If Paris is often associated with its emblematic monuments and wide Haussmann boulevards, the capital also conceals unsuspected reliefs. Its buttes, natural or artificialhills, offer green breathing spaces and unexpectedviews over the city. Inherited from quarries, embankments or rural areas, they are a reminder that before it was a dense metropolis, Paris was also made up of villages and hilly landscapes.
Each hillock has its own personality. Some have known an intense popular life, with guinguettes, mills or neighborhood parties. Others have become landscaped gardens, shaped in the XIXᵉ century to offer Parisians new spaces for strolling. A few still harbor more discreet traces of their past, such as vineyards, winding staircases or picturesque alleyways.
The capital is said to have 13 hills, but when you use the exact definition and its 100-metre height limit, there are only 5 left, with the highest peaking at almost 130 metres! As for the others, their relief is not necessarily visible from the ground, but can be felt as you walk through their streets, as on Montagne Sainte-Geneviève.
Today, climbing these hills is another way of exploring Paris. Whether it's to discover a spectacular panorama, stroll through a hilly park, or simply enjoy the village atmosphere of certain districts, these little heights hold many surprises in store. Far from the usual tourist circuits, they reveal a more intimate and sometimes little-known Paris, where the capital is experienced "in relief".
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