The 7 Most Famous Bridges in Paris, Including One That Grants Everlasting Love

Every time I go to Paris, I discover something new. It’s a city full of myths and legends, some based on historical events, others a little more fanciful. Unsurprisingly, many of them have a common theme: love.

Along with many others, I’d always thought Pont des Arts was the most romantic bridge in Paris, but it appears I’m wrong. Tourists flocked to the bridge armed with padlocks, convinced it was part of some old tradition. Unfortunately not.

The love lock tradition started in the early 2000s and ended in 2015, when the city had to remove the railings to prevent the bridge from collapsing under its weight. But there’s another bridge in Paris with a much older story that involves boats, kisses, and centuries of lovers passing beneath it.

The Bridges of Paris

The River Seine cuts through the heart of Paris, and the city has built its life around it. Crossing that river are 37 bridges, each with its own design, story, and view. Some are grand and ceremonial, others so small you’d barely notice them unless you stopped to look. 

A few are closed to traffic altogether, allowing pedestrians to slow down and watch the water move beneath their feet. I’ve done it myself, and there is something very magical about it, especially at night. Some were bombed during wars and rebuilt, while others have barely changed in centuries. 

These bridges have also starred in countless movies and TV Shows. In Sex and the City (2004), Carrie walks across the Pont des Arts, searching for meaning in the city of love. Midnight in Paris (2011) ends on Pont Alexandre III, where Gil and Gabrielle stroll through the rain. And in Inception (2010), a dream folds in on itself over the Pont de Bir-Hakeim. Different stories, different styles, but all framed by the same river.

Not all of them come with a love story. But one of them does. And it might just be the most romantic bridge in Paris.

Enter Pont Marie: The True Bridge of Lovers

Pont Marie doesn’t make most tourist lists. It doesn’t sparkle at night or sit in the shadow of a landmark. But walk across it, or better yet, float beneath it, and you might feel something different. The story goes that if you kiss someone while passing beneath Pont Marie on a boat, your love will last forever. 

Linking Île Saint-Louis to the Right Bank along the quai de l’Hôtel de Ville, Pont Marie is one of three bridges that connect this island to the rest of Paris. It’s the counterpart to Pont de la Tournelle, which joins the island to the Left Bank.

The bridge is named after Christophe Marie, the engineer who proposed its construction in 1605. At the time, Île Saint-Louis was mostly undeveloped, and the bridge was part of a bigger plan to turn it into a livable, functioning part of the city.

The project dragged on for a while, but eventually got the green light from the king. In 1614, Louis XIII laid the first stone in a formal ceremony. It took 21 years to finish. When it finally opened to traffic in 1635, it was one of the most impressive crossings in Paris.

Plans to build houses on top of the bridge came soon after. Christophe Marie wasn’t keen, but carpenter Claude Dublet had other ideas. Around 50 houses were eventually built along the span. Dublet should have listened to Marie because disaster struck on March 1, 1658, when a catastrophic flood hit. 

Twenty of the houses collapsed into the river, and about 60 people were killed. Two of the arches nearest Île Saint-Louis were swept away. A temporary wooden structure was built with a tollbooth to help raise funds, and by 1670, the bridge had been fully rebuilt in stone.

After that, the city got stricter. Buildings were gradually removed, and by 1740, the rest were gone. In 1769, construction on any bridge in Paris was banned altogether. By 1788, it was official: no more houses on bridges, anywhere in the city.

Pont Marie has barely changed since. The only major adjustment was the softening of its rise, which didn’t change how it looks. Each of its five stone arches is slightly different, and the bridge’s stone abutments include niches that were probably meant to hold statues, but they never did.

Getting there is easy, as a metro station aptly named Pont Marie is steps away from the bridge.

Seven Paris Bridges with Stories to Tell

Pont Neuf

Despite its name, which means “New Bridge,” Pont Neuf is the oldest standing bridge across the Seine in Paris, which was completed in 1607. Commissioned by King Henry III in 1577, construction began the following year but faced delays due to political unrest and the Wars of Religion. Work resumed under King Henry IV, leading to its completion and inauguration in the early 17th century.

The bridge links both sides of the city, stretching across the western tip of Île de la Cité in two sections, five arches toward the Left Bank, seven toward the Right. It quickly became one of the liveliest spots in Paris. You’d find street performers, tooth-pullers, pickpockets, sellers, and all kinds of people gathering here. 

Notably, Pont Neuf was the first Parisian bridge built without houses lining its sides, a deliberate choice by Henry IV to preserve unobstructed views of the Louvre. It also introduced pavements for pedestrians, a novel feature at the time.

What most people miss, though, are the mascarons. These are 381 carved stone masks lining the sides of the bridge. Each is different, showing faces of satyrs, forest spirits, and mythical figures. The original 16th-century designs are believed to be by Germain Pilon, the same sculptor who created the tomb of Henry II and Catherine de’ Medici. 

