Audrey Hepburn as a Greenwich Village bookseller swept off to Paris for a fashion shoot: the original film that used Paris as a backdrop for style.
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Jo (Audrey Hepburn) is a New York bookseller taken to Paris for a fashion shoot by the photographer Dick (Fred Astaire). Start at the Louvre, where she runs down the Winged Victory staircase in a red dress. Outside, the Carrousel arch, where she poses with balloons in the rain, is three minutes away, and the Pont des Arts, where she poses fishing from a boat, is under 10 minutes.
In the song 'Bonjour, Paris!' the three characters each tour the city on their own. The magazine editor Maggie's part fits in one short walk: the Ritz, Rue de la Paix and the Opéra Garnier are each about five minutes apart. On another day, go north to Gare du Nord, where Jo poses as Anna Karenina among the trains, then walk about 15 minutes up to Sacré-Cœur. Save the Eiffel Tower for the end: the song ends at the top, where the three meet again.
Versailles is about 14 km out: take the RER C to Versailles Château Rive Gauche for the scene where Jo releases a white dove by the Latona fountain. Up at Sacré-Cœur, the places of Amélie are just a few steps away.
12 filming locations.
The 'Bonjour, Paris!' number ends here: Jo, Dick and Maggie, each off sightseeing alone, bump into one another at the top of the tower. The famous red-dress shot is at the Louvre, not here.
Access · Exterior only
Hepburn, in a red strapless Givenchy gown, sweeps down the Daru Staircase past the Winged Victory of Samothrace calling 'Take the picture!': the film's red-dress shot and one of the most imitated museum shots in cinema.
Access · Ticket required
In the photo-shoot montage Jo (Audrey Hepburn), the shy bookshop clerk turned model, sweeps down the marble Grand Staircase while the photographer Dick Avery (Fred Astaire) takes her picture. You can see the staircase on a visit to the opera house.
Access · Ticket required
During the 'Bonjour, Paris!' number the photographer Dick Avery (Fred Astaire), just arrived in the city, sets off sightseeing on his own up the Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe. You can climb to the roof of the arch for the view down the avenue.
Access · Public space
Dick Avery photographs Jo, laughing under a cloud of coloured balloons in the rain, with Napoleon's little pink-marble arch behind her. The arch and the gravel esplanade between the Louvre wings and the Tuileries look exactly as they did in 1956.
Access · Public space
Dick tells Jo 'You're Anna Karenina' and she poses, wreathed in steam, beside the Flèche d'Or boat train on the platforms. The great iron-and-glass train shed of Hittorff's station is still one of the busiest in Europe, and the platform ends still have that Belle Époque light.
Access · Working station: the main hall is public; some platforms can be reached only with a valid ticket, and the Eurostar platforms only after check-in.
During 'Bonjour, Paris!' the magazine editor Maggie Prescott sweeps out of the Ritz and dances with a line of Paris cab drivers at its entrance. The hotel's awninged doorway and the octagonal square around the Vendôme column are unchanged.
Access · Exterior; interior by reservation
Jo's share of 'Bonjour, Paris!' takes her up to Montmartre, where the song promises philosophers and the hill is 'dominated by the dazzling white dome of Sacré-Cœur'. The basilica's steps and the view over the whole city are the same reward today.
Access · Public space
In the photo-shoot montage Jo, dressed for the river, lands a tiny fish from a boat on the Seine by the Pont des Arts while Dick snaps away. The footbridge between the Louvre and the Institut de France remains the city's favourite place to linger over the water.
Access · Public space
The 'fairytale' evening shoot: Jo releases a white dove in a floating gown in front of the Latona fountain, the palace glowing behind her. The tiered marble fountain and its gilded frogs were fully restored in 2015 and sit at the head of the Tapis Vert.
Access · Ticket required for the interior
'Do some window shopping in the Rue de la Paix,' sings Maggie Prescott, and she does exactly that between the Opéra and the Ritz. The short street is still Paris's jewellers' row, with the Vendôme column closing the view at its southern end.
