Most guides to Paris photography locations hand you a list of thirty beautiful places and leave you to work out the rest, which is lovely, and not very useful when you’re standing in a hotel room at 10 pm wondering whether you can fit the Eiffel Tower and Montmartre on foot into the same morning. (You can’t.)
So we’ve written this differently. Below are the nine routes we actually shoot, each one a small cluster of locations within a short walk of each other. Pick a route, and you’ll know what your session will look like — where you’ll start, what you’ll walk past, and where you’ll end up.
Each one includes who it suits best, when it’s at its loveliest, and how busy it really gets.
First, how routes fit into a session
| Session length | What’s realistic |
|---|---|
30 minutes | One route, two or three stops within it. Focused and efficient. |
1 hour | One route in full, at a relaxed pace. What most people book. |
2 hours | Two routes, or one route plus a completely different neighbourhood. |
Walking is part of it. The photographs between the landmarks — crossing a street, laughing at something, stopping for coffee — are very often the ones people print. A route gives us those.
See what each session length costs →
Quick reference
Recommended for: ●●●●● perfect · ●●●○○ works well · ●○○○○ possible, not our first suggestion. Crowds assume you’re there at the recommended time.
Route | Area | Couples | Proposals | Families | Solo | Best time | Crowds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Parisian streets & cafés | 7th | ●●●●● | ●○○○○ | ●●○○○ | ●●●●● | Early morning | ●○○○○ |
2. Île de la Cité & Notre-Dame | 4th | ●●●●● | ●●●●○ | ●●●○○ | ●●●●○ | Sunrise | ●●○○○ |
3. Louvre, Rivoli & Palais-Royal | 1st | ●●●●● | ●●●●○ | ●●●○○ | ●●●●● | Sunrise | ●●○○○ |
4. Bir-Hakeim & the riverbanks | 15th/16th | ●●●●● | ●●●●● | ●●●●○ | ●●●●○ | Sunrise | ●●●○○ |
5. Montmartre | 18th | ●●●●● | ●●●●○ | ●●○○○ | ●●●●● | Sunrise | ●●●○○ |
6. Pont Alexandre III | 7th/8th | ●●●●● | ●●●●● | ●●●○○ | ●●●●○ | Sunrise | ●●○○○ |
7. Trocadéro & Eiffel Tower | 16th | ●●●●○ | ●●●●○ | ●●●●● | ●●●●○ | Sunrise | ●●●○○ |
8. Tuileries & Concorde | 1st | ●●●●○ | ●●●●○ | ●●●●● | ●●○○○ | Sunrise | ●○○○○ |
9. Parc Monceau | 8th | ●●●○○ | ●●●○○ | ●●●●● | ●●○○○ | Morning | ●●○○○ |
Every stop, by name: Rue de Montessuy · Rue de l’Université · Rue Saint-Dominique · Île de la Cité · Île Saint-Louis · Notre-Dame · Quais of the islands · Louvre courtyards · Rue de Rivoli arcades · Jardin du Palais-Royal · Pont de Bir-Hakeim · Seine riverbanks · Sacré-Cœur · La Maison Rose · Montmartre streets · Lamarck-Caulaincourt métro · Pont Alexandre III · Place de la Concorde · Trocadéro square · Jardins du Trocadéro · Avenue de Camoëns · Tuileries Garden · Parc Monceau
Route 1 — Parisian streets and cafés
Stops: Rue de Montessuy · Rue de l’Université · Rue Saint-Dominique.
Recommended for: couples and solo portraits above all. Lovely for families with older children; harder with toddlers, as these are working streets with traffic.
Best time: the first two hours after sunrise.
Crowds: ●○○○○
See more photos: A Casual Couple Photoshoot in the Parisian Streets
Rue de Montessuy
A short street with the tower rising directly at the end of it, framed by classic Haussmann façades. Compact, quiet, and it gives you the Eiffel Tower without a single tourist in the frame.
Rue de l’Université
The same idea with a longer perspective — the street stretching away and the tower at the end. A working street with real traffic, so it needs patience between cars and an early hour. Worth both.
Rue Saint-Dominique
The heart of the neighbourhood: cafés, florists, market stalls, people going about their morning. Where the route stops being about landmarks and starts being about atmosphere.
A session here looks like starting on Montessuy while the streets are still empty, wandering down toward Saint-Dominique as the cafés set out their chairs, and finishing with coffee somewhere with a good awning. Roughly a fifteen-minute walk end to end, taken slowly.
Insider note: cafés are businesses, not backdrops. We order something, we ask, and we keep it quick — and it’s remarkable how welcoming people are when you do.
Also worth knowing: Route 1 sits between the Eiffel Tower and Pont Alexandre III, so it pairs beautifully with Route 6 or Route 7 for a two-hour session.
