The best drawing spots in Paris

Looking for the best places for fine drawing in Paris? Here's my top 5!

1. Petit Palais

   Av. Winston Churchill, 75008 Paris - metro Champs-Elysées Clémenceau

   Built for the 1900 World's Fair, this museum is located near the Pont Alexandre III. You'll find jewelry and figurines from antiquity, as well as modern art, marble sculptures and huge paintings. It's not a museum with big bangers by da Vinci or van Gogh, but this way you can draw quietly and perhaps discover new favorites.

   Feel like a four-hour snack after your drawing session? Then be sure to check out the beautiful, green courtyard garden.
   As you stroll through the galleries, you'll feel like you're somewhere else, far away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

   Drawing workshops are also held throughout the year in conjunction with the temporary exhibitions.

2. Jardin des Plantes

   57 Rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris - metro Jussieu

   The botanical garden or Jardin des Plantes is the perfect place for those who like to draw teeming plants and flowers. Everywhere there are explanations about the use of medicinal plants and herbs. In the spring, the trees are in bloom and I love coming there with lots of pinks and greens in my pen bag. More exotic species can be found at the back of the park, in the impressive Art Deco-style glass conservatories (5-7€).

   If you prefer to draw animals, you can visit the Menagerie - the second oldest zoo in the world after Vienna's Tiergarten Schönbrunn. The Menagerie was founded just after the French Revolution, in part to give the animals of the private royal zoo at Versailles a new home and to open the zoo to ordinary Frenchmen. You can also visit the Grande galerie de l'évolution for a large collection of stuffed animals or the Museum of Natural History (10€).

3. Square René Viviani

   25 Quai de Montebello, 75005 Paris - metro Cité

   Square René Viviani is a small urban park with a beautiful view of Notre Dame. Sit with your sketchbook on one of the benches under the trees or by the rose garden. You might even run into other sketch artists.
   Also in the park is the Gothic church of Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre, built in the same period as Notre Dame and thus one of the oldest churches in Paris.

   Enough with the drawing? Then check out the extremely popular English-language bookstore Shakespeare and sons, head to the café right next door for donuts and bagels or walk along the water past the bouquinistes until you reach Île Saint Louis for a top-notch ice cream at Berthillon.

4. Musée de la vie romantique

   16 Rue Chaptal, 75009 Paris - metro

   Musée de la vie romantique is housed in a villa built in 1830. It is the former residence of Dutch painter Ary Scheffer (1795-1858).

   This museum too, apart from temporary exhibitions, is free to visit and well worth it for those who love antique interiors, red velvet and romantic paintings. On the first floor are exhibits by George Sand, the French writer and neighbor of Ary who often visited the him.

   Do you feel like viewing or drawing the house with its green shutters and climbing plants from the outside?
   Then take a seat in the garden, with a tea or a pastry from the Rose Bakery tea room.

5. Parc des Buttes-Chaumont

   1-7 rue Botzaris, 75019 Paris - metro

   This park is located in the northeastern part of the city. It was laid by Napoléon III in the English style. So there are bridges, caves and hills à volonté. There is even a little temple on one of the hills. It is also a perfect place for a picnic.