Jardin de la Perrine
Most visitors walk straight past the iron gates of the Jardin de la Perrine without realising that a formal French garden with panoramic city views lies just beyond. Laid out in the 19th century on a hillside above the Mayenne, it is Laval's most peaceful and most overlooked green space.
The Garden Itself
The terraced layout follows the natural slope of the hill, with clipped box hedges, rose beds, and a small ornamental pond at the lower level giving way to wilder shrubbery and mature plane trees higher up. The geometry is satisfying without being stiff.
A bandstand dating from the Belle Époque sits at the garden's heart and hosts free concerts on summer Sunday afternoons — a genuinely lovely local ritual that feels entirely unperformed for tourists.
The upper terrace contains a small aviary with tropical birds, which surprises and delights children and adults alike. It has been here since the 1890s and feels wonderfully anachronistic.
The Views & When to Visit
From the upper terrace, the view sweeps across the Mayenne valley to the wooded hills beyond — you can see the cathedral spire, the castle keep, and the river in a single glance. It is the best elevated viewpoint in the city and almost never crowded.
Spring is the garden's finest season: the rose beds peak in June and the wisteria along the entrance pergola blooms in May in cascades of violet. Autumn brings golden plane-tree foliage that carpets the gravel paths.
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