A Saturday in May 2022, 10.40am. I was in Paris for the weekend — Eurostar on the Friday night, the usual — and I'd just had breakfast at a café behind the Panthéon. I was cutting across to the market on Rue Mouffetard when I walked into a queue on a tiny square. Fourteen people, three berets (one of them fire-engine red), two selfie sticks. And a girl holding a pain au chocolat at arm's length — like the FA Cup — in front of a bakery window. My first thought was that every other bakery in Paris had gone on strike. Then an American tourist explained, very patiently, that I was standing "at Emily's".
At Emily's. I'd watched the first series of Emily in Paris when it came out in October 2020, rolling my eyes at every episode (the berets, the permanently sunny terraces, the colleagues who never turn up to the office before late morning). And I'd never once recognised the square. That morning, something clicked. The show invents a lot of Paris — but not its addresses. The fountain is real. The bakery is real. And the shopfront of Gabriel's restaurant is a listed historic monument.
Three years later, one weekend in mid-April, I finally did the whole thing properly. On foot, notebook in my bag — yes, like a tourist. Here are the real locations, address by address, grouped by neighbourhood. Spring is the right season for it, too. The chestnut trees are flowering, the terraces are back, and the evening light does all the work for your photos.
Where does Emily live? Place de l'Estrapade, the bakery and Gabriel's restaurant
Place de l'Estrapade, in the 5th arrondissement, holds the three most recognisable locations in Emily in Paris — Emily's building, her bakery and Gabriel's restaurant. It all fits into a few metres around a small fountain and a couple of benches. If you only do one stop, make it this one.
Number 1: Emily's building (and Gabriel's)
According to the Paris tourist office's own Emily in Paris walk, Emily and Gabriel live in the building at No. 1 on the square. On screen, Emily's flat is a top-floor chambre de bonne. In real life, it's a residential building. People carry their shopping up those stairs and take their bins out — and would quite like to reach their front door without weaving between tripods.
Boulangerie Moderne: the first pain au chocolat
At one end of the square, Boulangerie Moderne is where Emily buys her first pain au chocolat. It's the scene where she discovers what butter and chocolate can do together — before becoming a regular (the tourist office again). It's a real neighbourhood bakery. It sells bread to people who aren't in a TV show. So the rule is simple: if you join the queue, you buy something. If you photograph the window, step away from the door.
And the pain au chocolat itself? It's good. Not life-changing like on screen — good in the way a serious Parisian bakery is good (which is already a lot).
Terra Nera, aka "Les Deux Compères"
Gabriel's restaurant is called Les Deux Compères in the show. In real life, it's Terra Nera, an Italian restaurant right next to the square at 18 Rue des Fossés-Saint-Jacques. And this is where the story gets good. The building was once a butcher's shop called Terrenoire, and its shopfront — wrought-iron grilles and painted metal panels, made by the decorator Renato Panzani between 1900 and 1920 — has been on France's historic monuments register since May 1984.
Yes, really. This "set" on the square was protected thirty-six years before the show came out. And then there's the name. Terrenoire, Terra Nera — black earth, in French and then in Italian (I couldn't find anything saying whether that's deliberate, but you have to admit it's lovely). Look closely at the painted panels above the window. That's a piece of pre-1920 Parisian shop design.
From the Panthéon to Café de Flore: Emily's Left Bank
Emily's Left Bank is an easy walk from Place de l'Estrapade — the Panthéon, the Jardin du Luxembourg, Saint-Germain-des-Prés and Café de Flore, then down to the Seine along the Quai de Conti. It's the simplest part of the route, because everything here is public.
The Panthéon is a two-minute stroll away. According to the tourist office, it's where Emily breaks up with her boyfriend back in Chicago. A break-up with a neoclassical monument in the background: very Emily. The Jardin du Luxembourg is where we see her out running in the second episode. Nothing to book, nothing to pay — you walk, you look, and you grab one of the green metal chairs if you can find a free one (good luck on a Saturday).
