Paris Before Sunset Audio Walking Tour
An unofficial Before Sunset walk from Shakespeare and Company across the Seine to the Marais, Céline's courtyard, Le Pure Café and the Promenade Plantée.
4.6 km walk1 h 05 walking7 stopsFrom Shakespeare and Company to Promenade Plantée17 min of storiesEnglish
$16.99
- 7 stops and 17 minutes of stories, told as you reach each place
- The intro and stop 1 are free in the app: try before you buy
- Download before you go; the audio plays without signal (the street map needs a connection)
- Walking with friends? Pick 1 to 10 seats; everyone hears each stop on their own phone, at the same moment
Hear stop 1
30 seconds of the real narration
30 seconds of the real narration
Plays in the free Walk With Me app on iPhone and Android.
Where the story happens
Each stop, the moment of the story it belongs to, and what is there today.
| Stop | In the story | Today |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Shakespeare and Company | The opening: Jesse's book reading, and Céline standing in the shop. | A working English-language bookshop, opened by George Whitman in 1951 and renamed in 1964. |
| 2. Quai de la Tournelle | Late in the film: the boat ride upriver to the Quai Henri IV. | The quay at the Pont de la Tournelle, with Notre-Dame across the water. |
| 3. Rue des Jardins Saint-Paul | After the leap across the river: the walk into rue Charlemagne and rue Eginhard. | About 60 meters of the medieval city wall beside a sports ground. |
| 4. Place de la Bastille | No scene happens here: the film never stops at the Bastille. | The July Column and the Opéra Bastille, inaugurated in 1989. |
| 5. Cour de l'Étoile d'Or | The ending: Céline's flat, her waltz and a Nina Simone record. | A private, gated courtyard at number 75; look in from the pavement. |
| 6. Le Pure Café | The coffee scene, after another jump cut in mid-conversation. | A working café-bar at 14 rue Jean-Macé, near Charonne metro. |
| 7. Promenade Plantée | The walk along the garden path, filmed with both of them in one frame. | The Coulée verte René-Dumont on the Viaduc des Arts; gated, with opening hours. |
Before you go
- The route takes about 65 minutes of walking, but give it two hours with the stops.
- Saint-Michel Notre-Dame, on the RER B and C and metro line 4, is a couple of minutes from the start, and Gare de Lyon is a short walk south of the finish.
- The route is flat, apart from the climb up to the Promenade Plantée at the end.
- That garden path is gated and keeps opening hours, and its lifts are not always working, so check before you go and plan to arrive before it closes.
- If it's shut, walk avenue Daumesnil underneath it instead.
About this tour
Before Sunset is a film about walking, made in a city built for it. On foot you understand what the cuts hide: how far the Left Bank is from the 11th, how a conversation fills every block, and how quickly an hour goes when you don't want it to. You feel the leap across the river with your own legs. Take someone you like talking to. If you're walking it alone, open the Walk With Me live map and see who else is out walking the city.
The route
4.6 km in walking order from Shakespeare and Company to Promenade Plantée. Stop 1 is free in the app.
- 1Shakespeare and CompanyThe English-language bookshop on the Left Bank where Jesse's reading ends with a surprise, and the shop's own history, which people often get wrong.Free in the app
- 2Quai de la TournelleThe riverside quay behind Notre-Dame, a jump ahead to the boat ride late in the film, and how the editing hops across Paris.
- 3Rue des Jardins Saint-PaulA Marais street along the longest surviving stretch of Philippe Auguste's medieval wall, where the couple reappear after one bold cut.
- 4Place de la BastilleA square the film never shows, where the Marais gives way to Céline's side of town, and the story of a fifteen-day shoot.
- 5Cour de l'Étoile d'OrThe gated courtyard on rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine that plays Céline's home, a waltz, a record, and a question the film leaves open.
- 6Le Pure CaféA working corner café in the 11th where the couple sit down over coffee and stumble on a coincidence from their years apart.
- 7Promenade PlantéeA garden path on an old railway viaduct, how Linklater framed the pair up here, and the last leap back to the river.
Toilets and water
18 toilets near the route, 17 free20 drinking fountains
Cheaper in a bundle
Paris, Je T'aimeFour screen love stories, walked where they happened. One bundle of self-guided audio tours across Montmartre, the Left Bank, the Marais and the Seine.
Amélie Montmartre Film Walking2.4 km
Before Sunset4.6 km
Emily in Paris4.6 km
Midnight in Paris Film Walking5.2 km
$35.99$65.96Save 45%
Before you walk Paris
Our Paris city guideWhat's shut on which day, free toilets and water, what's worth it and what it costs.
Photos: André Alliot / Wikimedia Commons, CC0.