How to hike around the Île‑de‑France (Paris)
Let’s face it, Paris is a chaotic city in which people move fast and are under a lot of stress. Hiking in the nature is a great way to relax and disconnect from the city and the region of Île‑de‑France is perfect for that. Paris lies at the center of the region and is surrounded by beautiful forests and nature. But how can you organize a hike in the region of Île‑de‑France? Where can you find the best trails? How can you reach them? In this post I will give you a guide on how to organize amazing hikes near Paris.
Everything starts with the Ile-de-France region. It is the most populous region of France, with more than 12 million inhabitants, and it is the economic center of the country. The capital of France lies at its center and is surrounded by beautiful forests and nature. On the north we find the amazing Val D’Oise, with its magnificent forests; on the south we find the Forest of Fontainebleau, with its amazing rivers, on the west we find Versailles and Chevreuse, with their castles and historical sites; and on the east we have the Marne Valley, famous for its breathtaking views.
First, you need to find the trails. There are many websites and apps that can help you with that, and the best one for creating your own trails is komoot. You can also use it to find many existing trails (have a look at my profile to find some of the trails I’ve created reachable by Paris). To create a new trail, you’ll just need to select the starting point and the destination, and then you can customize the route by dragging it on the map. Ideally, you want to start and end your hike near a train station, so that you can easily reach it from Paris.
Koomot is perfect for this, as it allows you to see the train stations and the connections on the map.
This is an example of a hike I created in the forest of Montmorency, which is one of my favorite hikes. You can see that the starting point is at the train station of Domont and ends at the train station of Saint-Leu-la-Forêt. By the way, the train station of Saint-Leu-la-Forêt is amazing! It is a very old station, built following the “neoregionalist” style, based on the codes of the local architecture.
Make sure you check the train connections at the chosen stations, as they can be quite different on weekends and weekdays. To check the train schedules you can use the Ile-de-France Mobilités website and type in the station names and the desired departure and arrival times. The website will show you the available connections and the travel times along with the price of the tickets (usually free if you have a Navigo pass).
Komoot is perfect for modifying the trail and finding the best route. Just explore the nearby area and locate attractions, points of interest and beautiful spots. You can add them to your trail by dragging the route on the map. You can also use the “Points of Interest” layer to find interesting places along the way, such as viewpoints, rivers, lakes, etc. Make sure to check the elevation profile of the trail, as it can be quite different from the flat city. Also, make sure to check the length of the trail and the estimated time to complete it; give yourself enough time to enjoy the hike, stop for a picnic and rest. I usually add one extra hour to the estimated time, to make sure I don’t miss the train back to Paris!
Once you have your trail and the train connections, you just need to pack your backpack and go! Make sure to bring enough water and some snacks, as well as a map of the trail. To navigate the trail, you can use the komoot app on your phone, but is a paid feature. If you don’t want to pay for it, you just need to download the GPX file of the trail from the komoot website and then upload it to a free app like Mapy, which allows you to follow the trail offline and has a very good interface. To download the GPX file, just go to the trail page on the komoot website and click on the “Export GPX” button. You’ll need an extension to download the GPX file if you don’t have a premium account, you can find it here.