Flights, camera, action: Set-jetting in Paris

This summer, Paris will take center stage in the sporting world—but the French capital has long been a star in the land of film and TV. Expedia’s Unpack ’24 report found that over half of vacationers have researched a destination after seeing it on screen and thanks to shows like Emily in Paris (pictured top), the city is at the forefront of set-jetting as well as sporting plans. Book your next break and explore the locations of these much-loved movies and series, all set to a Parisian backdrop. 

Live an Emily in Paris fairy tale

The improbably perfect Parisian life of the 20-something marketing assistant is centered around Place de l’Estrapade in the Latin Quarter. The Rue de Fossés Saint-Jacques, which runs through the square, is home to Emily’s apartment, her bakery-of-choice La Boulangerie Moderne, and Gabriel’s restaurant, which was set in Terra Nera—in real life, an Italian bistro. The glitzy Savoir agency is in Place de Valois, near Bistrot Valois, where the staff head for a vin blanc or three after a hard day’s marketing champagne sprays and luxury watches.

Then there are the gardens of the Palais Royal, where Emily lunches with new pal Mindy. Other locations include Palais Garnier, the opera house famous for The Phantom of the Opera and the extravagant Pont Alexandre III (also seen in Midnight in Paris). To easily visit multiple Emily in Paris locations, book a walking tour.  

Stroll streets as seen by Amélie 

This glorious piece of Parisian cinema was filmed in Montmartre, 18th arrondissement, a visitor hotspot famed for the Sacré Coeur (itself a star in Amélie) and a rich art history—as well as being home to two windmills and an inner-city vineyard. Among the most notable streets are the winding, picturesque Rue de l’Abreuvoir, and Rue Lepic, home to Vincent Van Gogh and the Café des 2 Moulins, where Audrey Tautou’s Amélie worked. An essential pilgrimage point for fans, the tabac counter is gone, but all else remains familiar—there’s even a crème brûlée, the dessert beloved of Amélie, named after her on the menu.

Around the corner is Maison Collignon, the grocery store below Amélie’s apartment, which has held on to the signage from the movie and sells souvenirs alongside the pêches and pommes de terre. Outside Montmartre, the Canal Saint-Martin, a tree-lined waterway and the focal point of an increasingly hip neighborhood, is where Amélie often partook in a spot of stone skipping. 

Call into the restaurants of Call My Agent!

Many a scene from Call My Agent!, the global Netflix smash about the beleaguered agents at a talent agency, was filmed on Rue de Rivoli, a hop and skip from the Louvre and running alongside the Jardin des Tuileries. The agency is situated around the corner at 149 Rue Saint-Honoré. Many of Paris’s finest eateries feature in scenes where the agents wine and dine their actor clients, or star in dramas of their own. Famous brasserie Le Grand Colbert (2 Rue Vivienne) features in the classic scene where Mathias collides with his wife and secretary (and mistress) while dining with his estranged secret daughter and her mother. Awkward.

An affordable option with a staggering view is the Les Îlots de Chaillot (at the dance theater of the same name), where Mathias gets dumped by his celebrity clients. Eat brunch while marveling over the Eiffel Tower, in surroundings you’d expect a higher price tag for.   

Find reads and romance Before Sunset

Nine years after their (very) whirlwind Viennese romance, Before Sunrise, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy have their second 12-hour get-together in Paris. The go-to location is the famous Shakespeare & Company Bookshop, a local institution on the banks of the Seine opposite Notre-Dame. This isn’t the store’s only cinematic rodeo—it also featured in Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris and Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia.

In Before Sunset, there is a whole lot of flâneuring by the lovebirds along Rue Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre, home of one of the oldest churches in Paris, and a boat trip along Quai de la Tournelle. The other must-do location is Le Pure Café (14 Rue Jean-Macé), where they stop for a café au lait and a cheeky Gauloise. Typically Parisian, it’s also excellent for non-French fodder (poke bowls and butter chicken are signature dishes) should you tire of croque monsieurs—were such a thing possible. 

Crack The Da Vinci Code

Robert Langdon, The Da Vinci Code‘s “professor of symbology” had impeccable taste in hotels—staying at the grandiose Ritz Paris while attempting to crack the Da Vinci mystery. If it remains resolutely off budget as a place to lay your head after a day of set-jetting, then experience the French capital’s swishest hotel with the famous grand brunch on Sundays, or a Serendipity cocktail in Bar Hemingway.

Of course, the movie also famously features the Louvre, the Palais Royal, and the Saint-Sulpice Church, the third largest in Paris—though only the exterior because the city’s archdiocese refused permission for filming inside.