Where Is Emily In Paris Filmed? The Major Locations Explained
Darren Star's hit Netflix series "Emily in Paris," which stars Lily Collins as Emily Cooper, is set in the French capital, but does it film on location in Paris? Yes, it does — though it took a little trip over to Italy during its fifth season. We can mostly set aside the whole "Emily in Rome" ordeal (in which Emily briefly relocates to one of Italy's most famous and ancient cities to start an offshoot of a French marketing firm) because, based on the ending of Season 5, that whole excursion is over. The season ends with Emily firmly back in Paris and awaiting her next adventure. So, what about the Parisian locations in the show? How real are they?
Very real, actually. In the first season alone, Emily visits tourist hotspots like Café de Flore (famously frequented by luminaries such as Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway during its long history), and she also almost attends a show at the Palais Garnier, the city's stunning opera house. Though the show occasionally sends Emily to other French locales, like Saint-Tropez, the palace of Versailles, the ski resort Megéve, and the lavender fields of Provence, Paris is her home base — specifically, Emily's inexplicably large attic apartment is located at 1 Place de l'Estrapade in the fifth arrondissement of Paris, or the 5éme. But where else did the show film?
The only authentic thing about Emily in Paris is that it's filmed on location in Paris
For anyone who's ever perused pictures of Paris or has traveled to the French capital themselves, some of the sights shown in "Emily in Paris" will definitely feel familiar. The Pont Alexandre III, one of the city's most iconic bridges adorned with many fabulous golden sculptures, has a cameo early in Season 1 when Emily's French marketing firm films an ad there. Elsewhere, in the gardens of the Palais-Royal, in the 1éme (near the Louvre and other major attractions right on the Seine), Emily meets her new bestie Mindy (played by Ashley Park) while they share a bench. Once the two bond, the girls have lunch at La Maison Rose, a highly photogenic café in the hilltop neighborhood of Montmartre (which was once an independent commune before Paris annexed it in 1860). Some of the other famous bridges in Paris, like the Pont des Arts — once known as the "love lock bridge" — can frequently be spotted in episodes, as well.
Some spots featured in "Emily in Paris" are a little more off the beaten path. In one memorable scene from Season 1, Emily goes to the Atelier des Lumières in the city's 11th arrondissement with her handsome neighbor Gabriel (Lucas Bravo, who isn't just a chef on TV), and his girlfriend at the time, Camille (Camille Razat). This is a very real digital art center where you can experience large-scale light installations that depict art by everyone from Vincent van Gogh to Salvador Dalí. We also get to see Camille explore the famed Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen (a massive outdoor flea market) in Season 4, establishing Camille's bonafides as a born and bred Parisienne. Still, this doesn't make the show fully authentic.
Emily in Paris takes a lot of liberties when it comes to Parisian geography
TV shows and movies take liberties with geography all the time, but sometimes, the way "Emily in Paris" does it feels egregious. Take, for example, a scene in Season 4 where Emily, a seasoned runner, takes a selfie atop the steps of Montmartre's famous church the Sacré-Cœur during a jog before work. One problem: the distance from her apartment to the Sacré-Cœur, one way, is more than 5 kilometers, and the walk takes well over an hour. Nobody would ever do this for a casual morning run, but that doesn't stop Emily, apparently.
Nothing stops Emily, if we're all being honest. This cultural assassin rampages through Paris refusing to learn an iota of French and insisting that her workaholic American ideals are better than the laissez-faire attitude held by many real French people. Worst of all, when it comes to the "locations" depicted in the show, the way Emily gets around is strangely unclear when you consider Paris's robust Métro system, which Emily never takes. Anyone who's ever spent time in Paris knows that the Métro is a must; it's used by 4 million visitors and Parisians a day on average.
That being said, you can absolutely visit the locations that Emily does — just don't expect it to be as simple as the show makes out. It's best to plan ahead and tick off the sites based on how close they are to one another rather than the order in which Emily does them. The Sacré-Cœur isn't far from La Maison Rose, for example, and Le Champo cinema (where Luc takes Emily to see a French movie about a ménage à trois) is just a five minute walk from the Jardin du Luxembourg (where Emily goes for a job in the second episode).