West of Auteuil
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Stade Roland-Garros

West of place de la Porte d'Auteuil are two gardens: the Jardin des Poètes (daily 9am–6pm; free), with its entrance on avenue du Général Sarrail, and the Jardin des Serres d'Auteuil (daily 10am–5pm, closes 4pm in winter; €0.75; M° Porte-d'Auteuil), its main entrance at 3 av de la Porte d'Auteuil (or you can enter from the Jardin des Poètes). You can't escape the traffic noise completely, but the Jardin des Poètes is extremely tranquil. Famous French poets are each remembered by a verse (of a mostly pastoral nature) engraved on small stones surrounded by little flowerbeds. A statue of Victor Hugo by Rodin, almost obscured by a laurel bush, stands in the middle of this very informal garden. Approaching the Auteuil garden and the greenhouses (serres) from the Jardin des Poètes, you pass the delightful potting sheds with rickety wooden blinds. Then you're into a formal garden, beautifully laid out around the big old-fashioned metal-frame greenhouses. There may be a special exhibition on – azaleas in April, for example – in which case there'll be an extra entrance fee for the greenhouses.

Directly beyond the Jardin des Serres d'Auteuil is the Stade Roland Garros, venue for the French tennis championships. To the south is the main rugby and domestic football stadium, the Parc des Princes, at 24 rue du Commandant-Guilbaud, where apart from seeing a match, you can visit the Musée du Sport Français (daily except Wed & Fri 9.30am–12.30pm & 2–5pm; €3; M° Porte-de-St-Cloud). Here, books, posters, paintings and sculptures tell the history of French sport, along with trophies and boots, caps and gloves worn by the famous.

The Jardins Albert Kahn (Tues–Sun 11am–6pm; garden & museum entry €3.30; M° Boulogne-Pont-de-St-Cloud & M° Marcel-Semblat) at 14 rue du Port, to the south in the neighbouring suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt, consists of a very pretty garden and a small museum dedicated to temporary exhibitions of "Les Archives de la Planète" – photographs and films collected by banker and philanthropist Albert Kahn between 1909 and 1931 to record human activities and ways of life that he knew would soon disappear for ever. His aim in the design of the garden was to combine English, French, Japanese and other styles to demonstrate the possibility of a harmonious, peaceful world. It's an enchanting place, with rhododendrons and camellias under blue cedars, a rose garden and an espaliered orchard, a forest of Moroccan pines and streams with Japanese bridges beside pagoda teahouses, Buddhas and pyramids of pebbles. A palm hothouse has been turned into a very chic salon de thé, serving such delights as pear liqueur and marrons glacés sorbet.