Access · Public space
Jo Stockton (Audrey Hepburn), a shy bookshop clerk turned fashion model, poses in a wedding dress in front of this little neo-Gothic lodge by the lakes, photographed by Dick Avery (Fred Astaire); the two then fall in love and sing 'He Loves and She Loves' in its grounds. In the film it looks like a country chapel, but it is a 19th-century hunting lodge in the forest near Chantilly.
Access · The lakeside paths are public, but the château itself is not open to visitors: view it from outside.
Opens Booking.com
Yes, with a Louvre ticket.
The staircase is the Daru Staircase under the Winged Victory.
It gets crowded: go at opening time for a clearer shot.
It is not a chapel: the Château de la Reine Blanche is a 19th-century hunting lodge by the lakes near Chantilly.
The lakeside paths are public.
Yes.
The main hall of the Gare du Nord is public.
Some platforms need a valid ticket, and the Eurostar platforms are only after check-in.
The Bassin de Latone is in the palace gardens, at the head of the Tapis Vert.
The palace needs a ticket: check the garden opening times before you go.
Tap a number to see the place and get directions in Maps.
suggested place, not bookedItalian€€nearby
✓ Listed as gluten-free (OpenStreetMap)
Walk ~7 min
Nearest metro: Bir-Hakeim (L6)
'Bonjour, Paris!' finale at the top of the tower
Metro to Charles de Gaulle–Étoile (L1/L2/L6) · ~15 min
'Bonjour, Paris!' number: Dick's sightseeing
Walk ~5 min
Funny Face on foot: from the Pont des Arts to the Opéra
The photo shoot of the film in one short walk, from the river to the marble staircase.
The staircase is inside the Opéra: book a visit if you want to stand where Jo did.
On a phone, Google Maps opens at most 5 places at a time.
Nearest metro: Louvre–Rivoli (L1)
Photo-shoot montage: fishing on the Seine
Walk ~8 min
Photo-shoot montage: balloons in the rain
Walk ~13 min
'Bonjour, Paris!' number: Maggie at the Ritz
Walk ~6 min
Walk ~5 min
'Bonjour, Paris!' number: Maggie's window shopping
Walk ~5 min
Fashion sequence
Walk ~12 min
Nearest metro: Versailles Château Rive Gauche (RER C)
Photo-shoot montage: Versailles at dusk
Walk ~5 min
Metro to Anvers (L2) · ~65 min
'Bonjour, Paris!' number: Jo's sightseeing
Walk ~16 min
Photo-shoot montage: Anna Karenina at the station
Walk ~5 min
Louvre (Winged Victory Staircase)Lunch: Restaurant du Musée d'Orsay16:40 To the stationLouvre (Winged Victory Staircase)Estimated return 17:30 · add yours in Trip preferences
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Open a day to see only its stops, in order.
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Hotels and meals estimate:about €1,320
Château de la Reine Blanche: special visit only. Its page says how. To add it, ask Roseo AI.
Hotel3 nights × €310 · 1 room€930
Lunches and dinners2 people€390
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Near the story
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3 nights · 2 people
Hotels along the story's route.
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By train you emit 78% less CO₂: ~25 kg per person (round trip) instead of ~112 by plane.
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Restaurants and activities near the story's places.
Paris: all activities on GetYourGuide
The link opens the destination's catalogue, not a tour made for the story →
Not part of the story, just good addresses close to its places.
Thierry Marx's brasserie on the Eiffel Tower's 1st floor; book ahead, lift included
modern French · €€€€
Tour Eiffel, 1er étage, Champ de Mars, 75007 Paris
Louvre café with a terrace facing the Pyramid; a Call My Agent! location (S4E2)
French brasserie · €€€
93 Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris
Opened in 1862 with the Grand Hôtel; Napoléon III décor on Place de l'Opéra
historic café · €€€
5 Place de l'Opéra, 75009 Paris
Production · film commissions · tourist boards · guides
We always say if it is:
Production · film commissions · tourist boards · guides
We always say if it is:
