The best walks and hikes around Franconville

Entrance to the Cormeilles woods via the spring and the fountains a little higher up.

slope at 15% to get there from the banks of the seine on narrow and rolling roads. beginners refrain

Ideal for washing crampons, I'm not kidding! However, after my expedition through the fallen trees, it was still very practical. 😋

A good spot full of climbing! 🤩

Hello water drinkers. Take advantage of this fountain to fill your water bottles, because the water is good, despite the place being surrounded by massive urbanization....

Entrance to the forest of Cormeilles, interesting spot.

The Green Spaces Agency has just completed the development of the Belvédère des Rinvals. This platform, overlooking the surroundings of the Buttes du Parisis, has had the particularity of housing, since 2018, two book trees. The principle, supported by the Val Parisis agglomeration community, is unprecedented in regional forests. It is inspired by book boxes, in which everyone is free to pick up and drop off books. The site has had some success, used by fans of the "travel book" or simply for a reading stop in the middle of nature ... the installation of benches and wooden logs is appreciated! How to get there? The Belvédère des Rinvals is located halfway up the Buttes du Parisis, near the Maison forestières des Rinvals (offices of the Green Spaces Agency). It is accessible: via the Sente des Rinvals, from the chemin des Regards, in Franconville (5 minutes on foot) from the Chemin des Crêtes (10-minute walk), parallel to the RD102 strategic road, crossing the Buttes du Parisis from east to west from the RD102 strategic road, in Cormeilles-en-Parisis (15 minutes on foot). Take the path opposite the entrance to CAT La Montagne. Small signboards then line the path to the belvedere. It is advisable to put on good shoes: the last section of the access path to the belvedere has some small differences in height.

Redeveloped and embellished by waterfalls and a small canal, the former water production site (top right, the washhouse in the mid-19th century and one of the labels affixed to the bottles) has been transformed into a promenade . Beyond the historical aspect, we return a quality green space to the population. This will become a place for gathering, walking and conviviality. It's nature in the middle of the city! This shows that Montigny is a green city. We need breathing space in modern cities. » This inauguration also marks the end of a saga that began in the 2000s. At the time, the mayor, Robert Hue, began a long legal battle to recover the plot comprising the source and the old bottling plant. Because the water of Montigny-lès-Cormeilles had its hour of glory. At its peak in 1964, production reached 9 million bottles of still or sparkling water per year with the slogan “Drinking Montigny water means prolonging your life”. But in 1985, there were only 4 million bottles left and the factory closed its doors in 1993. After a troubled period when the dealership changed ownership several times, the city ended up buying the site from Nestlé. Waters for a symbolic euro in 2009. Robert Hue then intends to exploit the source again. He announces that he is going to return it to the population by creating a fountain where residents can drink for free. The source actually comes from the same groundwater as Franconville water marketed under the Cristaline brand until the closure of the production plant in 2012. But the municipality had to revise its copy. The draconian standards regarding the composition of water make it unfit for consumption. “Part of the water resurgence will be used by municipal staff for watering green spaces and residents will also be able to use it for this purpose using a hand pump,” explains Jean-Noël Carpenter.