Route 2 — Île de la Cité, Île Saint-Louis and Notre-Dame
Stops: Notre-Dame and its surroundings · Île de la Cité · Île Saint-Louis · the lower quays.
Recommended for: couples wanting something cinematic and unhurried; excellent for proposals thanks to the quiet lower quays. Good for families, with the caveat of steps down to the water.
Best time: sunrise
Crowds: ●●○○○ on the islands · ●●●●○ immediately around the cathedral
Two islands in the middle of the Seine, seventeenth-century houses, narrow streets, stone bridges and the cathedral rising above it all. It’s the oldest part of Paris and somehow the calmest.
See more photos: Gothic Couple Photos at Notre-Dame
Notre-Dame
The cathedral from across the water, framed by trees and river. Photographs better from a small distance than from directly in front of it — and the surroundings have been under works for some years, so we choose our angles the week of your session rather than months ahead.
Île Saint-Louis
Quiet streets, old shopfronts, ivy, stone. Almost no one is here at eight in the morning. Our favourite corner of central Paris.
The lower quays
Down the stone steps to water level: the Seine on one side, old walls on the other, bridges arching overhead. Where we take people who want Paris without the crowds — and one of the loveliest places in the city to propose, because nobody is watching.
A session here looks like starting at the cathedral in the first light, crossing to Île Saint-Louis, then dropping down to the quays where the city noise disappears entirely.
Insider note: the light on the islands is soft and reflected off the water, which is exceptionally kind to faces. Overcast mornings are genuinely good here rather than a compromise.
Route 3 — Louvre, Rue de Rivoli and Jardin du Palais-Royal
Stops: Louvre courtyards and pyramid · Rue de Rivoli arcades · Jardin du Palais-Royal.
Recommended for: couples and solo portraits — this is the most architectural, most editorial route we shoot. Strong for proposals in the Palais-Royal gardens. Workable for families early, before the museum crowds.
Best time: sunrise, before the museum opens
Crowds: ●●○○○ early · ●●●●● from mid-morning
Grand, symmetrical and unmistakably Paris. Three completely different backdrops within about ten minutes of walking.
See more photos: Louvre Museum Family Photos – Louvre Couple Photoshoot at Sunrise
Louvre Museum
The glass pyramid against the palace, vast and imposing. Everyone photographs the main courtyard — walk east into the Cour Carrée instead, the enclosed square courtyard most visitors pass straight by. Emptier, more intimate, and arguably more beautiful.
Rue de Rivoli
The long arcaded colonnade running beside the Louvre. Repeating arches, deep shade, warm reflected light — and, usefully, a roof. This is one of our first calls when it rains.
Jardin du Palais-Royal
Through a passage and suddenly you’re in a walled garden: clipped trees in long avenues, fountains, arcades on all four sides, and the striped Buren columns in the front courtyard. It feels private in a way nowhere else this central does.
A session here looks like the Louvre courtyards at first light, along the Rivoli arcades, finishing in the Palais-Royal gardens as the gates open.
Insider note: garden gate hours shift with the season, so we check the week before rather than assuming. If they’re not open yet, the arcades and courtyards fill the time beautifully.
Route 4 — Bir-Hakeim bridge and the riverbanks
Stops: Pont de Bir-Hakeim · the Seine riverbanks below.
Recommended for: couples who love symmetry and architecture. Superb for proposals. Genuinely good for families, including younger children — there’s space, and the métro overhead is a hit with kids.
Best time: sunrise
Crowds: ●●●○○
The double-decker bridge with the métro running above, its rhythm of pillars and arches pulling your eye straight to the Eiffel Tower. Nowhere else in Paris looks quite like this.
See more photos: A Family Session at Bir-Hakeim – A Couple Session on the Bridge
Pont de Bir-Hakeim
The famous view is from the lower walkway, mid-bridge, tower framed at the end. If a train crosses overhead while we’re shooting, stay exactly where you are — the movement and the sound in the frame is one of the best things about this spot.
The riverbanks
Down at water level beside the Seine, the bridge above you and the tower reflected in the river. Almost nobody photographs from here, which is precisely why we love it. Wonderful at blue hour, the twenty minutes after sunset when the sky deepens and the lights come on.
A session here looks like the bridge first while the light is low and the walkway empty, then down to the riverbank for something softer and completely different.
Insider note: this is our answer for people who want the Eiffel Tower without the Trocadéro crowds. Same landmark, a fraction of the people, and photographs with far more character.
Route 5 — Montmartre
Stops: Sacré-Cœur · La Maison Rose · the picturesque streets · Lamarck-Caulaincourt métro
Recommended for: couples and solo portraits — our most-requested route for people who want Paris without the Eiffel Tower. Less suited to families with small children: it’s steep, cobbled and involves a lot of stairs.
