Omar Sy at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2020, the year Lupin was being made. Harald Krichel · CC BY-SA 3.0
Omar Sy as Assane Diop, behind the Louvre’s glass. The title is written in Leblanc’s own code: five letters, two figures, three dots.
Omar Sy at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2020, the year Lupin was being made. Harald Krichel · CC BY-SA 3.0
L’Aiguille creuse, 1909 · the document
Read the dots.
In Leblanc’s novel the secret is a scrap of paper covered in dots and figures. No figure is higher than 5, so the schoolboy Isidore Beautrelet guesses that each one stands for a vowel in alphabetical order, and each dot for a consonant. Below, five places are written in his key.
1a
2e
3i
4o
5u
.any other letter
Where we read it
The vowels-as-figures, consonants-as-dots key, and Beautrelet finding that fleuve, preuve and creuse all fit the last word.
Looking up through the pyramid’s glass from the hall below. Horison (talk) · CC BY 3.0
Cour Napoléon, Musée du Louvre, Paris 1er
The Louvre
Lupin opens at the Louvre. The first episode was filmed inside the museum: the Cour Napoléon, the Carrousel du Louvre, the Grande Galerie and the room of the Mona Lisa.
I. M. Pei’s pyramid, finished in 1989, is the museum’s main entrance: 21.6 metres high, with 603 rhombus-shaped and 70 triangular panes by the Louvre’s count.
From 14 January 2026 a ticket is €22 for visitors from the European Economic Area and €32 for everyone else; under-18s go free.
Open every day except Tuesday, 9am to 6pm, and to 9pm on Wednesdays and Fridays. From 17 October to 1 November 2026 every visitor must book a time slot.
Where we read it
Saint-Martin · Gare de l’Est · Buttes-Chaumont · Saint-Ouen · Richelieu
Assane’s Paris.
Away from the museums, the series lives in the north and east: an old city gate, a flight of station steps, a temple on a rock, a flea market and a reading room.
A paper roseThe Porte Saint-Martin seen from the rue Saint-Martin. Paris 16 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE
Boulevard Saint-Martin, Paris 10e
Porte Saint-Martin
Claire walks under the Porte Saint-Martin, showing Assane a paper rose.
Pierre Bullet built the 18-metre arch in 1674 for Louis XIV’s victories on the Rhine and in Franche-Comté.
A triumphal arch at a busy crossroads, seen from the pavements all round.
Where we read itDown the stepsThe double stair of the rue d’Alsace, above the tracks of the Gare de l’Est. Chabe01 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Rue d’Alsace, beside the Gare de l’Est, Paris 10e
The rue d’Alsace steps
A chase runs down the rue d’Alsace steps to the Gare de l’Est.
The double stair climbs three storeys above the station tracks. It once hid a waterworks; today it wraps a ventilation shaft for metro line 4.
Earlier films chased up and down it too, among them Le Clan des Siciliens (1969) and Amélie (2001).
Public steps beside the Gare de l’Est.
Where we read itOn the islandThe Temple de la Sibylle on its island of rock in the Buttes-Chaumont. Guilhem Vellut from Paris, France · CC BY 2.0
Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Paris 19e
Temple de la Sibylle
Assane meets Juliette at the Temple de la Sibylle.
Gabriel Davioud modelled the temple on the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli. It crowns an island cliff about 50 metres high.
The park opened on 1 April 1867, on the site of an exhausted limestone and gypsum quarry.
A public park; cross to the island by the footbridges and climb to the temple.
Where we read itBenjamin’s shopThe Marché Biron entrance at the Saint-Ouen flea market. Rc1959 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Rue des Rosiers, Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine
Marché Biron
Assane sells Benjamin a Fabergé egg and a copy of the Queen’s necklace at his shop in the Marché Biron.
Seventy dealers founded the Marché Biron as a collective in 1925. The flea market around it opens on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Part of the Saint-Ouen flea market, open Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Where we read itThe readerThe Salle Labrouste, now the INHA library’s reading room. Peccadille · CC BY 4.0
58 rue de Richelieu, Paris 2e
BnF Richelieu
Assane and Benjamin spot Philippe Courbet among the readers of the Salle Labrouste.
