The excellent FFRandonnée book Paris à pied contains three traverses of the city: one from north to south and two from west to east (one north and one south of the Seine). I have walked the first two of these (as listed below). Each may be attempted in one day by a fit walker, or may be split at any convenient transport point. Note, though, that the surfaces tend to be hard on feet — harder even than London surfaces. The northern west-east traverse is the longest and the hilliest of the three, with about 300m ascent.
- North-south traverse — 20km
From the Porte de la Villette (Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie) to the Parc Montsouris (next to the southern Cité Universitaire), via the Parc de la Villette (the former abattoir area), the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, the Canal St Martin and the Marais, the islands (including Notre Dame), the Left Bank and the Arènes de Lutèce, Les Gobelins, and the Butte aux Cailles. - West-east traverse (Northern hills) — 24km
From the Bois de Boulogne to the Porte Dorée (gateway to the Bois de Vincennes), via Monceau, Batignolles, Montmartre, Goutte d’Or, the Bassin de la Villette, the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, and Charonne. - West-east (Rive Gauche) — 21km
From the Bois de Boulogne to the Bois de Vincennes, via the Champ de Mars, the Jardin de Luxembourg, the Panthéon, the Arènes de Lutèce, the Jardin des Plantes, Bercy, and the Porte de Charenton.
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