Best time: sunrise
Crowds: ●●●○○ at sunrise · ●●●●● by mid-morning
A hilltop village that happens to be inside Paris. Cobbled lanes, ivy, pastel façades, and the whole city laid out below.
See more photos: A Family Session in Montmartre – A Montmartre Couple Photoshoot
Sacré-Cœur
The basilica above and Paris spread out beneath it. The side staircases on the western edge are far quieter than the central steps and give you the same drop-away city behind you.
La Maison Rose
The pink house on Rue de l’Abreuvoir, on the prettiest curving cobbled street in the neighbourhood. Beautiful and popular in equal measure — half past six is a completely different street from half past nine.
The picturesque streets
Rue Girardon, Place Dalida, the little squares in between. Quiet lanes, vine-covered walls, and from one particular spot, a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower far below between the buildings. It delights everyone who sees it.
Lamarck-Caulaincourt métro
The staircase station framed by trees and street lamps, the one that looks like a film set and appears in about half the films set in Paris. A perfect last stop, and downhill from everything else.
A session here looks like starting high at Sacré-Cœur as the city turns pink, then walking downhill through the streets to Maison Rose, and finishing at the métro steps.
Insider note: wear shoes you can walk cobbles in. This is the neighbourhood where thin heels go to die — bring them in a bag and change for the photographs you want them in.
Route 6 — Pont Alexandre III
Stops: the bridge · the riverbanks below · Rue Saint-Dominique
Recommended for: proposals above all — this is our most-requested proposal location. Equally lovely for couples and engagement sessions. Good for families, with plenty of space on the bridge and the banks.
Best time: sunrise
Crowds: ●●○○○
The most ornate bridge in Paris — gilded statues, Art Nouveau lampposts, cherubs everywhere — with the golden dome of the Invalides framed at one end.
See more photos: Pont Alexandre III Couple Photoshoot
The bridge
Grand and theatrical, and the gold catches early light in a way that’s genuinely hard to believe until you see it. The lampposts give natural framing, and the bridge is wide enough that we can work discreetly from a distance. That last part is why it’s our first suggestion for proposals.
The riverbanks
Steps down to the quays on either side, giving you the bridge from below, arching overhead against the sky. Quieter than the bridge itself and a completely different photograph.
Rue Saint-Dominique
A short walk away, and the natural way to finish — leaving the grandeur behind for café terraces and ordinary Parisian morning life. (Also the heart of Route 1.)
A session here looks like the bridge at first light, down to the quays as the sun clears the buildings, then into the streets for coffee.
Insider note: if you’re planning to propose, this route gives us the most room to stay invisible until the moment happens. More on how we handle surprise proposals →
Route 7 — Trocadéro and the Eiffel Tower
Stops: Trocadéro square · Jardins du Trocadéro · Avenue de Camoëns · the riverbanks
Recommended for: families, first and foremost — this is the classic Paris photograph and the one grandparents want framed. Excellent for couples and proposals too (on the riverbanks), if you’re willing to be there very early.
Best time: sunrise, and we mean it
Crowds: ●●●○○ at sunrise · ●●●●● from 9am
The photograph everyone pictures when they imagine Paris. It’s iconic because it deserves to be — and it’s the most contested piece of ground in Paris photography.
See more photos: A Trocadero Family Session – A Couple Photoshoot Near Eiffel Tower – Eiffel Tower Family Photos
Trocadéro square
The view straight down onto the tower with the city falling away. By nine in the morning, the terrace holds hundreds of people. Before seven, it’s a different world.
Jardins du Trocadéro
The gardens below the terrace: fountains, steps, tree-lined paths on both sides. Almost empty at the hour when the terrace above is full, and the tower still rises perfectly behind you. Where we do most of our best work here.
Avenue de Camoëns
A short residential street ending in a stone balustrade with the tower framed at the end. Elegant, cinematic, and very small — room for one group at a time, so we come early and move quickly.
The riverbanks
Down at the Seine, tower reflected in the water, river boats passing. The quiet end of a busy route.
A session here looks like the square before sunrise for the classic shot, down into the gardens as the light comes up, over to Camoëns while it’s still empty, and finishing by the river.
Insider note: the alarm is early, and nobody has ever regretted it. Sunrise is the difference between the photograph you imagined and a photograph of a crowd. Here’s how we plan around the crowds →
Route 8 — Tuileries Garden and Place de la Concorde
Stops: Tuileries Garden · the riverbanks · Place de la Concorde
Recommended for: families above all — space to move, somewhere to sit, and short walks between good backgrounds. Lovely for couples, particularly in autumn when the whole garden turns gold.