At the point where Pont Neuf crosses Île de la Cité, you’ll spot a bronze equestrian statue of King Henry IV. His widow, Marie de Médicis, commissioned the original not long after his assassination. Italian sculptor Giambologna was meant to create it, but died before finishing the job.

His assistant, Pietro Tacca, stepped in to complete the statue, which was installed in 1614. It stood there for over a century until the French Revolution swept through, and the statue came down in 1792.

It wasn’t until 1818, after the monarchy was restored, that a new version went up. The public raised the funds themselves, and the bronze was sourced by melting down a statue of General Desaix. Hidden inside the statue are four sealed boxes: one holds a history of Henry IV’s life, one contains a parchment from the 17th century certifying the original statue, another outlines how the replacement was commissioned, and the last lists the names of people who contributed to the fundraising.

Pont Alexandre III

Built between 1896 and 1900, this Beaux-Arts bridge is packed with nymphs, winged horses, bronze lions, and golden statues that glitter in the sun and glow under the Paris lights. It was named after Tsar Alexander III of Russia to mark the Franco-Russian Alliance, and his son, Nicholas II, laid the foundation stone in 1896. France was deep in preparations for the 1900 World’s Fair at the time, and this bridge, along with the Grand Palais and Petit Palais, was part of the showpiece.

It connects the Champs-Élysées quarter to Les Invalides and the Eiffel Tower. The structure itself is a single steel arch, low and wide, designed to avoid blocking views of Paris’s key landmarks. That wasn’t easy to engineer in the 19th century, but the team pulled it off. 

Towering stone pedestals guard each end of the bridge, topped with gold-gilded statues known as the Fames, allegorical figures clutching Pegasus. These aren’t just for show. They act as counterweights, stabilizing the bridge without interrupting the skyline. Four in total are dedicated to a different pillar of French pride: the Sciences, the Arts, Commerce, and Industry. 

They’re surrounded by sculptures representing various versions of France. Charlemagne’s France, Renaissance France, the France of Louis XIV, and even “Contemporary France,” though that one is over a century old.

Beneath the bridge, carved directly into the metal arch, are two more pieces often missed unless you’re on the water. On one side, the Nymphs of the Seine hold Paris’s coat of arms. On the other, the Neva Nymphs carry the Imperial Russia crest. The two figures face one another across the river, a tribute to the political partnership that inspired the bridge in the first place.

Pont de Bir-Hakeim

Originally called Pont de Passy, this steel bridge was renamed after World War II to honor the Battle of Bir Hakeim, in which Free French forces held off the Germans in the Libyan desert. It’s one of the few double-decker bridges in Paris, with the Metro running on top and cars and pedestrians below. 

It has a striking industrial look, with bold iron supports and a killer view of the Eiffel Tower. If it looks familiar, it might be because it has featured in many movies, including the 2018 Mission: Impossible- Fallout, when Tom Cruise sprinted across it during a chase scene.

Pont Saint-Michel

Tucked between the Latin Quarter and Île de la Cité, this bridge has seen it all. It was first built in the 14th century, then knocked out by floods and rebuilt a few times over. The version you see today was finished in the 1850s.

It’s close to Notre-Dame, and over the years, it’s been right in the middle of student protests, uprisings, and everyday comings and goings.

Pont des Arts

This was the first iron bridge in Paris, built in the early 1800s as a pedestrian walkway linking the Louvre to the Institut de France. It had a bit of a makeover in the 20th century, and for a while, it was the love lock bridge.

Tourists clipped padlocks to the railings and threw the keys into the Seine. The weight became a problem, so the city cleared them off in 2015. 

Pont au Change

This one has medieval roots. It connects Île de la Cité to the Right Bank, and several versions have come and gone over the centuries. It got its name from the goldsmiths and money changers who set up shop here in the 12th century. Back then, bridges weren’t just for crossing, they were prime real estate. 

The current version was built between 1858 and 1860, under Napoleon III. If you look closely, you’ll still see his imperial “N” carved into the stone. It connects Île de la Cité to the Right Bank and has long been part of the city’s financial and legal world. You’ll even find it in Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, where it gets a mention during one of the darker parts of the story.

Pont de la Concorde

It was designed by architect Jean-Rodolphe Perronet in 1787 to replace a ferry crossing between what’s now Place de la Concorde and the National Assembly. Construction began just before the French Revolution and carried on right through it. The stone used for the bridge came straight from the Bastille, which had been torn down by a crowd in 1789.

In 1810, Napoleon added statues of fallen generals along the edges. After the monarchy was restored, those were swapped out for twelve large marble statues of ministers, generals, and naval officers. But they didn’t last. The weight of the statues proved too much for the bridge, and they were eventually carted off to Versailles. 

By the 20th century, traffic in Paris had picked up so much that the bridge had to be widened between 1930 and 1932. The engineers kept its neoclassical look, even as they doubled its width. It had one more round of renovations in the 1980s and now carries some of the heaviest road traffic in the city.