Next, Saint-Germain-des-Prés. At 172 Boulevard Saint-Germain, Café de Flore is the terrace where Emily spends an evening and meets Thomas. He tells her the history of the place and mentions its neighbour, Les Deux Magots. The tourist office points out that Hemingway, Camus, Boris Vian and Brigitte Bardot were regulars here long before Lily Collins.
When the show first came out, one viewer quoted in the Guardian's round-up of French reactions worried that "Americans are going to think we go to Café de Flore every day". Honestly? The Flore is the most postcard location on the list, but it's also where the show is least wrong (yes, people really do spend the evening there watching everyone else). Go late afternoon on a weekday, order a coffee on the terrace and watch the boulevard.
To finish the morning, head down to the river. The Quai de Conti and the Pont des Arts are where Emily goes running at the start of episode 3, and the Pont des Arts takes you straight to the Right Bank, facing the Louvre, where the walk carries on.
Where is the Savoir office? Place de Valois and the Palais-Royal garden
Savoir, the (fictional) agency where Emily works, has its offices at 6 Place de Valois in the 1st arrondissement — right next to the Palais-Royal garden. It's the show's second big hub, and the nicest one to visit, because the garden is public and free.
6 Place de Valois: look, don't go in
Place de Valois is also home to the Grand Hôtel du Palais Royal and the Bistrot Valois, where Emily meets her colleagues at the end of the second episode, says the tourist office. No. 6 is not a marketing agency open to the public. Take your photo of the façade and move on — like an intern running late on a Monday morning.
The Palais-Royal garden: the bench, the columns, Le Grand Véfour
The Palais-Royal garden is where Emily takes her very first Parisian lunch break. She sits near the fountain on a bench engraved with the words "Aujourd'hui, c'est demain et hier qui s'épousent" (roughly, today is where tomorrow and yesterday are wed). That's where she meets Mindy — who soon becomes a fast friend. The two then take a selfie on Les Deux Plateaux, the art installation better known as the Buren columns. At the northern end of the garden, Le Grand Véfour is the historic restaurant where Emily tries, and fails, to get a table.
Practically speaking, it couldn't be easier. The garden is free to enter, and it stays open until 10.30pm from April to September (8.30pm the rest of the year), according to the national estate that runs it. In spring, you can come back at sunset, when the arcades empty out.
The columns are the most fought-over photo spot on the whole walk. My tip, after queuing three times? The shortest columns get taken over by families, the tallest by influencers. The ones in the middle? Usually free. Climb up, pose, climb down — and let the next person have a go.
Place Vendôme and the Palais Garnier: Emily in Paris glamour, mostly from the pavement
Between the Palais-Royal and the Opéra, two Emily in Paris locations are mostly admired from outside. The Hôtel d'Évreux on Place Vendôme can't be visited; the Palais Garnier can — but not always the part you're hoping to see.
The Hôtel d'Évreux, at 19 Place Vendôme, is a private mansion. In the show, the (fictional) beauty brand Durée hosts an influencer event there, and Emily goes along. The Ritz Paris is a few doors down, at No. 15. There's no visit here — the façade, the square and the jewellers' windows are the show. Place Vendôme pops up several times in the series; you'll recognise it by its column.
The Palais Garnier, on the other hand, is open to visitors. It's where Emily goes to see Swan Lake in episode 6, according to the tourist office. There's a catch the show doesn't mention. The auditorium itself — the red velvet seats, the ceiling painted by Marc Chagall — is regularly closed to visitors because of the theatre's own activity, the Paris Opera warns. Want the full Emily moment? The safest bet is a ticket for a ballet.
Pont Alexandre III and Café de l'Homme: Emily in Paris at sunset
Pont Alexandre III and Café de l'Homme are the two Emily in Paris locations for De l'Heure, the perfume launched by the (fictional) Maison Lavaux. Together, they make the perfect end to the day — a gilded bridge in the evening light, then the Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro.
Pont Alexandre III was opened for the 1900 World's Fair (it's now a listed monument). It's where Emily interrupts the shoot for the De l'Heure advert. A little further down, on the quayside terrace of the Bistrot Alexandre III, she has a row with her boss Sylvie and their client Antoine. The bridge is public, free and open at all hours (it's a bridge). The easiest stop on the list — and one of the most beautiful.
