1. The church steps from Midnight in Paris
This film perfectly shows off the beauty of the city and also provides a fun game for those who know Paris. The opening sequence sees Owen Wilson's character Gil taking a walk - but once you know Paris a little better you will realise that the locations swing wildly from one part of the city to another, so that one moment he is walking by the Seine, the next he is in Montmatre, almost an hour's walk away.
But the most magical location is the steps that Gil sits on, while he waits for the vintage Peugeot to whisk him back in time to the 'golden age' of writers in Paris.
Everyone hunting down the steps ends up looking all over Montmartre in northern Paris, because as everyone knows the second rule of physics states that Paris + Steps = Montmartre.
But they're actually located on the other side of the city in the 5th arrondissement just behind the Pantheon, on the left-side of Église Saint-Étienne-du-Mont.
Once you've taken a good look at the wonderful facade of the church, where all the students from the prestigious Henri IV high school eat their lunch, just walk down and see if you too encounter a time-travelling car. You never know!
Saint-Etienne-du-Mont church - Paris (Wikimedia Commons)
(A map showing all ten locations/GoogleMaps)
2: The Jazz bar in La La Land
You can find the underground jazz bar from La La Land - which stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone - in the Latin Quarter of Paris.
Le Caveau de la Huchette may only feature briefly in the film, but its popularity has soared since the huge international success of the film.
3: Amélie's cafe
The quirky Amélie Poulain (Audrey Tautou) is the darling of Paris cinema and the movie proved to be a huge hit abroad. She calls Montmartre her home and this film showcases how the area, though part of Paris, has a village-like feel to it.
To really enter the movie atmosphere, stop and have a drink where Amélie worked at the exact café that the production took over for filming. It's called the Café des Deux Moulins at 15 Rue Lepic.
View of the famous "Café des Deux Moulins" on August 7th, 2013 in Paris where the movie "Le fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain" was shot in 2000. (Photo by ERIC FEFERBERG / AFP)To bring the magical ambience of the movie to your trip, remember to see the world as its talented director Jean-Pierre Jeunet does - take your time, sit back and appreciate the raw beauty of life.
The film is called Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (the fabulous destiny of Amélie Poulin) in French, so your French friends are likely to refer to it as 'Amélie Poulin', rather than simply as Amélie, as it appeared in English. Also perhaps because Ameli is the name of the French public health website.
4: Have a kiss on the (former) love lock bridge
Ah yes, the love lock bridge. Most Hollywood movies set in Paris feature a bridge over the Seine at some point, but a favourite is always the Pont des Arts, also known as Lover's Bridge.
A couple kisses in front of the steel bar of the Pont des Arts on August 30th, 2013 in Paris. (Photo by PATRICK KOVARIK / AFP)This is the scene of that kiss between Big and Carrie from Sex and the City, but if that's not your thing, it was also the scene where Mark Ruffalo and French actress Mélanie Laurent lock away one more secret in Now You See Me.
In fact, Now You See Me is one of the only films to acknowledge the love lock phenomenon.
If you visit these days, you will notice that it looks quite different - the weight of all those padlocks was actually beginning to damage the bridge, so the city removed them and installed clear plexiglass along the side of the bridge, to make it impossible to attach more locks.
But it's still a great place place to follow in the footsteps of the stars, and dare we say that it actually looks nicer without a tonne of metal junk and scrawled initials?
A couple embraces on the Pont des Arts bridge in 2024. (Photo by Olympia DE MAISMONT / AFP)5: Buy a book at Shakespeare and Co
Before Sunset is one of the major reasons that people started flocking in droves to this quaint English-language bookstore on Paris's Rive Gauche. In fact, on weekends it's not unusual to see a long line of people waiting just to get in.
In the film, Ethan Hawke plays an author giving a book signing here.
In real life, authors do the same. The shop has a long and luminous literary history and is still a centre of Paris intellectual life - so be sure to check out the store's upcoming events and you might be able to catch someone you've always wanted to meet.
Or if you're really lucky, you might spot a celebrity. Owen Wilson is a regular customer when he's in Paris, and still browses the books long after he was there for a scene in Midnight in Paris.
6: Twist reality at the 'Inception Bridge'
The Pont Bir Hakeim bridge is often simply referred to as 'the Inception bridge'. It was in this movie that director Christopher Nolan used the column features to striking effect.
