City streets,  Monday walks,  Paris

Exploring Bercy, a Parisian suburb

October 28, 2025 / 41 Comments

In the first half of the 19th century a Parisian wanting a good night out might well have headed to the village of Bercy. Ideally positioned on the banks of the Seine, this village had become the centre of the Paris wine trade and a major European market for wines and spirits.

In 1860 it was annexed by Paris and today is a pleasant suburb enhanced by a lovely park. And it’s still a great place to go for a meal or drink, though relatively little visited by tourists.

On our last visit to Paris we decided to do another of the walks from the Paris Je T’aime website, many of which explore less visited areas of the city. Unsurprisingly, this includes Bercy, and should make for a short but interesting Monday Walk for Jo.

We took the Metro to the station of that name and walked the short distance to the Cinémathèque Française, a striking building designed by Frank Gehry. It was interesting to see the curvaceous shapes, similar to those of Seattle’s MoPOP, here created in concrete.

La Cinémathèque Française

Parc Bercy

We then explored Parc Bercy. This consists of three gardens. There is a meadow area (Les Grandes Pelouses), a second area devoted to gardening and flower beds (Les Parterres), and a third romantic garden (Le Jardin Romantique) with fishponds and secluded areas.

In the meadows we found a traditional carousel. It was too early in the day for it to be in use but I enjoyed taking a few photos of the horses.

Carousel horses

We then walked through to the small vineyard, a relic of when this whole area was devoted to wine making. The walk description told us that

The 350 Sauvignon and Chardonnay vines are among the last remnants of the history of the district, which began in Roman times, when the first vines were planted here. The opening of the first wine warehouse came much later, during the reign of Louis XIV.

In the vineyard

The vineyard was in one corner of the Parterres area, and beyond it we came to the pretty Maison du Jardinage. This is housed in a 19th-century building that was once a tax office. Today it hosts workshops teaching Parisians the joys of gardening and encouraging urban farming. Around it the flowerbeds were planted mainly with dahlias. There was also a community vegetable plot.

La Maison du Jardinage and surroundings

Place Lachambeaudie

We detoured out of the park to visit the Place Lachambeaudie with an old fire station and a mix of other older and much newer buildings.

In the Place Lachambeaudie

At the far end of the place stands the church of Notre Dame de la Nativité de Bercy. A church was first built here in 1677 but has been rebuilt twice, first in the 1820s and again the 1870s, having been destroyed during the uprising of the Paris Commune.

We went inside the church in search of a statue of St Emilion, the patron saint of wine merchants, mentioned in the walk description. But despite walking all the way around twice, neither of us could spot him! However we did enjoy seeing the mix of traditional and modern religious art here.

L’église Notre Dame de la Nativité de Bercy (click on each image to see a caption)

Back to the park

Retracing our steps to the park we continued to the Jardin Romantique. There were several ponds where as well as ducks we saw a terrapin. I even caught a brief glimpse of a kingfisher; a flash of turquoise and he was gone!

Terrapins in the Jardin Romantique

Bercy Village

On the far side we came out into Bercy Village, where former wine warehouses have been converted into bars, restaurants and shops. The old railway tracks still run down the middle of the now pedestrianised cobbled street.

There was a lovely, relaxed Saturday vibe here. We strolled around a bit and had a lunch of galettes on one of the restaurant terraces before taking the Metro back to the city centre. Unusually for me I didn’t take many photos here, perhaps because we were quite focused on finding a good lunch! These gentlemen seemed to be doing the same.

Saturday locals in Bercy Village

  • This article is also featured on GPSmyCity. To download this article for offline reading or create a self-guided walking tour to visit the attractions highlighted in this article, go to Walking Tours and Articles in Paris.

I visited Bercy in September 2025

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