Best time: sunrise
Crowds: ●○○○○
Gravel paths, ponds ringed with green metal chairs, statues, and long avenues of trees, running from the Louvre to Concorde.
See more photos: Family Session in The Tuileries Garden
Tuileries Garden
Endlessly workable in every season. The small side allées away from the central path have the loveliest light and are empty when the main avenue is busy. Children can be children here, which matters more than anything else on a family session.
The riverbanks
The garden’s southern edge runs along the Seine, so it’s a few steps down to the water whenever we want a change of scene.
Place de la Concorde
The obelisk, the fountains and the enormous open sky at the end of the garden. Grand, symmetrical, and best in the last hour before sunset when the light comes low across it.
A session here looks like starting among the trees, wandering toward Concorde, with a detour to the river if the light suggests it.
Insider note: the second half of October is extraordinary here. The trees turn completely gold and it lasts about two weeks.
Route 9 — Parc Monceau
Stops: the colonnade and lake · the tree-lined paths · the rotunda
Recommended for: families, especially with young children — this is the gentlest route we shoot. Lovely for short maternity and newborn sessions. A good choice for couples who want green and quiet over landmarks.
Best time: morning
Crowds: ●●○○○
An elegant residential park in the 8th, with a curved colonnade around a small lake, enormous old trees and a grand rotunda at the gate. Parisians bring their children here. Visitors rarely find it.
See more photos: Parc Monceau Family Photos
The colonnade and lake
The picture everyone wants from Monceau — classical columns reflected in the water, willows leaning over.
The tree-lined paths
Where the soft green light is, and where the best photographs of children usually happen. Room to run, benches to collapse onto.
The rotunda
The domed gatehouse at the park entrance, grand and photogenic and a natural place to begin or end.
A session here looks like a slow loop of the park with no landmark to rush toward. It’s the route we suggest when someone tells us their toddler will last about twenty minutes.
Insider note: in a city where most locations require an early alarm, Monceau is genuinely pleasant at nine or ten in the morning. If sunrise is impossible with your family, this is our answer.
Which route should you choose?
If you’re proposing: Pont Alexandre III (Route 6) for grandeur, or the quays of Île Saint-Louis (Route 2) if you’d rather nobody watch. Both give us room to stay out of sight until the moment. If the the Eiffel Tower is non-negotiable, the riverbanks near Trocadéro (Route 7). More on planning a surprise proposal →
If you’re a couple wanting classic Paris: Trocadéro (7) or Bir-Hakeim (4).
For a couple wanting something less expected: Parisian streets (1) or Montmartre (5).
If you’re a family with young children: Parc Monceau (9) or the Tuileries (8). Trocadéro (7) if the Eiffel Tower is non-negotiable — and it often is.
If you’re travelling solo: Montmartre (5), the Parisian streets (1) or the Louvre and Palais-Royal (3).
If it’s raining: the Rivoli arcades in Route 3, or the streets and café terraces of Route 1. And do read our case for shooting in the rain anyway before you reschedule.
If you have two hours and want two very different halves: Routes 1 and 7 together (walkable), or Routes 3 and 7 (with a cab) — both pairs give you completely different photographs.
Frequently asked questions
- Where are the best photo locations in Paris?
It depends on what you want. Trocadéro and Bir-Hakeim for the Eiffel Tower; Montmartre and the Parisian streets of the 7th for atmosphere without landmarks; the Tuileries and Parc Monceau for families; Pont Alexandre III for proposals.
- How many locations can you visit in one photoshoot?
One route with two or three stops in 30 minutes, one full route in an hour, and two routes in two hours. Walking between stops is part of the session, not lost time.
- Which Paris photo locations are least crowded?
Parc Monceau, Île Saint-Louis and its lower quays, the riverbanks below Bir-Hakeim, and the residential streets of the 7th. All are quiet even in high season, particularly before nine in the morning.
- What’s the best location for a surprise proposal in Paris?
Pont Alexandre III, or the lower quays of Île Saint-Louis if you’d prefer privacy over grandeur. Both let a photographer work unnoticed from a distance.
- Which locations work best with young children?
Parc Monceau and the Tuileries — space to move, places to sit, and no long walks between backgrounds.
- What time of day is best for photos in Paris?
Sunrise, almost always. Landmarks are near-empty, and the light is soft. Parc Monceau is the exception, and it’s pleasant well into the morning.
- Can we combine two locations in one session?
Yes, with a two-hour session. We’ll pick routes that are genuinely close together so you spend your time photographing rather than travelling. If you want locations that are not close to each other (for example, Trocadéro and Louvre, or Trocadéro and Montmartre), we can take a cab together.
Let’s plan your route
Tell us which of these you’ve fallen for and we’ll build a session around it — or tell us what you want your photographs to feel like and we’ll suggest the route.