The Salle Labrouste is the reading room of the INHA library, kept for art-history researchers. You can glimpse it from the BnF Richelieu courtyard, or go in on heritage days.
Next door the Salle Ovale is open to all, free, with no age limit; it is closed on Mondays and public holidays.
The Salle Ovale is free and open to everyone: Tuesday 10am to 8pm, Wednesday to Sunday 10am to 6pm, entrance at 5 rue Vivienne. The Salle Labrouste is for researchers; glimpse it from the courtyard.
Where we read itThe Salle Ovale at BnF Richelieu, open to everyone, in October 2022. Jean-Pierre Dalbéra · CC BY 2.0
Viator · Ad / affiliate
Lupin and film locations in Paris
Paris
Live marketplace results for Lupin and film-location walks in Paris. Check each itinerary for the Louvre, the Pont des Arts and the Luxembourg.
Clotilde Hesme at Deauville in September 2020, between the two halves of the first season. Georges Biard · CC BY-SA 4.0
Monceau · Victor-Hugo · Luxembourg
The Pellegrinis’ Paris.
Hubert Pellegrini framed Assane’s father, Babakar, for the theft of a diamond necklace; Babakar died in prison. Clotilde Hesme plays Pellegrini’s daughter Juliette, and her Paris is the west: a mansion by Parc Monceau, an oyster house near the Étoile, the Senate’s garden.
Where we read it
The premise: Babakar Diop framed by his employer Hubert Pellegrini for a necklace theft, and his death in prison; Clotilde Hesme as Juliette Pellegrini.
Closed until 2030The Camondo house from its courtyard, before the museum closed for renovation. Thomon · CC BY-SA 4.0
63 rue de Monceau, Paris 8e
Musée Nissim de Camondo
The Camondo house plays the home of the Pellegrinis in the flashbacks.
It has been closed for renovation since 4 August 2024 and will reopen in 2030.
Closed for renovation until 2030. The façade can be seen from the rue de Monceau, at the edge of Parc Monceau.
Where we read itDinner, unpaidPrunier, on the corner of the rue de Traktir and the avenue Victor-Hugo. Mu · CC BY-SA 3.0
16 avenue Victor-Hugo, Paris 16e
Prunier
Assane and Juliette leave Prunier without paying, on a stolen Vespa.
The restaurant is listed as a historic monument.
A working restaurant on the avenue Victor-Hugo, a short walk from the Arc de Triomphe.
Where we read itThe couriersThe Grand Bassin in the Jardin du Luxembourg. Wulf Alex · CC0
Rue de Médicis, Paris 6e
Jardin du Luxembourg
Assane, dressed as a courier, draws Juliette to the octagonal pond and disappears into a swarm of couriers.
The 23-hectare garden belongs to the French Senate. Model sailing boats still cross the Grand Bassin.
A public garden. The Grand Bassin lies in front of the Luxembourg Palace.
Where we read it
The Aiguille and the Porte d’Aval in the evening, seen from the Manneporte. Jörg Braukmann · CC BY-SA 4.0
Étretat · Seine-Maritime
The Needle.
Part 1 ends on the Normandy coast, where Leblanc set his code. On the cliff, Beautrelet reads the whole document as four formulas.
1En aval d’ÉtretatNot yet read.
2La Chambre des DemoisellesNot yet read.
3Sous le Fort de FréfosséNot yet read.
4L’Aiguille creuseNot yet read.
Four formulas, decoded from the document. Read the first.
Where we read it
Beautrelet’s reconstruction: En aval d’Étretat, La Chambre des Demoiselles, Sous le Fort de Fréfossé, L’Aiguille creuse. The English glosses paraphrase the chapter.
Part 1, episode 5The Aiguille and the Porte d’Aval at low tide. Jörg Braukmann · CC BY-SA 4.0
Falaise d’Aval, Étretat, Seine-Maritime
Étretat: the Falaise d’Aval
Raoul goes missing on the beach at Étretat; Claire and Assane search towards the Falaise d’Aval.
Raoul goes missing on the beach, and Claire and Assane search the crowds, walking towards the Falaise d’Aval.
The Aiguille rises 70 metres from the sea beside the arch of the Porte d’Aval. Leblanc’s 1909 novel L’Aiguille creuse is built round it.
