Pont de Bir-Hakeim visitor guide

Visit Pont de Bir-Hakeim, Paris

The Pont de Bir-Hakeim is an important bridge across the Seine, in the centre of Paris about 500 metres west of the Eiffel Tower.

Discover the Pont de Bir-Hakeim

France This Way review: the Pont de Bir Hakeim, although not very exciting as an attraction, is interesting for several reasons, including its role as a film location, and its views of the Eiffel Tower, so it is a popular destination with visitors

The bridge was built in 1905, although a pedestrian bridge had stood in the same location since 1878, and incorporated the passage for the metro to cross the river.

View from on the bridge

It was originally called the Pont Passy, but the name was changed to celebrate a battle in 1942, in Libya during the Second World War, when the Free French army fought against the Germans.

The bridge is on two levels, with the upper level for the metro and the lower level for vehicles and pedestrians. The two are separated by a long series of iron columns.

On the lower level, the pedestrian pathway is now called the Promenade Jean-Paul-Belmondo, in tribute to a stunt he performed on the roof of a metro train on the bridge, in a film called Peur sur la Ville. You can see the stunt here.

The Pont de Bir-Hakeim is best known because of the views across the Seine River to the Eiffel Tower. These views are best at sunrise and sunset, but very popular at all times of day, and the bridge is often used as a location by wedding photographers and influencers.

On the occasions when a light show or fireworks take place on the Eiffel Tower this bridge is a very popular place with spectators.

There is also a metro line that crosses the bridge, so you can see the Eiffel Tower from a train, or see the bridge as the trains go across. If you want to make a video as you cross the bridge, you need to be on metro line 6, travelling between Passy metro station (north of the river) and Bir-Hakeim metro station (south of the river).

In the middle of the bridge there is a large equestrian statue, called La France Renaissante (France reborn) that was given to Paris by the Danish community in the city in 1930. The statue makes a good foreground to a picture with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

Also here in the middle of the bridge you can see a large stone arche with statues and other carvings.

Next to this statue you can access a long thin island below the bridge. This island is called the Ile aux Cygnes (Swan island): it is almost a kilometre long, with a footpath and trees along its length, and a small version of the Statue of Liberty at the end.

View from the bridge Bir-Hakeim.

It is quite possible you will feel that you recognise the bridge when you visit: as well as the film mentioned above it has featured in several popular films and television programmes including Dexter, Munich and Last Tango in Paris. One of the longest sequences in the film Inception with Leonardo di Caprio was filmed on the Pont Bir-Hakeim.