Where to Park in Paris : At four compass points of the busy capital are soothing spaces that break with tradition

PARIS — One of the glories of French civilization is the parks and gardens that seem to grace every corner of France. In Paris alone there are 400 parks (if you count the ones that double as neighborhood squares), and they are a never-ending source of delight to the world-weary, locals and travelers alike.

Most visitors know of the two most famous Paris parks, the centrally located Tuileries and Luxembourg gardens. Both are crowded in summer, but many visitors are unaware of other lush parks that are within easy reach and offer quiet glades in which to sit and gaze across green lawns, colorful flowers, and refreshing fountains and lakes. And since, after all, this is France, they also offer beautiful environments in which to eat delicious food.

For beleaguered Americans, whose urban parks too often contain an element of danger, it’s liberating to be able to wander freely in these vast, verdant spaces without fear. (The parks close at nightfall.) I spend several months a year in Paris, and among this embarrassment of riches, I have a handful of favorites, three old and two new.

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The grand Parc des Buttes-Chaumont and the Parc Montsouris were both created under the reign of Napoleon III in the mid-19th century. At the time, western Paris had the Bois de Boulogne and the east had the Bois de Vincennes. But the city’s newly developed north and south sectors were deprived of great open spaces.

Alphonse Alphand, a well-known engineer of his day who worked under Paris master-planner Baron George Haussmann, laid out these two parks in the 1860s and 1870s, respectively, following the then-fashionable naturalistic principles of the “wild” English landscape style. Americans may feel more at home in these than in most French parks that are organized around the formal French style of famed 17th century landscaper Andre Le No^tre. Yet in both these parks, the Gallic tendency toward perfectly manicured lawns and flower beds is still at work.

The Buttes-Chaumont, 55 acres in the northern reaches of the 19th arrondissement (sector), was for many years an unsavory area of slaughterhouses and dumps. Its steep cliffs were the site of quarries for gypsum that was made into what became known as plaster of Paris.

Chalky escarpments still dominate this very dramatic and romantic park, with its classical “folly,” a decorative little pavilion perched high above a lake with swans. The pavilion has the most lovely view of Montmartre in all of Paris. But be forewarned: With its stairways, steep paths and hilly topography, the Buttes is for the athletically inclined.

There are two fine bridges. One is a high, stone-and-brick arch called Suicide Bridge that stretches over a chasm (a mesh barrier now inhibits jumpers). The other is a long suspension bridge that gracefully spans the green lake. There are many rushing rivulets over wading stones, and waterfalls in little glades and grottoes, as well as drifts of carefully arranged wildflowers. It is filled with many remarkable botanical specimens, some more than a century old.

The Buttes also has playgrounds, donkey rides and boats for hire. There are two restaurants with terraces under chestnut trees (marronniers).

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The 40-acre Parc Montsouris at the southern end of Paris in the 14th arrondissement, is a politer version of the Buttes, with waterfalls, streams, a grotto and a lake. Also like the Buttes-Chaumont, it attracts wedding parties. During a visit on a Saturday last June, two white-gowned brides crossed my path.

Montsouris has some of the most beautiful flower-beds in Paris, and its lake has a story attached to it: On the day of the park’s inauguration, it dried up, and Alphand, the engineer, committed suicide in shame. Montsouris has 1,400 trees and many statues, including one of American patriot Thomas Paine.

The site was originally dotted with windmills, where much of Paris’ grain was milled. As a result, it was overrun with mice. Its original name, in fact, was Moquesouris, meaning “taunting the mice.” It’s somewhat shocking to know that underneath this sunny, joyful place are catacombs formed by old stone quarries, where the bones of 5 or 6 million former Parisians rest. (Perpetual graves are not the rule in France, and when plot leases expire, remains are moved here).

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In a different vein is the Jardin de Bagatelle, set within the massive Bois de Boulogne on Paris’ western outskirts. The Bagatelle has one of the world’s greatest rose gardens, as well as a lovely park with formal parterres, or formal flower beds, as well as the de rigueur lake, grotto and botanical specimen trees.

The garden dates to the 17th century, and during the 18th century it was a site of much aristocratic partying. In 1775, Marie-Antoinette’s brother-in-law, the Count of Artois, fell in love with the property, and the Queen bet him 100,000 pounds (the franc of the time) that he couldn’t rebuild its little chateau in time to entertain her there after her trip to Fontainebleau. He spent $2 million pounds in less than a year to win the bet.

The Scottish landscape gardener Thomas Blaikie set out the gardens. This caused an enormous scandal at the time, because his picturesque effects--with rivers, rocks and hillocks--flew in the face of the rigid order that had been established at Versailles by Le No^tre. But it succeeded as a political statement: The French Revolutionaries were so charmed that they didn’t tear it down. By 1835, the Marquis of Hertford, a friend of Napoleon III, bought it and enlarged it to its present 58-acre size.

What you come to Bagatelle for is the flowers, abundant in every season but winter. In 1906, J.C.N. Forestier, a friend of Claude Monet’s who was influenced by the impressionist’s gardens at Giverny, set up the flower beds. There are now 1,000 varieties of roses and 6,000 bushes. He also created a water-lily pond. There are other gardens devoted to one kind of flower--a wonderful iris garden, one each for peonies, clematis and rhododendron. On Sundays, swarms of water colorists come to paint the opulent blossoms.

