One of the four botanical gardens maintained by Paris, the Jardin des serres d’Auteuil in the Bois de Boulogne is a treasure worth visiting. Created in 1761 under the rule of Louis XV, the garden is organized around five greenhouses. Palm trees, rare plants, succulents and cacti from North America, and 6,000 other plants fill the garden. In the main “serre” there’s an aviary, which fills the entire room with tweets and chirps and bird song. You’re likely to find parents and grandparents taking their young French children for a stroll through the surrounding gardens, designed in the style of an English garden, a Japanese garden, and a Mediterranean garden. It’s free for everyone to enter the greenhouses or walk around the garden outside, and hours vary depending on the season but you can always count on them to be open 8am to 4pm on weekdays and 9am to 5pm on weekends.