Café de l'Homme, at 17 Place du Trocadéro et du 11 Novembre, sits inside the Palais de Chaillot. It's where the perfume's launch party takes place, with the view of the Eiffel Tower that leaves Emily speechless. But it's a restaurant — you go for dinner or a drink, not to film other people's tables.
Rue de l'Abreuvoir and La Maison Rose: Emily's Montmartre
Emily's Montmartre comes down to one street: Rue de l'Abreuvoir, in the 18th, home to La Maison Rose. You don't need to climb the whole hill. Although, let's be honest, you're going to anyway.
Mindy tells Emily it's the prettiest street in Paris — and that it's also known as "the road that leads to the end". The tourist office points out, with touching honesty, that neither claim is official. It's also the street where Emily sets up her campaign for Hästens beds. As for La Maison Rose, the little restaurant where Emily and Mindy have dinner in episode 5, it was opened in 1908 by Germaine Pichot. Picasso, Edith Piaf and Albert Camus were among its famous guests, the tourist office says.
My verdict? Rue de l'Abreuvoir is prettier in real life than on screen, on one condition: go early. At midday on a Saturday in April, you'll share it with a forest of raised phones. At 8.30am on a Tuesday, it's almost yours — the pink walls, the green shutters, the cobbles still wet.
Atelier des Lumières, Canal Saint-Martin, Port de l'Arsenal: Emily's East Paris
Emily's East Paris is three locations close together: the Atelier des Lumières, the Canal Saint-Martin and the Port de l'Arsenal. It's also the part of Paris that feels most like home to me — basically Hackney with better pastries — so I'm biased.
The Atelier des Lumières, at 38 Rue Saint-Maur (11th), is a museum in a former foundry. It only shows digital, immersive exhibitions (not a single canvas on the wall). In the show, Emily, Camille and Gabriel walk right through the paintings, including Van Gogh's The Starry Night. Check what's on: the programme changes, and the paintings the characters step into may not be showing when you visit. If this is your kind of day out, our pick of exhibitions and museums to visit this year has more ideas.
About twenty minutes' walk from the Atelier, according to the tourist office, the Port de l'Arsenal is where Emily has an awkward moment with Fabien — a young Frenchman she meets at a party — with the July Column on Place de la Bastille in the background. In the other direction, the banks of the Canal Saint-Martin are where Emily, Gabriel, Thomas and Camille go for a stroll, just after crêpes at Lulu la Nantaise.
Frankly, this is my favourite part of the walk. It's the Paris where people live. Bikes propped against railings. Picnics on the quayside at the first hint of sun. Lock gates opening in slow motion in front of a row of very serious spectators. If you know the Regent's Canal, you'll feel at home within minutes. Emily only spends an evening here. Take your time.
Which Emily in Paris locations did series 2 to 4 add?
Series 2, 3 and 4 of Emily in Paris added new locations in Paris and well beyond it. The heart of the show hasn't moved, though — Emily's flat stays on Place de l'Estrapade.
Series 2, filmed between 3 May and 19 July 2021, brought in the Monnaie de Paris and the Palace of Versailles, plus a trip to the Riviera (Villefranche-sur-Mer, Saint-Tropez, the Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat), according to the show's Wikipedia entry. It also brought a Londoner: in episode 4, Emily introduces herself to Alfie, a London banker in her French class, and episode 5 is titled "An Englishman in Paris". If the Riviera episodes gave you ideas, our coast-by-coast guide to the most beautiful beaches in France takes the trip further.
Series 3 went before the cameras in June 2022, series 4 in January 2024. Series 4 added the Crazy Horse, the Sacré-Cœur, Monet's house in Giverny, Roland-Garros and the Saint-Ouen flea market. Then it headed for Rome — and Ostia Antica. Series 4 is also the one with Brigitte Macron, playing herself: the Guardian describes the scene as a chance meeting in a restaurant, where she tells Emily she follows her on Instagram.
