Meudon Forest & the Three Ponds
Four million visits a year, and still enough space that on a weekday morning you will hear nothing but woodpeckers.
- Address
- Forêt domaniale de Meudon, 92190 Meudon
- Website
- onf.fr/vivre-la-foret/foret-domaniale-pres-de-chez-moi/+/174b::foret-domaniale-de-meudon.html
- Opening hours
- Open at all times, all year round.
- Admission
- Free.
- Getting there
- Meudon Val Fleury (RER C) for the Three Ponds walk. Bus 169, 289 or 389 to “Trivaux – Hangar Y” for the eastern edge. Meudon or Bellevue (Line N) for the upper entrances.
The forest
The forêt domaniale de Meudon covers 1,086 hectares across Meudon, Clamart, Chaville and Sèvres in the Hauts-de-Seine, and Vélizy-Villacoublay and Viroflay in the Yvelines. It is what remains of the much larger forest of Rouvray, and it was a royal hunting reserve in the seventeenth century — which is why so many paths still meet in star-shaped junctions.
The ponds are not natural. They were dug to feed the waterworks of the château de Meudon, and the whole hydraulic network is still readable in the landscape if you know what to look for.
The Office national des forêts manages it and counts more than four million visitors a year, around fifteen thousand on a Sunday.
The Three Ponds walk
The classic route. Thirteen kilometres, starting from Meudon Val Fleury station, linking the étang de Chalais (the largest, four hectares), the étang de Meudon and the étang de Villebon. It passes the Hangar Y, the Observatory and the Art & History Museum — which makes it the single best way to see Meudon in a day on foot.
It is not a waymarked GR route and it is not wheelchair accessible. Bring the map: the town publishes a free forest plan.
Other routes
The ONF maintains several named itineraries: the Sentier des Treize Ponts, which is accessible to visitors with reduced mobility; the Vélizy fitness trail; the ponds loop; a hydraulic-network discovery trail; and the Pic Vert educational path.
The GR 2 long-distance path crosses the northern section, and the Île-de-France green belt runs through as well. Cycling is allowed on paths wider than 2.5 metres.