. Our tour across Paris had started.

You’ll start off on a raised section of the old railway on a stretch of land only partly transformed into an urban walkway. There are great views of the surrounding architecture, lots of greenery and strangely you’ll have to walk up again to leave the park at the other end – apparently Paris isn’t as flat as we thought!

You can clearly see the rails, some part of the trail, some left as they were with their sleepers, as well as some of the signalling equipment…
Next, you’ll have to take a couple of street around to get to the Parc Georges-Brassens. You cant actually get down to the Petite Ceinture here, but it runs along the south edge of the park and you can see that it probably wouldn’t take much work to have it open to the public. The Paris council actually has a project to link the park to the first section we just left, so that may well happen in the next few years.

The park, on the site of the old Paris abattoir, is fairly recent (1985). Certain parts, like the old buildings, vineyard and pond are pretty, whereas others… well, you’ll see.
Leave the park on the east side and you’ll be able to spy the railway again, but there’s no way to access it. From hereon in, you’ll be seeing how la Petite Ceinture has been abused and nibbled away at over the years – for example, one branch of the line visible from here is now covered by an apartment block (and not a pretty one at that).
Next, you’ll have to return to the Boulevard des Maréchaux (or risk going through a dank smelly tunnel full of broken glass, probably not a good idea) to reach the other side of the rail lines descending south from Montparnasse station.

Here, squares have been constructed (square Auguste Renoir!) above the site of the Petite Ceinture (perhaps it’s still intact below ground?). After a sad-looking start with more asphalt than greenery, the path becomes prettier with wisteria and mini-allotments, before coming to an abrupt halt at what was supposed to be a new street… in 2004.

Apparently the work has taken longer than expected, leaving a sort of wildland that would make a great garden.
For the next section, you have to go round via a few streets. From here you can look down at the Petite Ceinture, but not actually get to it. Some allotments take up a thin area running along the tracks but at ground level, and then all of a sudden you’ll come across one of the old stations.

This one was the gare du Petit-Montrouge, and by nosing around a little we could quite imagine how things were back in the day. In January 2016, the decision was taken to turn the building into a cultural space (after renovation), managed by la Bellevilloise.

Here, and on the other side of the main road leading to Porte d’Orléans, you can see how new constructions – necessarily in the best of taste – aren’t afraid to gain a couple of metres width by building over the rails, reminding us that saving la Petite Ceinture is an ongoing endeavour.
Thankfully, things improve soon after. We’re near the parc Montsouris, and while the Petite Ceinture goes completely underground here, you can get to the parc via a sweet little private street called square de Montsouris. It’s worth it…
Once in the park itself, you can only see the Petite Ceinture from a way off…
… and it remains mostly hidden for much of the next part of our walk.

This is the 13th arrondissement, arguably the part of Paris that suffered the most from rampant urbanism in the 60s and 70s. Surrounded by high-rises, our little railway has been built over here, but not even for a real purpose – you can see stretches of asphalt that are closed off and of no use to anyone, and they would be much better as gardens. Perhaps one day…
Happily, the next section of our walk leads to the most recently-opened part of la Petite Ceinture, a small new park since January 2016!

It’s a green space that the local population obviously appreciates and finishes with a closed off tunnel, so perhaps there’s more to come. If you leave the park and go through an alley, you’ll get to the Jardin du Moulin de la Pointe which follows the direction of the railway line (which is hidden underground). The greenery is lovely, and the fountains great, but some of the surrounding buildings are positively grim…
Crossing over avenue d’Italie, you can see the line continues, but once again it’s closed to the public in another area that could seemingly be opened to the public without much expense. And then it disappears again, covered over, lost…
And for the end of the walk (yep, you’ve crossed almost the whole of Paris already!), we arrive in a brand new neighbourhood that’s still evolving, with buildings that didn’t exist only a year ago and a staircase that hadn’t been finished in 2015.

What used to be a motorway traffic jam on the main boulevard has been turned into a tramway with grass, transforming the feel of the area. The new buildings are impressive, but will they age well?

In any case, the last place of note on our walk is another former station from la Petite Ceinture – Gare Masséna, closed since 2001.

It’s a three-storey building with a lot of room inside (you can check it out in this video), and its future wa sonly decided in February 2016 with an astonishing project in line with the surrounding architecture. There’s also some space left for another garden, so let’s hope that comes to pass too…
If you like trains, this history of Paris or green spaces of all varieties, you’ll love this walk. Take a salad or a sandwich and take your time – you’ll discover lots of little-known places and some genuine curiosities.

It’s perfect for a spring or summer day! Here’s the route we took so you don’t get lost. Keep the link bit.ly/pc-rive-gauche handy so you can consult it during your walk!

If you’d like to see all our photos from our walk, just click here, and to look at a great photo project by Pierre Folk about la Petite Ceinture (not just the part on the Left Bank), go to his site: bit.ly/petite-ceinture