Cast for decades as the city of lovers, Paris largely lives up to that reputation along the Seine, on its bridges, and after dark when the monuments light up. Here are three essentials for a moment together, no booking or big budget required.
The Pont des Arts
Paris's first iron bridge, built in 1804 and rebuilt to the same design in 1984 after it partially collapsed, the Pont des Arts links the Louvre to the Institut de France. From 2008 onward it became covered in more than a million "love locks," before the city removed them entirely in June 2015 for structural safety reasons (the railings were carrying up to 45 tons). Pedestrian-only and unobstructed, it's still one of the finest views of Île de la Cité, especially at sunset.
The Pont Alexandre III
Built for the 1900 World's Fair and named after Tsar Alexander III, this single-arch bridge is dressed in exuberant Belle Époque decoration: gilded lamps, nymphs, winged horses and four monumental Fame statues perched on seventeen-meter pylons. Its deliberately low profile preserves the view between the Grand Palais and Les Invalides, making it a classic sunset spot.
An evening cruise on the Seine
The major operators (Bateaux-Mouches at Pont de l'Alma, Bateaux Parisiens near the Eiffel Tower) run roughly hour-long illuminated cruises past Notre-Dame, the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay and the Pont Alexandre III before reaching the Eiffel Tower. Once night falls, the tower sparkles for five minutes at the start of every hour, a show that's often visible right from the boat's deck.
Tips
If you want to catch the Eiffel Tower sparkle from a bridge or a cruise, time it for the start of a full hour after dark: the show lasts five minutes and repeats every hour until midnight (1am in summer), powered by roughly 20,000 bulbs flashing across the whole structure.
