10 Famous Movie Locations in Paris

Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a wide, tree-lined boulevard in the heart of Paris, constructed in the 17th century. It links such celebrated Parisian sights as the Arc de Triomphe, the Élysée Palace and the Place de la Concorde, and hosts parades, parties and major celebrations. It's the quintessential Parisian setting for any film. 

It's on the Champs-Elysées that Liam Neeson has a clandestine meeting with an old CIA contact in the riveting thriller movie Taken (2008). The Champs-Élysées Gardens, which border the avenue, are also where Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant meet up at a marionette show in Charade (1963). Marionette artists still perform in the park's open-air Théâtre Guignol, keeping alive a tradition that started in 1818.

Café des Deux Moulins is a timeless French bistro located in the charming, cobbled streets of Montmartre. It's also the cafe where the titular character works in Amélie (2001), the endearing tale of an eccentric girl's life in Paris. The cafe still looks almost exactly as it did in the film, giving you a taste of what makes classic Parisian bistros so famous. 

Try their 'Crème Brûlée d'Amélie', a classic crème brûlée dish flavoured with vanilla beans, which featured in the film as Amélie's favourite treat. Definitely more of a tourist stop than a gastronomic experience, the menu also features French classics like croque-monsieur and escargots.

Woody Allen's whimsical fantasy film Midnight in Paris (2011) is filled with beautiful Parisian scenery, but if you only visit one location, make it the Church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont. On the broad steps in front of this beautiful 16th-century church, Owen Wilson's character is transported back in time to Jazz Age Paris and whisked away to meet Hemingway, Dalí and Gertrude Stein. 

The church contains several 17th-century stained-glass windows, a highly embellished antique organ, and the only surviving rood screen in Paris. It's also home to the shrine of Saint Geneviève, patron saint of Paris, who rests in an ornate gold sarcophagus. Sit out on the steps as the sun goes down and recreate your own cinematic Paris moment.

La Grande Cascade is housed in a former royal hunting lodge and is the most luxurious and opulent restaurant in Paris. As such, it's been used as a setting for many classic French movies. This is the restaurant Séverine (played by Catherine Deneuve) meets her lover in the controversial movie Belle de Jour (1967).

More romantically, this famous movie location in Paris is also where William Holden and Audrey Hepburn dine together in the romantic comedy Paris When It Sizzles (1964). It's a perfect setting for romance, with sumptuous interiors and graceful Art Nouveau ironwork framing sweeping floor-to-ceiling windows. Sit on the terrace and take in the views of the surrounding Bois de Boulogne, a beautifully landscaped public park.

Pont de Bir-Hakeim is a graceful steel bridge with flowing Art Nouveau lines. It's named after a WWII battle and features many commemorative plaques dedicated to French soldiers. You'll probably recognize the structure from Inception (2010), where it's used as the eerie mirror bridge that Ariadne creates in her dream.

Bir-Hakeim Bridge is also the place where Marlon Brando sees his lover for the first time in Last Tango in Paris (1972). It's a favourite spot for fashion shoots and wedding pictures, thanks to cinematic views of the Eiffel Tower in the background. From the bridge, you can reach Allée des Cygnes, a pretty park in the middle of the River Seine.

An elegant plaza at the centre of Paris, the Place Vendôme was built by Louis XIV in the 17th century. Its graceful colonnaded buildings are home to elegant hotels and the city's most upmarket boutiques. It's at the Place Vendôme that Peter O'Toole tests his boomerang by throwing it off his hotel balcony in How to Steal a Million (1966).

You'll also spot the Place Vendôme briefly in a high-speed automobile chase through Paris in The Bourne Identity (2002), and as the location of Langdon's stylish hotel in The Da Vinci Code (2006). In the middle of the square, a towering bronze column created from hundreds of melted enemy cannons is topped by a statue of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Hôtel de Soubise is a famous movie location in Paris, serving as the setting of many period dramas. Most notably, it stood in for the Palace of Versailles in Sofia Coppola's lush historic epic, Marie Antoinette (2006). Several scenes were filmed in the drawing room, ornately decorated in powder blue and gold with a breathtaking chandelier.

A beautiful 18th-century mansion with formal gardens, Hôtel de Soubise was also used as the Paris home of the White Widow in Mission: Impossible Fallout (2018) and doubled as the residence of the French President in the opening sequence of The Day of the Jackal (1973). It currently houses the National Archives, and hosts exhibitions and musical performances throughout the year.

Promenade Plantée is an elevated 3-mile walkway along an abandoned railroad line. It cuts right through the centre of Paris from the Bastille to the Bois de Vincennes, with panoramic views of Parisian rooftops along the way. The walkway resembles a formal garden, with large trees and rose bushes that climb arching pergolas, and decorated with small reflecting pools.

Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy took a romantic stroll along the promenade in Before Sunset (2004), while they relived the night they met. The movie also takes a turn around famous Paris landmarks like Pont Neuf and bookstore Shakespeare & Company, so it's worth watching for Paris fans dreaming of their next visit.

The magnificent 17^th-century Church of Saint-Sulpice is famous for its striking chapel frescoes, painted by renowned French artist Eugène Delacroix. The church became famous when it featured in The Da Vinci Code (2006), where it holds one of the key clues that lead to the discovery of the Holy Grail.

In the movie, the characters visit Saint-Sulpice to see the 'Rose Line', a pagan astronomical device that marks the Paris Meridian. The Rose Line is fictional, but the church does have a brass line set on the floor, which runs north to south. The spring equinox and the summer solstice are marked on the line by a gold disk and a marble plaque.

Pont des Arts is instantly recognisable from the thousands of small locks decorating the sides. It's a popular spot for lovers to come and add their own lock to the bridge, symbolising their everlasting love. Pont des Arts featured in the dramatic finale of Sex and the City (2008), where Mr Big and Carrie share a romantic kiss on the bridge.

Numerous action movies have used the bridge, from the scene where Jason Bourne mysteriously vanishes in The Bourne Identity (2002) to the dramatic final reveal at the end of the heist thriller Now You See Me (2013). After you've snapped a few pictures, you can continue to the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe on the north bank.