This popular raised walkway, also known as the Coulée Verte, follows the route of the old Bastille–St Maur railway. You can join it from the steps or lift on avenue Daumesnil, just south of the Bastille Opera, or at points along the way. Its 4.5km are imaginatively landscaped with bowers, cascades and sculptures, and offer fascinating vignettes along the way. The most interesting section takes in the Viaduc des Arts, a community of around 50 artists and craftsmen, snugly housed beneath the old railway arches. Further on, Picpus Cemetery (35 rue de Picpus) makes for a good hour’s historical detour. Over a two month period in 1794, 1,036 people were buried in mass graves here after being guillotined on the former place du Trône (off place de la Nation). Many were commoners and their names and occupations are engraved in the cemetery chapel. The main section of the cemetery is reserved for the cream of French high society, among them General Lafayette, over whose tomb the stars-and-stripes flutter. The promenade ends just short of the Porte Dorée, where you’ll find the aquarium and the new Cité Nationale de l’Histoire d’Immigration (www.histoire-immigration.fr). The city’s biggest green space, the Bois de Vincennes (p.184), is a short walk away.