The World's Most Memorable Kisses, According to the People Who've Had Them

What makes a kiss unforgettable? Often, it’s the setting. For Valentine’s Day, we asked a diverse group of artists, chefs, writers, and other notable figures to tell us about the locations where a simple kiss turned into a lasting memory. Their answers reveal that romance is less about postcard perfection and more about a specific, charged moment in time.

Martha Stewart recalled a spontaneous kiss with a stranger at Florence’s Duomo, while author Gary Shteyngart chose the stark Arctic airfield in Grise Fiord, Nunavut, where he got married. The suggestions range from the iconic—like Pont-Neuf in Paris or a Sydney Harbour boat—to the intimately personal. Comedian Mary Beth Barone finds romance in Paris's Père-Lachaise Cemetery at magic hour, and musician Este Haim described a late-night kiss on concrete stairs in Lisbon, far from the tourist spots.

Many highlighted the allure of contrast: the quiet of Governors Island against the Manhattan skyline, or the vast silence of Morocco’s Agafay desert under a moonlit sky. For some, the appeal is theatrical, like a corner booth at New York's historic P.J. Clarke's or a dimly lit lounge at Paris's La Renommée. For others, it’s defiantly public, a sentiment echoed by astrologer Chani Nicholas, who values kissing her wife in spaces where their queer love can take up room.

From a proposal in Provincetown dunes to a kiss before Vermeer’s *The Milkmaid* in Amsterdam, these stories prove a compelling point: the best place for a kiss is wherever the moment feels stolen, significant, or beautifully out of time.