That move to Rome caused a stir all the way up to the Élysée: "Emily in Paris in Rome doesn't make sense," Emmanuel Macron told Variety in October 2024, as reported by the Guardian. The show's pull on tourism has been measured, too. According to AFP's report on a 2024 Ifop study for France's National Centre for Cinema and Animation (CNC), four out of five foreign visitors surveyed, from six countries including Britain, had felt the urge to visit Paris after watching a film or series shot there. For one in ten, it was the main reason for the trip — and in half of those cases, the trigger was Emily in Paris (38%) or Lupin (11%).
Good news for fans (less so for the neighbours): in November 2024, Variety reported that series 5 would return to Paris, partly shooting in Rome, with Gabriel's restaurant as one of its backdrops. Then, on 17 April 2025, Variety added that production would kick off in Rome in May before moving to Paris later in the summer.
Emily in Paris locations: what you can visit, where you can eat, what's private
Emily in Paris locations are either public places, businesses or private addresses. Here's the series 1 summary, based on the Paris tourist office walk.
| Location | Status | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Place de l'Estrapade (5th) | Private | Photograph the façade from the square. |
| Boulangerie Moderne (5th) | Shop | Buy something, eat it on a bench. |
| Terra Nera, 18 Rue des Fossés-Saint-Jacques (5th) | Restaurant | Book a table, admire the listed shopfront. |
| 6 Place de Valois (1st) | Private | Photograph the façade. |
| Palais-Royal garden (1st) | Public, free | Picnic, wander. |
| Le Grand Véfour (1st) | Restaurant | Book. |
| Hôtel d'Évreux, 19 Place Vendôme (1st) | Private | Admire the square. |
| Palais Garnier (9th) | Paid visit | Visit, or see a ballet. |
| Pont Alexandre III (7th) | Public | Cross it, photograph it. |
| Café de l'Homme (16th) | Restaurant | Dinner, or a drink. |
| Café de Flore (6th) | Café | A coffee on the terrace. |
| Rue de l'Abreuvoir, La Maison Rose (18th) | Street; restaurant | Wander, have lunch. |
| Atelier des Lumières (11th) | Ticketed | See the current exhibition. |
| Musée des Arts Forains (12th) | Occasional openings | Guided tour, booked ahead. |
The Emily in Paris walking route, in order, over a day and a half
The most logical Emily in Paris route starts on the Left Bank in the morning. It crosses the Seine to the Palais-Royal for lunch, heads up to the Opéra in the afternoon and ends at the Trocadéro at sunset. Montmartre and East Paris wait until the next day.
- Place de l'Estrapade (5th). Breakfast from Boulangerie Moderne, photos of the square, Terra Nera's shopfront.
- The Panthéon, then the Jardin du Luxembourg. The break-up spot, then the running scene.
- Saint-Germain-des-Prés. A coffee at the Flore, a peek at Les Deux Magots.
- Quai de Conti and Pont des Arts. The episode 3 run, and your crossing to the Right Bank, facing the Louvre.
- Palais-Royal and Place de Valois (1st). Lunch on a bench, the Buren columns, the Savoir façade.
- Place Vendôme, then the Palais Garnier. The Hôtel d'Évreux — then the Opéra visit.
- Pont Alexandre III, then the Trocadéro. The bridge in the late afternoon — Café de l'Homme or the esplanade at sunset. End of day one.
Day two? Rue de l'Abreuvoir and La Maison Rose early in the morning, then in the afternoon the Atelier des Lumières, the Canal Saint-Martin and the Port de l'Arsenal, into the evening. And to stretch it into a proper weekend, our 20 original weekend ideas beyond dinner and a movie will fill the gaps.
How do you photograph the Emily in Paris locations without annoying the neighbours?
To photograph the Emily in Paris locations without being a nuisance, remember one thing: these are streets, businesses and homes long before they're sets.