Walk the beach, or take the cliff path west from the town to the top of the Falaise d’Aval. Keep back from the edge.
Where we read itWhere Leblanc wroteLe Clos Lupin, Maurice Leblanc’s house in Étretat, in July 2021. Gordito1869 · CC BY-SA 4.0
15 rue Guy-de-Maupassant, Étretat
Le Clos Lupin
Maurice Leblanc spends his summers at Le Clos Lupin and writes much of the Lupin series there.
Leblanc wrote much of the Lupin series in this house.
His granddaughter Florence Boespflug opened it as a museum on 26 June 1999.
Inside, a trail of eight stages is set in turn-of-the-century rooms; you collect the equipment at reception.
A museum in Leblanc’s house in the town. Tickets from €8.50.
Where we read itMaurice Leblanc, photographed by Henri Manuel around 1910, the year after L’Aiguille creuse appeared as a book. Henri Manuel · Public domain
Dormy House Hôtel
Dormy House, Étretat
Étretat · Open all year
A hotel on the Route du Havre above the town, looking over the sea and Étretat, with 58 rooms and 3 suites, a sea-view restaurant and the Bistrot du Dormy. Open all year; rates on the hotel’s own booking page.
Omar Sy at the Berlinale, February 2020. Harald Krichel · CC BY-SA 3.0Omar SyAssane Diop · Berlinale, February 2020
Clotilde Hesme at Deauville in September 2020, between the two halves of the first season. Georges Biard · CC BY-SA 4.0Clotilde HesmeJuliette Pellegrini · Deauville, 2020
Maurice Leblanc, photographed by Henri Manuel around 1910, the year after L’Aiguille creuse appeared as a book. Henri Manuel · Public domainMaurice LeblancArsène Lupin’s author · about 1910
George Kay and François Uzan created the series. Louis Leterrier directed the first three episodes. Around Omar Sy are Ludivine Sagnier as Claire, Antoine Gouy as Benjamin, Hervé Pierre as Hubert Pellegrini, Etan Simon as Raoul and Soufiane Guerrab as Youssef Guédira. Mathieu Lamboley wrote the score.
76mHouseholds that watched Part 1 in its first month
8 Jan 2021Part 1 on Netflix
11 Jun 2021Part 2
5 Oct 2023Part 3
23 Oct 2026Part 4
Where we read it
Creators, directors, cast, the 76 million households for Part 1, and the dates of Parts 1 to 3.
14 places you can visit: 12 in and around Paris and 2 on the Normandy coast at Étretat.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Open every day except Tuesday, 9am to 6pm, and to 9pm on Wednesdays and Fridays. From 17 October to 1 November 2026 every visitor must book a time slot.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A footbridge. Cross from the Louvre side towards the dome of the Institut de France.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The Salle Ovale is free and open to everyone: Tuesday 10am to 8pm, Wednesday to Sunday 10am to 6pm, entrance at 5 rue Vivienne. The Salle Labrouste is for researchers; glimpse it from the courtyard.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. An open square. The column stands in the middle; the staircase inside it is closed to the public.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working theatre on Place du Châtelet. See it from the square, or go in with a ticket for a performance.
1The Cour Napoléon and the pyramid at dusk. Martin Falbisoner · CC BY-SA 3.0
Cour Napoléon, Musée du Louvre, Paris 1er
The Louvre
Lupin opens at the Louvre. The first episode was filmed inside the museum: the Cour Napoléon, the Carrousel du Louvre, the Grande Galerie and the room of the Mona Lisa.
Open every day except Tuesday, 9am to 6pm, and to 9pm on Wednesdays and Fridays. From 17 October to 1 November 2026 every visitor must book a time slot.
Where we read it
2The Pont des Arts, with the dome of the Institut de France at its far end. Dietmar Rabich · CC BY-SA 4.0
Pont des Arts, between the Louvre and the Institut de France
Pont des Arts
At the end of the first episode Assane gives his son Raoul his copy of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Burglar on the Pont des Arts.
A footbridge. Cross from the Louvre side towards the dome of the Institut de France.
