Want to step into the shoes of Emily Cooper, the young American who has recently arrived in Paris (played by Lily Collins in Darren Starr’s new Netflix series)? No problem. We’ve put together a list of 10 of the iconic locations where shooting took place so you can visit them for yourself and feel like you’re back in the series.
© Stéphanie Branchu Netflix
Emily (Lily Collins) and Gabriel (played by Lucas Bravo) live in the building at No. 1 on this attractive square in the 5th arrondissement. There’s a fountain here, and a few benches on which to sit and enjoy eating a croissant you’ve just bought from Boulangerie Moderne at one end of the square. It is in this very bakery that Emily buys her first pain au chocolat and gets her first taste of the buttery, chocolate-filled pastry, after which she becomes a regular customer. The restaurant where Gabriel works is also located here. It is called ‘Les Deux Compères’ in the series, but is actually a delightful Italian restaurant called Terra Nera. Place de l’Estrapade is only a short distance from the Jardin du Luxembourg, where we see Emily going for her jog in the second episode, and from the Panthéon, in front of which she is standing when she breaks up with her boyfriend back in Chicago.
Place de l’Estrapade, Paris 5th
© DR
The offices of Savoir, the (fictional) marketing agency for which Emily works, are at 6 Place de Valois. Located in the heart of the capital, a stone’s throw from the Louvre and Place Colette, the square is home to the Grand Hôtel du Palais Royal as well as the Bistrot Valois, where Emily gets together with her colleagues at the end of the second episode and at various other times in the series. There is also an art gallery, which is entered from the adjoining street.
Place de Valois, Paris 1st
© Carole Bethuel Netflix 2020
Leading straight off Place de Valois is the Jardin du Palais Royal, where Emily decides to take her first lunch break in Paris. It is here, while she is sitting near the fountain on a bench bearing the words Aujourd’hui, c’est demain et hier qui s’épousent [The present is a marriage of the past and the future] that she meets Mindy (Ashley Park). The two young women go on to become fast friends and spend a lot of time together as the series goes on. The art installation ‘Les Deux Plateaux’ (commonly known as Buren’s Columns), where Emily and Mindy take a selfie together, can be found in this garden. North of the Jardin du Palais Royal is the Michelin-starred restaurant Le Grand Véfour, where Emily tries (and fails) to get a table. It’s not the only Michelin-starred restaurant in the area: there is also the Restaurant du Palais Royal a little further on.
Domaine national du Palais Royal, place Colette, Paris 1st
© Carole Bethuel Netflix 2020
The Café de l’Homme is the place where the launch party for the release of the (fictional) Maison Lavaux’s new fragrance De l’heure is held. Located in Trocadéro inside the Palais de Chaillot (formerly the headquarters of the UN and NATO), the Café de l’Homme offers a magnificent view of the Eiffel Tower. In fact, the view is so spectacular it leaves Emily speechless. Several major Paris museums are to be found in the surrounding area: the Musée de l’Homme, the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, the Musée Guimet, the Palais de Tokyo, the Palais Galliera and the Musée Yves Saint Laurent.
Café de l'Homme, 17 place du Trocadéro et du 11 Novembre, Paris 16th
© Courtesy of Netflix
The advertising campaign for the new perfume De l’heure is shot on the famous Pont Alexandre III, an iconic Paris bridge opened during the 1900 Universal Exhibition, or world’s fair, and now a listed monument. It is on the terrace of the Bistrot Alexandre III on the quayside a short distance away that Emily has an argument with her boss Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) and their client Antoine (William Abadie) after stopping the shoot. Near here are the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, together with the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, on one side, with the Hôtel des Invalides and esplanade on the other.
Pont Alexandre III, Paris 7th
© Carole Bethuel Netflix 2020
The Hôtel d’Evreux is a private mansion at Number 19 on the sumptuous Place Vendôme. It is in this location steeped in history that the (fictional) beauty brand Durée organizes an influencer event to which Emily is invited. The ultra-chic Ritz Paris is a few doors down, at Number 15. Place Vendôme is a Parisian square renowned for its high-end boutiques, especially jewellery stores. Connected to Place de l’Opéra via Rue de la Paix, Place Vendôme has featured in many films and TV series shot in Paris. It appears several times throughout Emily in Paris.
Hôtel d'Evreux, 19 place Vendôme, Paris 1st
© Stéphanie Branchu Netflix 2020
The Atelier des Lumières is a highly unusual museum: the only one of its kind in Paris. Housed in a former foundry, it is now entirely given over to immersive digital exhibitions. That’s why Emily, Camille and Gabriel feel like they’re walking inside paintings such as Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night (1888). A 20-odd minute walk from the museum brings you to the charming harbour known as Port de l’Arsenal, where things get awkward between Emily and Fabien (Michel Biel), a young Frenchman she meets at a party. In the background you can see the July Column, located on Place de la Bastille. On the other side, to the east of the Atelier des Lumières, are the banks of the Canal Saint-Martin where Emily, Gabriel, Thomas (Julien Floreancig) and Camille (Camille Razat) go for a stroll after having crepes for dinner at Lulu la Nantaise.
© Carole Bethuel Netflix 2020
Mindy calls Rue de l’Abreuvoir ‘the prettiest street in Paris’ and explains to Emily that it is also called la rue qui va au bout, i.e. the road that leads to the end. While neither of those things is officially true, Rue de l’Abreuvoir is definitely one of the quaintest streets in Montmartre! This is where Emily decides to set up a marketing campaign for Hästens beds, and it’s also where Maison Rose, the charming restaurant where Emily and Mindy have dinner in the fifth episode, is located. Opened in 1908 by Germaine Pichot, Maison Rose once played host to many famous people, including Pablo Picasso, Edith Piaf and Albert Camus.
Rue de l’Abreuvoir, Paris 18th
© Carole Bethuel Netflix 2020
The Café de Flore, another legendary spot in Paris, was also once frequented by famous writers, philosophers, actors and designers, among them Ernest Hemingway, Albert Camus, Boris Vian, Jane Fonda, Brigitte Bardot and Yves Saint-Laurent. In the series, Emily spends an evening on the terrace of the café, where she meets Thomas. He tells her about the history of the Café de Flore and also mentions a neighbouring and equally popular café, Les Deux Magots. Both these iconic cafés are not to be missed when exploring the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district.
Café de Flore - 172 boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris 6th
Stéphanie Branchu Netflix 2020
This is the amazing location where the Fourtier party takes place in Episode 7. Forget the tense atmosphere at the party – in reality, the Musée des Arts Forains is a place that enchants people of all ages. The museum is open to the general public only during the European Heritage Days and over the Christmas holidays (when it hosts the Festival du Merveilleux, or festival of wonder), but it can be visited in the course of a guided tour by prior booking. The museum houses some incredible vintage funfair attractions, like a bicycle merry-go-round, carousels that are more than 100 years old, and many other funfair games, like the Waiters Race fleetingly seen in Emily in Paris.
Musée des Arts Forains - Pavillons de Bercy - 53 avenue des Terroirs de France, Paris 12th
Plus:
Several other iconic places in Paris feature in various episodes – for example, the Palais Garnier, where Emily goes to watch a performance of Swan Lake in Episode 6, the Plaza Athénée hotel, where Brooklyn Clark (Carlson Young) is staying in Episode 7, the Pont des Arts and the Quai de Conti, along which we see Emily running at the start of Episode 3, and the courtyard of the Monnaie de Paris (the Paris Mint), which we catch a glimpse of in the final episode, when the duo behind the (fictional) fashion brand Grey Space take over the venue and post photos of their stunt on Instagram.