He created mirror images to give the impression that the bridge went on for eternity, a link to the dream sequences that saw the characters bend the realms of reality. It's also the setting for the opening scene in Last Tango in Paris.
A picture taken along the Pont de Bir-Hakeim, on September 10th, 2023. (Photo by MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP)Why not do what the gang from Parks and Recreation did and visit it for yourself?
7: Crack the Da Vinci Code
Saint Sulpice is the second largest church in Paris (behind Notre Dame) and it's tucked away on a quiet street in Saint Germain, south of the river.
This aerial photograph shows the Saint-Sulpice church in Paris on September 15th, 2024. (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP)But it wasn't until the smash hit The Da Vinci Code that the church was brought into its rightful status as a "must-see" location.
The church and Da Vinci Code didn't quite see eye-to-eye on the filming plans, which ruled out filming inside the church. But you'd never know as the church's interiors were painstakingly recreated in a studio so they look exactly like the real thing.
Likewise the British scenes in 'Westminster Abbey' were actually filmed in Lincoln Cathedral.
8: Follow Audrey's Hepburn's footsteps
Charade, a 1963 film starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant, immortalised Paris on the big screen - especially the Quai de Montebello riverside walk.
As the pair take a leisurely stroll along the river banks, right in the shadow of Notre-Dame, they talk about how they're following in the footsteps of Leslie Caron and Gene Kelly, who danced at this same location in 1951's An American in Paris.
A French gendarme is pictured on quai de Montebello on November 19th, 2015 near the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris. (Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP)In fact, An American in Paris was all done in studio but the recreation was so faithfully done, you'd be forgiven for not knowing.
Audrey and Cary enjoy the famous Berthillon ice-cream which you can taste on Isle-St-Louis just around the corner.
The cathedral of Notre-Dame now provides a handy little guide for when a Paris film was shot - if it appears with a spire and a darker exterior, it was before the devastating fire of 2019.
No spire (and perhaps scaffolding) indicates filming between 2019 and 2024, while a restored spire and a cleaner, creamy-coloured exterior shows that the film was shot after the cathedral reopened in late 2024.
9: Follow the rats...
The Gusteau's restaurant in Ratatouille is based on La Tour d'Argent in Paris.
It's known as one of the most expensive restaurants in the city, so be careful what you order if you're going in.
This picture taken in 2016 in Paris shows the Notre-Dame cathedral through a window at La Tour d'Argent restaurant. (Photo by LIONEL BONAVENTURE / AFP)The restaurant in the hugely popular Pixar movie is based on a mix of some of the best Paris restaurants, but it's closest to this one. Indeed, the only real difference is that the real one doesn't have the flashy neon sign, nor the pretty little fountain and square that made the film version so charming.
10: Ditch your phone... (or at least pretend to)
The Devil Wears Prada is largely set in New York, though as the movie is all about the fashion world, a trip to Paris was always going to be on the cards. If you like fashion, stroll down the nearby Avenue Montaigne just as Andy (Anne Hathaway) does in the film.
It is right in the heart of Paris at Place de la Concorde that Andy decides that the cut-throat industry is not for her, and she throws her phone into one of the stunning Tritan and Water Nymph fountains here.
Even if you can afford to ditch a perfectly good phone, please don't do this - the fountains are for everyone to enjoy and are not improved by littering (seriously Andy, would it have killed you to find a bin? Why does Paris deserve to be polluted just because you're having a life crisis?)
You might also notice some differences to the Place de la Concorde, which is now mostly pedestrianised and is often used for big events - if you watched any of the skateboarding or BMX events in the Paris Olympics, you will have seen the Place de la Concorde in the background.
11: (Bonus) The blockbuster view
Lastly, it's a bit of fun - and we recommend that you do not try this one. Rush Hour 3 takes you on a high-octane journey around Paris, climaxing with a huge fight scene at the Eiffel Tower, notably the Jules Verne restaurant.
Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan escape by grabbing hold of a huge French flag and using it to parachute into the water basin across the bridge. See the clip below.
The basin with fountains is part of the Trocadéro, and well worth a visit. Head up to the Plantard de Trocadéro and you'll get an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower.
Happy walking!