Canal Saint-Martin’s chestnut rows and iron footbridges make a two-kilometer shade corridor through the 10th. Three picks along the water Amélie skipped stones on.
The canal’s horse chestnuts were planted for the barge horses; they now shade the quays for the picnic economy that replaced them. The east quay gets morning shade, the west gets afternoon — the iron footbridges at each lock let you switch sides in thirty seconds, which is the whole game.
These picks run the open stretch, the swing-bridge middle, and the southern third where the canal disappears under the Boulevard Richard-Lenoir — a planted median riding on top of the vaulted water.
The upper quays under full chestnut — switch sides at the first footbridge after 2 PM.
The postcard middle stretch — café terrace to café terrace across the swing bridge.
Over the vaulted canal on the planted median — fountains, pétanque, and the July Column ahead.
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