Where we read it
3The Salle Labrouste, now the INHA library’s reading room. Peccadille · CC BY 4.0
58 rue de Richelieu, Paris 2e
BnF Richelieu
In the Part 1 finale, Assane and Benjamin look for an accomplice in the Salle Labrouste and spot Philippe Courbet among the readers.
The Salle Ovale is free and open to everyone: Tuesday 10am to 8pm, Wednesday to Sunday 10am to 6pm, entrance at 5 rue Vivienne. The Salle Labrouste is for researchers; glimpse it from the courtyard.
Where we read it
4The Vendôme Column in the middle of Place Vendôme. Gzen92 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Place Vendôme, Paris 1er
Place Vendôme
Part 3 opens on Place Vendôme, with Assane at the top of the Vendôme Column. Omar Sy climbed the real staircase; the shop interiors were built in a private mansion nearby.
An open square. The column stands in the middle; the staircase inside it is closed to the public.
Where we read it
5The Théâtre du Châtelet on Place du Châtelet. Arthur Weidmann · CC BY-SA 4.0
1 place du Châtelet, Paris 1er
Théâtre du Châtelet
Part 2 ends here, at a charity concert where Assane finally corners Hubert Pellegrini.
A working theatre on Place du Châtelet. See it from the square, or go in with a ticket for a performance.
Where we read it
Stay
A room above Étretat.
A hotel on the Route du Havre, looking over the town and the sea.
Dormy House Hôtel
Dormy House, Étretat
Étretat · Open all year
A hotel on the Route du Havre above the town, looking over the sea and Étretat, with 58 rooms and 3 suites, a sea-view restaurant and the Bistrot du Dormy. Open all year; rates on the hotel’s own booking page.
Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
The whole document
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
14 of 14 places · 15 of 15 Moments
The Louvre
Cour Napoléon, Musée du Louvre, Paris 1er
The Louvre
The series opens inside the Louvre: under the pyramid, in the Grande Galerie and in the room of the Mona Lisa.
Paul Sernine
At the Louvre auction Assane gives his name as Paul Sernine, an anagram of Arsène Lupin.
Pont des Arts
Pont des Arts, between the Louvre and the Institut de France
The book
Assane gives Raoul his copy of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Burglar on the Pont des Arts.
BnF Richelieu
58 rue de Richelieu, Paris 2e
The reader
Assane and Benjamin spot Philippe Courbet among the readers of the Salle Labrouste.
Place Vendôme
Place Vendôme, Paris 1er
The column
Part 3 opens with Assane at the top of the Vendôme Column.
Théâtre du Châtelet
1 place du Châtelet, Paris 1er
The concert
At a charity concert in the Châtelet, Assane corners Hubert Pellegrini.
Porte Saint-Martin
Boulevard Saint-Martin, Paris 10e
The paper rose
Claire walks under the Porte Saint-Martin, showing Assane a paper rose.
The rue d’Alsace steps
Rue d’Alsace, beside the Gare de l’Est, Paris 10e
The steps
A chase runs down the rue d’Alsace steps to the Gare de l’Est.
Temple de la Sibylle
Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Paris 19e
The temple
Assane meets Juliette at the Temple de la Sibylle.
Marché Biron
Rue des Rosiers, Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine
Benjamin’s shop
Assane sells Benjamin a Fabergé egg and a copy of the Queen’s necklace at his shop in the Marché Biron.
Musée Nissim de Camondo
63 rue de Monceau, Paris 8e
The Pellegrini house
The Camondo house plays the home of the Pellegrinis in the flashbacks.
Prunier
16 avenue Victor-Hugo, Paris 16e
Dinner at Prunier
Assane and Juliette leave Prunier without paying, on a stolen Vespa.
Jardin du Luxembourg
Rue de Médicis, Paris 6e
The couriers
Assane, dressed as a courier, draws Juliette to the octagonal pond and disappears into a swarm of couriers.
Étretat: the Falaise d’Aval
Falaise d’Aval, Étretat, Seine-Maritime
The beach
Raoul goes missing on the beach at Étretat; Claire and Assane search towards the Falaise d’Aval.
Le Clos Lupin
15 rue Guy-de-Maupassant, Étretat
Leblanc’s summers
Maurice Leblanc spends his summers at Le Clos Lupin and writes much of the Lupin series there.
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