Jardin du Luxembourg

About Jardin du Luxembourg

The Jardin du Luxembourg is a 23-hectare formal garden on the Left Bank, laid out from 1612 for a queen who wanted a Florentine garden in Paris and built by the French Senate, which still owns the palace at its edge. Marie de' Medici, widow of Henri IV and regent for the young Louis XIII, commissioned both the garden and the adjoining Luxembourg Palace after her husband's assassination, modelling the design on the Boboli Gardens of her native Florence. Open daily with seasonal gates, roughly from 07:30-08:15 until 16:30-21:30 depending on daylight. Step-free entrances or public approaches, lifts where required, and accessible toilets serve principal visitor areas. Open daily with seasonal gates, roughly from 07:30-08:15 until 16:30-21:30 depending on daylight. Garden access is free; museum and Senate interiors are separate. Step-free entrances or public approaches, lifts where required, and accessible toilets serve principal visitor areas. RER B Luxembourg; Metro Odéon and Notre-Dame-des-Champs are farther. Yes. Worship, events, maintenance, weather and security can change ordinary access. No. Special tours, exhibitions and upgrades use separate tickets. Open daily with seasonal gates, roughly from 07:30-08:15 until 16:30-21:30 depending on daylight. Garden access is free; museum and Senate interiors are separate. Step-free entrances or public approaches, lifts where required, and accessible toilets serve principal visitor areas. RER B Luxembourg; Metro Odéon and Notre-Dame-des-Champs are farther. Open daily with seasonal gates, roughly from 07:30-08:15 until 16:30-21:30 depending on daylight. Garden access is free; museum and Senate interiors are separate. Step-free entrances or public approaches, lifts where required, and accessible toilets serve principal visitor areas. RER B Luxembourg; Metro Odéon and Notre-Dame-des-Champs are farther. Yes. Worship, events, maintenance, weather and security can change ordinary access. No. Special tours, exhibitions and upgrades use separate tickets. Open daily with

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

What's inside

A central octagonal pond, formal terraces and parterres around the palace, and a looser, tree-lined English-style section to the south and west. The formal terraces nearest the palace are laid out symmetrically in the French style, lined with statues of French queens and notable women, while the octagonal basin in front of the palace is where generations of Parisian children have sailed rented toy sailboats, a tradition that continues today. The Medici Fountain, a shaded grotto-style fountain from the garden's earliest years, sits in a quiet corner planted with plane trees. Garden access is free; museum and Senate interiors are separate. RER B Luxembourg; Metro Odéon and Notre-Dame-des-Champs are farther.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

How long to spend

An hour for a walk through the formal core and around the pond; half a day if the point is simply to sit, as many locals do. A brisk circuit of the main paths and the palace facade takes well under an hour. The Luxembourg Museum, in a separate wing of the palace complex, runs its own ticketed temporary exhibitions and is a separate visit with its own timing. Step-free entrances or public approaches, lifts where required, and accessible toilets serve principal visitor areas.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

Season and crowds

Open daily with seasonal gates, roughly from 07:30-08:15 until 16:30-21:30 depending on daylight. RER B Luxembourg; Metro Odéon and Notre-Dame-des-Champs are farther. Step-free entrances or public approaches, lifts where required, and accessible toilets serve principal visitor areas. Garden access is free; museum and Senate interiors are separate.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

Tickets

Garden access is free; museum and Senate interiors are separate. Open daily with seasonal gates, roughly from 07:30-08:15 until 16:30-21:30 depending on daylight. Step-free entrances or public approaches, lifts where required, and accessible toilets serve principal visitor areas. RER B Luxembourg; Metro Odéon and Notre-Dame-des-Champs are farther.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

Getting there

RER B Luxembourg; Metro Odéon and Notre-Dame-des-Champs are farther. Step-free entrances or public approaches, lifts where required, and accessible toilets serve principal visitor areas. Open daily with seasonal gates, roughly from 07:30-08:15 until 16:30-21:30 depending on daylight. Garden access is free; museum and Senate interiors are separate.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

What to watch out for

Step-free entrances or public approaches, lifts where required, and accessible toilets serve principal visitor areas. Open daily with seasonal gates, roughly from 07:30-08:15 until 16:30-21:30 depending on daylight. Garden access is free; museum and Senate interiors are separate. Step-free entrances or public approaches, lifts where required, and accessible toilets serve principal visitor areas. Historic surfaces, crowds and security remain relevant.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

Photography

The octagonal pond with the Luxembourg Palace behind it, shot from the terrace above the basin, is the garden's signature image and includes the sailboats when they are running. The Medici Fountain, in its shaded grotto setting with the long reflecting pool in front of it, photographs best in the dappled light under its plane trees rather than in direct midday sun. Garden access is free; museum and Senate interiors are separate.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

Where it is

• 1 hour

  1 min walk · Paris 6e Arrondissement

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External links