Place de l'Estrapade learnt that the hard way. In 2023, Stephanie Jamin, who lives on the square, told the Associated Press that the crowds could be imposing. "We have become an ultra-touristy district, whereas it was a small square still a bit preserved from tourism," she said in the AP report published by Fortune. Another resident, coming out of Emily's building, said they were allergic to the show, and "Emily Not Welcome" had been scrawled in red graffiti on part of the façade. Yet Jamin also pointed out that the district's shopkeepers had benefited enormously, and that the show helped them start up again after COVID. Her verdict is hard to beat: "Emily is not Victor Hugo. She will not be inducted into the Pantheon."
Both things are true at once. That's exactly why your manners as a visitor matter. You can't do anything about the shoots — but you can do a lot for the mood of a square on a Saturday morning. Not everyone in Paris is a fan, by the way. The Guardian notes that David Belliard, a Green deputy mayor, criticised the show for romanticising badly insulated old buildings. And the series' creator, Darren Star, said he was "not sorry for looking at Paris through a glamorous lens", as BBC News reported in October 2020.
- No posing on doorsteps or in front of building doors — the façade from across the street is enough.
- No tripods in the middle of the pavement, no selfie sticks in a queue.
- In shops and cafés, you buy something if you're taking up a table or a place in the queue.
- Keep it down in the morning — above the square, people are still asleep.
- No photos of residents without asking, even "just for atmosphere".
One last thing: do at least one stop without your phone. Sit on the Palais-Royal bench or by the canal, and just look. That's the Paris the show can't film — the one where nothing happens, and that's perfectly fine.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Emily's flat in Emily in Paris?
Emily's building is at 1 Place de l'Estrapade, in the 5th arrondissement, just behind the Panthéon. It's a private residential building: photograph the façade from the square, but don't go in or ring the bell.
Is Gabriel's restaurant real?
Yes. Les Deux Compères is really Terra Nera, an Italian restaurant at 18 Rue des Fossés-Saint-Jacques, next to Place de l'Estrapade. Its shopfront, from a former butcher's made between 1900 and 1920, has been a listed historic monument in France since 1984.
How long does the Emily in Paris walk take?
Allow a full day on foot for the main series 1 locations: the morning on the Left Bank as far as the Pont des Arts, the afternoon from the Palais-Royal to the Trocadéro. Add half a day for Montmartre and East Paris.
Can you visit the Musée des Arts Forains from the show?
Yes, but not freely. The museum, where the Fourtier party takes place in episode 7, only opens to the public, according to the Paris tourist office, for European Heritage Days and the Festival du Merveilleux at the end of the year. The rest of the time, it's guided tours booked in advance, with the century-old carousels and the waiters' race glimpsed in the show.
Has the show really brought tourists to Paris?
Yes. In a 2024 Ifop study for France's National Centre for Cinema and Animation, reported by AFP, four out of five foreign visitors surveyed had felt the urge to visit Paris after watching a film or series shot there. For one in ten, it was the main reason for the trip, and in half of those cases the trigger was Emily in Paris (38%) or Lupin (11%).
Will series 5 be filmed in Paris?
Yes, but not straight away. According to Variety on 17 April 2025, production on series 5 starts in Rome in May and moves to Paris later in the summer. Variety had already reported in November 2024 that Gabriel's restaurant would be one of the new series' backdrops.
Sources
- Paris je t'aime, Paris tourist office — See the Paris of Emily in Paris
- The Guardian — Emmanuel Macron: We will fight hard to keep Emily in Paris in France (9 October 2024)
- The Guardian — 'Plenty to feel insulted about': French critics round on Emily in Paris (6 October 2020)
- The Guardian — French first lady Brigitte Macron to make cameo in Netflix's Emily in Paris (11 September 2024)
- BBC News — Emily in Paris: Netflix hit's creator Darren Star 'not sorry' for 'clichés' (23 October 2020)
- GOV.UK — France travel advice: entry requirements
- Wikipedia — Emily in Paris
- Variety — Emily in Paris Season 5 Will Start Shooting in France Next Spring (20 November 2024)
- Variety — Emily in Paris Season 5 to Film in Rome in May (17 April 2025)
- Forbes India (AFP Relaxnews) — Netflix shows Emily and Lupin drive Paris tourism (20 January 2024)
- Fortune (Associated Press) — Parisians are sick of the American tourists overrunning their city (21 April 2023)