Best Photo Spots in Paris
8 photo spots in Paris, each with the hour it actually works and the angle worth walking to. The difference between a good frame and a queue of people in front of one is usually timing rather than gear.
Canal Saint-Martin and Musée d'Orsay are best at golden hour; Jardin du Luxembourg and Notre-Dame de Paris are best at sunrise; Marché des Enfants Rouges and Sainte-Chapelle are best at morning.
Musée d'Orsay, Notre-Dame de Paris and Sacré-Cœur & Montmartre get genuinely crowded — arrive at opening or accept people in the frame.
On light: old stone blows out under midday sun — the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset are when it has colour in it, open water and open sky mean the sky blows out before the land does; expose for the highlights and let the foreground come up afterwards and markets are shade-and-shaft light — early morning while the stalls are being set up is both calmer and cleaner to shoot.
A general rule that holds across Paris: ask before photographing people, skip anything that looks like a religious rite in progress, and expect a tripod to need permission at ticketed monuments even where a phone is fine.
Low crowdEntry Free
Canal Saint-Martin
- Best timeDusk on a summer evening, when the quays fill and the footbridge lamps come on over the water — a lock filling in low light is the shot
- ColorsDenim blueWhiteOlive
Medium crowdEntry Free
Jardin du Luxembourg
- Best timeEarly morning, just after the gates open, when the low sun is across the basin and the chairs are still in the rows the gardeners left them in
- ColorsCreamForest greenNavy
Medium crowdEntry Free
Marché des Enfants Rouges
- Best timeLate morning on a weekday, when the produce stalls are full and the lunch queues have not yet taken over the aisles
- ColorsRedCreamDenim blue
High crowdEntry Around €16, about €12 from 6pm on Thursdays, and free on the first Sunday of the month with a compulsory reservation
Musée d'Orsay
- Best timeThursday evening during the late opening, when the crowd thins out and the light behind the clock face goes from blue to black while you are still inside
- ColorsBlackIvoryOchre
High crowdEntry Free — the treasury is separately ticketed at around €12
Notre-Dame de Paris
- Best timeEarly morning, in the first hour after it opens, when the nave is nearly empty and the light comes through the south rose onto pale stone
- ColorsIvoryCharcoalDeep green
High crowdEntry Free to enter the basilica; the dome is around €8
Sacré-Cœur & Montmartre
- Best timeThe hour before sunset from the steps, when the sun goes down behind the city and the whole of Paris in front of you turns gold — the basilica itself is better photographed in the morning, when the light is on its west face
- ColorsWhiteCamelRust
High crowdEntry Around €15–20 depending on the season, and free for EU residents under 26 — a timed slot is now required
Sainte-Chapelle
- Best timeEarly afternoon on a bright day, when the sun is round on the west rose and the whole upper chapel goes red and blue at once — an overcast morning is a different, much duller building
- ColorsCobaltRubyIvory
High crowdEntry Around €14 to the second floor by stairs and about €37 to the top by lift
Tour Eiffel
- Best timeSunrise from the Trocadéro terrace across the river — the tower faces you into the light, the esplanade is empty, and by ten it is a crowd of several hundred people photographing each other
- ColorsCamelIvoryNavy