11 Hidden Romantic Spots in Paris Made for Honeymooners

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They say Paris is for lovers and we couldn’t agree more. How else can you explain why so many newlyweds choose to spend their honeymoon in the city of l’amour? Paris oozes romance: the cobbled streets, the candle lit restaurants,  the stunning architecture, the wine–all that wine! But just as easy as it is to find yourself swooning in Paris, it’s often not difficult to end up stuck in a cliched tourist trap. Of course, the best way to avoid ending up somewhere like that is to ask a local for their advice. For those planning a French honeymoon in the near future, we asked My Little Paris, a website specialized in finding hidden little spots around Paris, to share their favorite secret romantic places in the City of Light. 

Hôtel Jules et Jim
11 Rue des Gravilliers, 75003
Grab a table for two and warm up with a vin chaud in the courtyard café of this intimate Marais hotel. An outdoor fireplace keeps the air warm while letting in natural light—pure luxury in wintertime. The name is a nod to the two male suitors caught up in French cinema’s most iconic love triangle: that of François Truffaut’s 1962 film, Jules et Jim. It’s the ideal spot to soak in some highbrow romance à la Nouvelle Vague.

Lulu White
2 Rue Frochot, 75009
This cozy Pigalle bar is something like the illegitimate lovechild of a Parisian courtesan and a New Orleans jazz pianist; all plush leather barstools and absinthe-spiked cocktails, with live jazz music on most nights of the week—plus plenty of shadowy corners for getting up to who-knows-what in.

montmatre garden
The Garden of the Musée de Montmartre Photo: Courtesy of Musée de Montmartre

The Garden of the Musée de Montmartre
2-14 Rue Cortot, 75018
Schlep it up to Montmartre (either Amélie or Picasso’s neighborhood depending on your cultural references)  and lose yourself in Paris’s bohemian past at the vastly underrated Musée de Montmartre. Not only does the entry fee give you access to the museum’s collections, but to a straight-up Impressionist painting of a private garden hidden at the back—perfect for a 3pm coffee stop.

Jardin du Palais Royal
Lovers should forgo the standard-issue benches here in favor of Michel Goulet’s two-person ‘poem chairs’: face-to-face seats equipped with headphone jacks which, when prodded, will recite verses from poetry greats ranging from Baudelaire to Neruda to Pier Paolo Pasolini. All in French, alas.

Green River Cruises
A Seine cruise is pretty much the height of romantic kitsch, you’ll concede—but if you’re determined to take one, you might as well go all the way. Green River Cruises offers what they call a ‘Floating Apéro’ (the apéro being France’s national cocktail hour.) For a moderate sum of money, they’ll take you on a private glide past Paris’s most twinkly monuments complete with a bottle of champagne on ice, and without a single line of corny, pre-recorded commentary.

Maison Souquet
10 Rue de Bruxelles, 75009
Something about the decor here makes you want to—let’s just say it—take your clothes off. It’s in-your-face sultry, which makes sense, given that this den-like boutique hotel used to house one of Paris’s notorious maisons closes. Sprawl out on a downstairs divan with a Gin Fizz in hand, or, if you’ve got the means, book a room. This place was made for loving (and being loved in return.)

Passage de l’Ancre
Passage de l’Ancre

Passage de l’Ancre
There’s hardly a square foot of Paris that doesn’t come with some kind of tale to tell—but in terms of stories to surface area, there’s no better than the pocket-sized Passage de l’Ancre. Take a moment to peek into Pep’s, Europe’s only dedicated umbrella repair shop. It’s a colorful, nostalgia-flavored bonbon straight out of a Wes Anderson movie.

San Francisco Book Company
7 Rue Monsieur le Prince, 75006
While Shakespeare & Co. remains a necessary stop on the Paris sightseeing list, true literary treasure hunters should head straight to the San Francisco Book Company, which lies somewhere in a quiet backstreet of Saint-Germain. Nooks and crannys are many here, as are used editions of Steinbeck and Proust, many bearing inscriptions to “my darling” or “mon amour éternel”, among other nameless, one-time lovers.

Le Meurice Photo: Courtesy of The Dorchester
Le Meurice
Photo: Courtesy of The Dorchester

High tea at Le Meurice
228 Rue de Rivoli, 75001
Stride straight past the chi-chi boutiques of the 1st arrondissement and treat yourself to a comparably small luxury: high tea at Le Meurice hotel. There, resident pastry chef Cédric Grolet spins out supernaturally-beautiful desserts that helped earn him the title of “World’s Best Restaurant Pâtissier” earlier this year. Stalk him on Instagram if you don’t believe us.

Vintage photobooth at the Palais de Tokyo
13 Avenue du Président Wilson, 75116
Skip a lovers’ phone selfie in favor of something far more original: a romantic analog photostrip from one of Paris’s coin-operated black & white photobooths. The best one is inside the Palais de Tokyo, and includes, bien sûr, a privacy curtain. Go crazy, kids.

La Belle Hortense
31 Rue Vieille du Temple, 75004
Purchase a volume of love poems by Baudelaire and get your vin rouge on at the same time in this so-called “literary wine bar.” The aesthetic charms of its old-school zinc bartop pairs particularly well with—what else?—a cheeseboard, which will be brought to you on request from next-door bistro, Les Philosophes.