In a city short on green spaces, Parisian picnickers have learned to improvise - unfurling their tablecloths on the Pont des Arts pedestrian bridge over the Seine or hunting tiny triangles of grass behind the Palais Royal. Paris is one of the best cities in the world to shop for a picnic and the browsing is just as important as the eating.

Start with the local markets. One of the best is Boulevard Richard Lenoir (9am-7pm every Sunday, metro Bastille). You'll find cheesemongers shading massive bries, artisan bakers selling poppy-seed flutes and huge brioches; pâtissiers with tarte tatin and charcutiers displaying all kinds of pâtés and foie gras, organic grocers and apple juice made by Picardie farmers. For hot picnics, there are stalls roasting chickens and grilling Toulouse sausages.

If you'd rather criss-cross Paris to find the best shops, start with cheese at Barthelemy (51 rue de Grenelle in the 7th arrondissement, metro Rue du Bac). This tiny shop is Paris's altar of cheese, run by the award-winning Roland Barthelemy. With over 200 varieties, one of the white-coated advisers will talk you through the crottin de Chavignol, camembert, brie noir or Barthelemy's own creations. President Chirac counts it among his suppliers.

For bread and pastry, go to Arnaud Delmontel's Pâtisserie Boulangerie La Rennaissance (39 rue des Martyrs in the 9th arrondissement, metro Notre Dame de Lorette, arnaud-delmontel.com). Voted pâtisserie of the year 2006, Delmontel specialises in elaborate chocolate or fruit mousse creations and his cakes with flavours such as fig and mint or apricot and basil are as legendary as his almond croissants. The breads and quiches and his huge bowls of salads, mean you can buy most of your picnic in one shop.

For gourmand shopping under one roof head for the recently redesigned Grande Epicerie, the designer food-hall at Bon Marché (38 rue de Sèvres in the 7th arrondissement, metro Sèvres-Babylone, lagrandeepicerie.fr), with stuffed crab, duck mousse or pots of tapenade ready to take out, plus an excellent cheese counter and a charcuterie. In the freezer section, look for Provençal almond ice cream and Glace Calissons D'Aix.

For somewhere green and quiet to lay down your picnic blanket for a whole afternoon, you could take the metro east of Paris to the Bois de Vincennes (entry €1, boisdevincennes.com). This former royal forest with a selection of lakes is Paris's biggest park. For the forest and the zoo, get out at metro Porte-Dorée. The smaller Parc Floral is a walk from metro Château de Vincennes and has a bewildering array of children's climbing frames.

For the best of Paris's post-modern architectural parks, sit by the canal in Parc de la Villette (metro Porte de Pantin or Porte de la Villette, flybe.comvillette.com) in the 19th arrondissement. An eccentric array of red metal follies, hidden nooks, walkways and stretches of grass, la Villette is also a cultural centre with two theatres, a popular science museum and La Cité de la Musique. There is an open-air cinema in July and August.

To observe Paris's Sunday afternoon boho crowd, head for Canal St Martin, and stake out your patch on the grass at the tiny Jardin Villemin park (metro Republique or Gare de l'Est) and catch a jazz band or watch a game of petanque. Or if you want to join the trendy crowd with bottles of beer and fishing rods, settle on the canal-edge where people read poetry under the trees.

A Parisian weekend picnic favourite is the Bois de Boulogne, another vast expanse of woodland, this time to the west of the city (metro Porte Maillot or Les Sablons) ... but leave well before dark when the kerb-crawlers arrive.