Paris
Ile-de-France, France
Paris is a walking city built around one river and twenty arrondissements that spiral out from it, where the ground itself carries the history: Roman arena, medieval wall, Haussmann boulevard, glass pyramid, all within a few streets of each other. Almost everything worth standing in front of here is free and outdoors, and the harder days are the ones that leave the centre for the hills and terraces that look back at it.
10 challenges · 57 stops
STARTERCanal at Closing Light
≈ 3,000 steps1.3 mi · about 2 hoursStarter · 3 stops · 500 credStart where you live.Walk north along the Canal Saint-Martin in the last two hours of daylight, about three kilometres on the flat. The towpath fills up as the offices empty, which is the point.
STARTERFirst Light on the Island
≈ 1,200 steps0.6 mi · about 2 hoursStarter · 3 stops · 500 credStart where you live.Two hours on the Ile de la Cite, best before nine in the morning. Three stops, all within four hundred metres of each other, ending under the trees at the tip of the island.
STARTERThe Butte Before the Crowds
≈ 800 steps0.4 mi · about 2.5 hoursStarter · 3 stops · 500 credStart where you live.Montmartre on foot, uphill then down. Start at the top by eight to have the steps to yourself, then work back toward Abbesses. Steep in places and cobbled throughout.
STANDARDOld Stones of the Left Bank
≈ 3,000 steps1.5 mi · about 4 hoursStandard · 5 stops · 600 credOne trip earns it.Half a day in the fifth arrondissement, from the riverbank up the hill to the Pantheon and back down to the botanical garden. Roughly three kilometres with one real climb.
STANDARDSquares and Walls of the Marais
≈ 3,500 steps1.7 mi · about 3.5 hoursStandard · 5 stops · 600 credOne trip earns it.An afternoon in the Marais, about two and a half kilometres of narrow streets between the oldest planned square in Paris and the city hall. Nothing here needs a ticket.
STANDARDThe Axis from the Obelisk
≈ 5,500 steps2.7 mi · about 4.5 hoursStandard · 5 stops · 600 credOne trip earns it.Half a day walking the Right Bank axis west, about four kilometres from a hidden garden to the arch at the top of the Champs-Elysees. All of it outdoors, all of it free.
STANDARDThe Tower from Five Angles
≈ 4,500 steps2.2 mi · about 4 hoursStandard · 5 stops · 600 credOne trip earns it.Half a day circling the Eiffel Tower without buying a lift ticket, crossing the river twice. Five public vantage points, roughly four kilometres, and the last one is best after dark.
ADVANCEDA Long Day on the Eastern Hills
≈ 9,500 steps + 5.8 mi by car4.5 mi on foot · a full dayAdvanced · 8 stops · 800 credGetting there is not the hard part.A full day across the eastern arrondissements, from a cemetery gate to two hilltop belvederes and back down to Bastille. Eight stops, plenty of climbing, and you will need the metro between several of them.
ADVANCEDThe River, End to End
≈ 19,000 steps9.0 mi · 1 day or moreAdvanced III · 11 stops · 800 credGetting there is not the hard part.The hardest thing Paris can hand you on foot: thirteen kilometres of Seine from the southwest boundary bridge to the southeast one, crossing between banks eleven times over two days. Pick your season. The low quays shut whenever the river rises, which in most winters is more than once.
ADVANCEDWest of the Arch, Two Days
≈ 1,900 steps + 38 mi by car0.9 mi on foot · 1 day or moreAdvanced II · 9 stops · 800 credGetting there is not the hard part.Two days working west out of Paris to the terraces and woods that look back at it, ending on a two-kilometre balcony above the Seine. Nine stops, RER and a car or bus between several of them, and the last three are worth the clear weather.
Counted between stops; you'll walk more at each one.
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