Most visitors to Canal Saint-Martin stick to the tree-lined quais between République and Place de Stalingrad, nursing a coffee or a bottle of rosé. But the canal’s real character shows in its working parts: the nine locks that carry boats up and down the 25-metre difference in height between the Seine and the Bassin de la Villette, and the iron footbridges that arch over the water.
Digging began in 1802 and the canal was inaugurated in December 1825, as part of the network that brought drinking water to Parisians and carried boats into the city. The canal is about 4.5 kilometres long, and more than 2 kilometres of it run underground. It is still a working waterway, open to boats almost every day of the year.
The Locks: Engineering in Action
The canal leaves the Seine at the Port de l’Arsenal, next to Bastille. From there, boats travel north through the vaulted tunnel under the boulevards and come back into daylight at the Temple locks, near Rue du Faubourg-du-Temple. North of the Temple locks, the open canal climbs through more pairs of locks, among them the Récollets locks, before it reaches the Bassin de la Villette.
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Our free 8-page PDF guide: 25 places, from Galerie Vivienne's 1880 mosaic floor to Canal Saint-Martin's locks, each linked to its official site.
The locks are paired, so a boat rises in two steps, and you can follow its whole climb from the quay. Today the lock keepers no longer wind the gates by hand: according to the City of Paris canals page, the locks and the two swing bridges are worked remotely from control posts along the canal network.
The best way to watch is to stand by the Temple or Récollets locks and wait for a boat. Tour boats, pleasure boats and the odd working barge all pass through, and watching the water level change in the lock chamber takes only a few minutes.
The Footbridges: Cast-Iron Survivors
The canal is crossed by two swing bridges, two fixed bridges and six pedestrian footbridges. The footbridges were built between 1860 and 1890. The oldest, the Passerelle des Douanes, was assembled in 1860, and its three cast-iron arches became the model for the others; it now carries the name Passerelle Jane Birkin.
The Passerelle de la Grange-aux-Belles, built in 1877, is an exact copy of it and now bears the name of the actress Arletty. Other footbridges you’ll cross on a walk include the Passerelle Bichat (now Passerelle Michèle Morgan), the Passerelle Alibert and the Passerelle Richerand. The City of Paris tells their story in The footbridges of the Canal Saint-Martin.
The two swing bridges, at Rue Dieu and at Rue de la Grange-aux-Belles, turn aside to let boats pass. Stand on a footbridge above a lock and you get the canal’s best view: the water stepping down between the plane trees, with a boat waiting its turn.
Walking the Full Length
The open-air canal runs from Rue du Faubourg-du-Temple north to Place de Stalingrad and the Bassin de la Villette. South of the Temple locks the canal is underground, and you can follow its line above ground along the planted walk on Boulevard Richard-Lenoir to Bastille. Walking the whole way from Bastille (métro lines 1, 5 and 8) to the Bassin de la Villette takes a relaxed morning or afternoon with stops.
The canal splits the 10th arrondissement between Quai de Valmy on the west bank and Quai de Jemmapes on the east. Near the Grange-aux-Belles footbridge, the Hôtel du Nord on Quai de Jemmapes made the canal famous through Marcel Carné’s 1938 film of the same name; its façade and roof edge are listed as a historic monument, and today it is a brasserie and restaurant.
For morning pastries, walk a few streets west to Du Pain et des Idées, the bakery on Rue Yves Toudic. Between République and Jaurès, the side streets such as Rue Beaurepaire hold small shops and cafés; north of Jaurès the canal turns quieter before it opens out into the Bassin de la Villette.
Practical Details
The canal is open to walkers all year. Spring and early autumn are the most pleasant times for a long walk, and summer weekends bring crowds to the quais. In winter the plane trees lose their leaves and you see the ironwork of the locks and footbridges more clearly.
Métro République, Goncourt, Jaurès and Stalingrad all put you within a short walk of the canal. From the Bassin de la Villette you can carry on north along the Canal de l’Ourcq to the Parc de la Villette and the Cité des Sciences.
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Updated October 2026: corrected the number of locks, how they are worked, the footbridge dates and names, and the underground section; removed street numbers and shops we could not confirm; added a link and a photo for each part of the canal. Checked October 2026 against the City of Paris pages on the canals and on the Canal Saint-Martin footbridges, and the Hôtel du Nord and Du Pain et des Idées websites.
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