Paris: A Stroll Through Darkness at the Petite Ceinture

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The stench is the first thing that I notice as I enter the dark underworld of the Petite Ceinture, the long-abandoned more than 150-year-old railway line which traces the 32-kilometer perimeter of Paris.

Some parts of the Petite Ceinture are now open to the public, but the kilometer-long tunnels are barred and you have to be sneaky if you want to explore them.

I found a way in (see below), where the dank air smelled of urine, rot, and abandonment. It was the smell of a place forgotten.


Moving further on, the beam of the torch on my mobile creates a bubble of light in the almost impenetrable darkness.

It flashes at the stone walls on either side, and the circle of light picks out tags, scribblings, and crude drawings, as this abandoned place has probably for almost a century been witness to furtive meetings, drug use, rough sleeping, and teenage gatherings.


I walk slowly, wary of deep holes in the floor and obstructions on the tracks.

Everything is silent aside from the occasional drip of water from above, and the crunch of the gravel beneath my shoes.


A tag on the wall greets me with a 'Welcome to goblin den', but as I venture even deeper, the graffiti gives way to older stonework untouched for a century or more.

I can almost feel the weight of the city above me - millions of people, thousands of cars, centuries of bustling life - all oblivious to this secret subterranean realm.


Eventually, the tunnel exit comes visibly closer. It happens ever so slowly, and when I finally walk into the blistering sunlight, I feel almost jubilant.




Today the tunnels of the Petite Ceinture stand as a decaying vestige of Paris' industrial past, a time when trains circumnavigated the city on these hidden tracks, connecting stations and factories.

Most Parisians are oblivious to their existence, even as they walk on the streets directly above.

But if you descend through one of the secret entrances, you can - as an urban explorer - feel the lure of the underground, the appeal of the darkness, and the thrill of going off the map.



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PS If you want to explore some of the tunnels of the Petite Ceinture yourself, here is one entry point:


Jump this low wall at rue Branchion in the southern part of Paris, slide down a steep slope and you're on one of the completely abandoned stations of the old railway. If you follow the tracks towards the east, you come to one of the long tunnels (and you find an even longer tunnel further east at Rue Friant).

On the other hand - venturing down, as I did, alone and without having mobile coverage deep inside the tunnels, was not my brightest idea. I did not meet a soul down there, but petty crime is probably not uncommon, so the more company you bring, the merrier.

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