Les Jardins de La Coulée Verte

You are standing at the threshold of the Coulée Verte René-Dumont, a pioneering stretch of elevated parkland that reshaped urban planning worldwide. This lush, four-and-a-half-kilometer path follows the exact route of the historic Vincennes railway line, which carried steam trains from the Gare de la Bastille into the eastern suburbs starting in eighteen fifty-nine. After the line ceased operation in nineteen sixty-nine, the tracks sat silent and abandoned for nearly two decades. In nineteen ninety-three, the city reclaimed the iron-and-stone corridor, transforming it into the world's first elevated linear park. This bold experiment predates New York City's famous High Line by sixteen years, proving that discarded industrial infrastructure could thrive as a public garden.