Walks in the Paris Region
A few questions, some answers
What's this "randonnée" business?
"Randonnée" is a general term in French for getting from one place to another place fairly distant, more or less under your own steam. Originally it meant doing it fast, but nowadays it implies doing it for fun.
This site is devoted to randonnées on foot; but trips on horseback or skis, with a bicycle, a canoe or a kayak are all regarded as forms of randonnée. Someone who does a randonnée is a "randonneur". That's us!
The Randonneurs d'Ile de France are a non-profit association of walkers in the Paris Region, though our walks quite often take us beyond the official boundaries of the Ile de France.
Our association has some 3500 members, which makes us the biggest group devoted to walking in the Paris Region. This has its advantages, as we hope you'll see from looking around this site.
Paris is a big city. Where do you walk?
People visiting Paris know the city for its streets. Arguably some of the most attractive and pleasant big-city streets in the world, but streets nonetheless. And the parks, though good for a stroll, are frankly pretty small.
In so thoroughly urban an environment it's hard to imagine fields, forests and villages. Yet just beyond the often unprepossessing suburbs is a world that offers exactly that. It is a countryside still largely preserved, and one that has been rich for two thousand years.
Because Paris is so highly urban, for a long time it concentrated its population in the city itself, then in the immediate suburbs. Urban sprawl is with us now, but it started a hundred years late compared, say, to London.
There's another factor: before the Revolution, France was jointly ruled by a monarchy and an aristocracy frequently at odds, but they all agreed that hunting was the best sport imaginable except for war. The hunting forests are still there. France has the largest wooded territory in Europe outside Russia, and in Paris the woods start literally at the city gates.
There is even an advantage for walkers in the Paris Region: there's no need to drive a car to go for a walk. In the Ile de France there are 380 train stations served by some 5000 trains a day. So at the RIF we normally catch a train, have a day out in the countryside, and catch another train back in the evening. Keep your carbon footprint small.
What sort of walks do you offer?
Day hikes are the centre of our activity. Click on quinze jours de randonnée to see what sort of outings are on offer for the current fortnight.
We have about a hundred a month, usually more, with something on every day.
In addition, more walks are often scheduled on an impromptu basis for the coming weekend or holiday.
Each entry indicates the length of the walk, usually in kilometres, sometimes in hours. The pace is marked, usually M (medium) but there's also L (lent) for slow walkers, S (sustained) for fast walkers and R (rapid) for serious athletes.
Nordic Walking (so called in French) is a relatively new discipline in which special carbon fibre ski poles are used for brief but intensive hikes. Click on nordic walking au RIF for further information.
Most walks have a title of some sort, followed by travel information and a brief description. Don't worry about all that French text: as you'll see it's mainly place names. The mention IGN gives map references. Click here to visit their online map store.
Members pay an annual fee, currently 56€ for an individual, to belong to the RIF and receive the printed program. Apart from train ticket and any other expenses, the walks themselves are free. Details of who is leading the walk and of travel times are naturally reserved for members only.
In addition we organize walking weekends and holidays further afield. Information on this activity is likewise reserved for members only.
Can I go on a walk with the RIF?
Yes you can! We have a "sample walks" programme: when you're ready to go on some walks with us, send us the form below. In return we'll send you by email full details (in French) of day hikes for the coming two-week period—and you'll be covered by our group accident insurance for free.
Trial walks application
The sample walks programme is intended for prospective members, so it's not renewable. If you enjoy walking and you live in the Paris region, you should consider joining us.
Even if you are only visiting Paris, come on a couple of these walks anyway. You'll have a warm welcome, meet lots of friendly people and enjoy an aspect of Parisian life you definitely wouldn't see from a tourist bus.
We need all this information so you can benefit from our group insurance coverage. None of this information will be communicated to a third party.
Under French privacy protection laws ("Informatique et Libertés" article 34) you have the right to inspect, modify, correct and delete information concerning yourself. To exercise this right, contact the RIF, 92 rue du Moulin Vert 75014 Paris, phone 01 45 42 24 72.
We'll send an extract from the detailed program, with full details of day hikes in the coming sixteen days (two weeks plus the weekends before and after). What then?
- Pick a couple of outings which seem suited to your abilities. If this is your first time out in a while, don't be too ambitious.
- Buy your train tickets.
- Be on the departure platform 15 minutes before departure time, in good time to catch the train.
- Find the group (not always easy: try the biggest group of hikers first) and introduce yourself to the leader of the walk.
- Have a good time.
Mise à jour le 13 février 2012
:: Click here to contact the RIF.