Walk around in Strasbourg: parc de l’Orangerie

The Orangerie park is the oldest and largest public park in Strasbourg. Locals love to recharge their batteries in this 64-acre green lung, located right next to the European institutions. Visitors particularly appreciate the park’s long, shaded walks, the gardens, the Pavillon Joséphine, the Temple of Love, the lake lined with weeping willows, and the free-roaming storks.

Whether you’re visiting with your family, your partner or your friends, everyone can enjoy the park, no matter their age, their mood, or the season:

• The parc de l’Orangerie is the perfect place for a walk or a bike ride. You can amble along its many paths and tree-lined lanes, as well as around the lake.

• Botany enthusiasts can explore the gardens, such as the rose garden (in season), and the many species of plants and trees (impressive plane trees and lindens, hornbeams, sequoias, magnolias, pedunculate oaks…). 

The park was named after the greenhouse that housed a collection of 138 orange trees, which were given as a gift to the city of Strasbourg around the time of the French Revolution. They are no longer present today.

• Couples can kiss at the Temple of Love or beneath the arbor, take a romantic boat tour on the lake, or cuddle on a park bench. Many newlyweds choose the park as a backdrop for their wedding photos. 

• The Pavillon Joséphine was built in honor of empress Joséphine (wife of Napoléon Bonaparte), but she never stayed there. The pavilion now houses exhibits, events, and weddings.

• The Orangerie is home to various species of birds, and most notably a large number of free-roaming storks who build their nests in the trees and on the roof of the du Pavillon Joséphine. 

In the springtime, during the nesting period from March to April, the boulevard du Président Edwards, which runs along the southwest end of the park, transforms into stork boulevard as dozens of storks settle into the nests perched atop the trees that line the street.

• Foodies flock to the ice-cream stands in the spring and summer, and around the locomotives selling roasted chestnuts in the fall and winter (you can find them at the eastern entrance near the Temple of Love, and the south end near the main parking lot). 

Le Buerehiesel (which locals call Bu-Bu) – a restaurant in a charming half-timbered house located in the middle of the park– is an institution.

• Sporty people can go for a run around the park, use the outdoor gym, play on the multi sports turf pitches, or enjoy a game of ping-pong.

• The park contains several noteworthy fountains, sculptures, and statues, such as the statue de Gänseliesel, or Goose Lizzy, the protector of geese.

• Children can play on the playgrounds or try the vintage car ride. 

• The Orangerie’s many lawns are the ideal places to relax and share a picnic. The area with picnic tables and the boules pitch at the northeast end of the park are very popular on sunny days.

• Bookworms can pick a book at the little cabin library (« Livres en liberté ») and take a seat on a bench or one of the lawns to read.