The Instagram Lover’s Tour of Paris

What’s better than going on a photographic tour of your favorite city with one of your close friends who you haven’t seen in almost two years? The opportunity presented itself a few weeks ago with the arrival of my friend Stephanie, so on a sunny Friday we ran around the city on what I’ve dubbed the “Instagram Lover’s Tour of Paris“. All the locations and how to get there are available in the interactive map at the bottom of this post!

Our first stop was the colorful Rue Crémieux, a little side street near Gare de Lyon that you wouldn’t really know was there unless you were looking for it. Seriously, you can wander right past it and not notice how cute it is unless you stop for a closer look. But a wander down this beautiful discovery will reveal a row of multicolored houses, each one prettier than the last and a color scheme for every taste. Even better, the cats that reside in these houses are often let out to wander and play, or sneak out an open window. My friend may have nabbed my camera a couple times solely to take pictures of the cats.

It was hard to pull ourselves away, but after taking some pictures on the stoops (and being thankful that the people who live in these houses must be used to it and don’t come out to yell at you), it was off to our next destination.

Our next stop obviously had to be the Jardin du Palais Royal. Not only is this one of the most beautiful gardens in Paris, it’s also a shopping center and is constantly abuzz with people. Though it’s called the Palais Royal, or Royal Palace, it was actually built as the residence of King Louis XIII’s chief Minister, Cardinal Richelieu, and housed various royals after his death. The gardens were opened to the public in 1784 and they’re crazy photogenic. I mean, just look at them!

We would have stopped by Cafe Kitsuné, a very Instagrammable café located among the stores and restaurants along the garden’s perimeter, but as we were hungry enough that coffee and pastries wouldn’t suffice and the restaurants around us were a little a lot out of our price range, we decided to move on to our next stop before grabbing lunch.

Hopping back on the metro, we headed up to Montmartre to a spot that I’ve seen in countless pictures but had surprisingly never visited myself. Rue de l’Abreuvoir is a sweet little street very typical of this part of Paris, with a view of the top of the Sacre Coeur basilica, ivy covered buildings and classic street lamps. It’s also rarely tagged with its actual location on Instagram, making it a little hard to find unless you know what street it is or how to get there. So here you go!

Walk further up Rue de l’Abreuvoir and you’ll come across La Maison Rose, which translates quite literally to The Pink House. It’s a restaurant but is better known for its pastel pink façade and pale green accents. If you like these kinds of colors on your Instagram feed, it’s definitely worth a visit- just get there early in the day for the best light and no people like in my photo!

From here, we looped up to have lunch at the cute but very touristy Place du Tertre, and then around the front of the Sacre Coeur basilica. This is one of my favorite churches in Paris, partially because it’s a departure from the Gothic architecture that characterizes so many of them. Try to find a different angle than the ones people usually get at the bottom of the stairs right in front of the church. This is an old photo, but proves my point- I took it a little high because there were tons of people around and ended up with an angle I really liked. Don’t be afraid to play! Walking around the outside of the basilica is a good idea too, we just didn’t have time for it.

We walked down from Sacre Coeur, crossed over Place Saint Pierre (where I snapped a picture of the basilica with the carousel at the bottom- it was a phone picture so not for the blog but you can see it here) and then cut down to the metro at Anvers to go see the Iron Lady.

Trocadéro is one of my favorite views of the Eiffel Tower. Yes, I know it’s kind of cliché, but if you climb down into the fountain on a day when the water’s not on, you can get a really cool reflection photo. The key is to hold your camera down close to the water to get in the whole tower.

So there you have it, some of my favorite of Paris’ most Instagrammable locations! I even got to get a couple shots of myself- I generally prefer to be behind the camera, but on Rue Crémieux it’s hard to resist… (thank you Stephanie for the picture!)

In case you want to go find any of these locations yourself, I’ve included an interactive map below with the locations marked. When you click on a location or the lines between them, you’ll find directions from one location to another, with metro lines, exits, and walking instructions. Happy gramming!

 

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