The flowers are grouped in colors to look like impressionistic paintings, and the aromas are heady. Not for nothing has Guerlain named a delicious floral perfume Jardins de Bagatelle. Bagatelle also has a romantic, tree-shaded restaurant in the former stables.

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But the glory of French parks is an ongoing creation. Two new large parks, each completely original in concept and breaking with both French and English traditions, have been recently added to the Parisian landscape.

One, La Villette, is at the extreme northeastern edge of Paris in the 19th arrondissement, not far from the Buttes-Chaumont. Also built on the site of former slaughterhouses, La Villette was started in the mid-1980s and is just being finished now. The park was designed by Bernard Tschumi, a Swiss-American who won a design competition, and his park is a kind of cultural Disneyland. Its 132-acre site is crossed by two old canals, so getting here is half the fun. You can take a 10-minute canal boat ride from the Stalingrad Metro station, or a two to three hour ride from the Bastille or Musee d’Orsay stations.

The immensely popular park was the first in Paris to open its lawns for people to lie, walk and play on. It’s dotted with 24 red Cubist pavilions, and these have several uses and fantasies: a fountain-waterwheel, a cafe, an information booth, an observatory. There are amusing sculptures--a gigantic bicycle that looks as if it’s sinking into the grass and a huge “dragon” slide adored by children. There are several sub-gardens, with themes of water, bamboo and trellised grapevines.

At the northern end of the park is the City of Science and Industry, a futuristic museum with a shiny steel globe building and fascinating displays. At the southern end is a music conservatory and performance spaces. (Music is a major theme at La Villette, which hosts rock concerts and has a jazz nightclub.)

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On the southwest side of Paris in the 15th arrondissement, the Parc Andre-Citroen sits on the 34-acre grounds of the former Citroen car factories. Opened in 1992, the park is organized around a 500-yard-deep panoramic lawn descending to the Seine River, with superb greenhouses and an extraordinary fountain at the far end. Around this main space are clustered small, intimate gardens of wild beauty, as well as more formal small gardens. An elegant new viaduct carries the silver suburban train above ground along the river like a kinetic sculpture.

The open lawn is crisscrossed by water cascading, surging or still. But there is no attempt to mimic the “natural” ponds and streams of traditional parks. Everything here is modern and man-made, but user-friendly. On a hot day, people lounge along the edges, their feet dangling in the water.

Two tall glass greenhouses have the shape and proportion of Greek temples. Inside are tropical gardens and cactuses. Between them on the esplanade is a fountain composed of water jets in a checkerboard pattern on the pavement. Not unlike the fountains at L.A.’s Music Center and the Universal Citywalk, the water spurts up unpredictably, causing children to squeal with delight.

Several small, quiet gardens have arbors and chaises longues for sunbathing, and the planting, organized by color, is exuberant and wildly overgrown--very unusual in France. Near the Seine are a vast wild prairie of bamboo and flowers and a sculptured rock garden. There are plenty of places here to wander into the bushy greenery, and forget cities and people.

The only thing missing at Andre-Citroen is a restaurant, but one is planned. After all, for the French no pleasure is really complete without food.

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GUIDEBOOK: Strolling Through Parisian Parks

Note: During summer, be sure to reserve terrace tables at these park restaurants in advance. Prices are per person.

Parc des Buttes-Chaumont. Metro stops: Buttes Chaumont or Botzaris. Bus lines: Nos. 26 and 75. Restaurants: Le Pavillon Puebla (local telephone 42-08-92-62); open Tues.-Sat. to 10 p.m; Catalan and French cuisine; a la carte dishes $20-40; afternoon tea. Le Pavillon du Lac (tel. 42-02-08-97, 40-40-00-95); open Wed.-Sat. to 9 p.m.; a la carte dishes $10-$26 (Sunday fixed-price lunch about $45); drinks on terrace.

Parc de Montsouris. Metro stops: Gentilly, Porte d’Orleans or Cite Universitaire. Bus lines: Nos. 21, 28, 38. Restaurants: Pavillon Montsouris (tel. 45-88-38-52); open seven days until 10:30 p.m.; seafood specialties; fixed-price menu about $51.

Parc de Bagatelle. Metro stop: Pont de Neuilly. Bus lines: Nos. 43, 244. Restaurant: Les Jardins de Bagatelle (tel: 40-67-98-29); open seven days until 11 p.m; fixed-price lunch menu about $40.

La Villette. Metros stops: Porte de Pantin or Corentin Cariou. Bus line: No. 75. Canal boats: Canauxrama goes to and from the Port de l’Arsenal, a canal stop at the Bastille Metro station; 2 1/2-hour trips are $14 one way for adults. Paris Canal Croisiere goes to and from the Quai d’Orsay, in front of the d’Orsay museum, twice a day. Three-hour ride is $18 one way per radult.

Parc Andre-Citroen. Metro stops: Lourmel, Balard or Javel. Bus line: No. 42.

--B.S.