Batignolles is two neighbourhoods stitched together: a 19th-century village that still behaves like one, and a brand-new green quarter built on the railway lands behind it. The walk runs from the old to the new in under an hour, which is the whole point — you watch Paris change centuries as you go.
Start up rue des Batignolles, the low-rise high street, with a sidestep onto rue Lemercier for the quieter shopfronts. The village gathers at Place du Docteur-Félix-Lobligeois — a church, café terraces, the park gates behind. The Marché Biologique des Batignolles, the organic market, sets up along boulevard des Batignolles on Saturday mornings, if you've timed it.
Square des Batignolles is the English-style park of 1862: winding paths, a stream, a grotto built to look older than it is. Walk through it into Parc Martin Luther King, the new park on the old yards, and the century flips. At the north edge, Renzo Piano's glass Tribunal tower stands over the Clichy-Batignolles eco-quarter — then Pont Cardinet for the train back.
