Built to commemorate the Battle of Alma in the Crimean War, the bridge is perhaps better known these days as the site where Princess Diana tragically perished in a car crash in 1997. Admirers still place flowers, candles, and handwritten notes at the bridge’s northern end where a replica of the Statue of Liberty’s golden flame has become an unofficial memorial.
Walk across the bridge to view the Eiffel Tower and the mini forest that has been planted under it. If you have more time, take a dinner cruise or zip along the riverbanks on a Segway, dropping into nearby museums (Musée d’Orsay, The Louvre) and landmarks (Arc de Triomphe, Place de la Concorde).
Alma Bridge connects the 7th arrondissement (Palais de Tokyo and Quai de Branly) to the 8th arrondissement (Place de l’Alma and the Champs-Élysées). Take Métro line 9 to Alma-Marceau on the right bank, or the RER C to Gare du Pont d’Alma on the left bank and walk a few steps to reach the bridge.
Visit the bridge when the sun is rising or setting for the best photo opportunities of the tower and the river. Peak season in Paris is June through mid-September, with most tourists arriving in the summer.
When Alma Bridge opened in 1857, four statues of soldiers decorated its sides at water level:xa0 a grenadier, a skirmisher, an artilleryman, and a zouave. During the Great Flood of 1910, the water rose to the zouve’s shoulders, and thereafter, the 17-foot (5.2-meter) statue became a popular way to mark the river swell. In the 1970s, the stone bridge was entirely replaced with a steel one, and the zouave was the sole statue to stay, having already been firmly embedded in Parisian folklore and immortalized in song.
