Paris - Montmartre Travel Guides | Paris | Sub Regions | Paris - Montmartre

Montmartre is as far north as visitors are likely to go in Paris. There’s a villagey feel to the cobbled streets and leafy stairways that scale La Butte (the hill) up to the Sacré Coeur. Traditionally a decadent, disreputable area favoured by bohemian, artistic types, this is one of the highest points in Paris, with the views to prove it. Around the Sacré Coeur and Place du Tertre is chock full of good-humoured tourist tackiness – street vendors peddling umbrella hats and electronic puppies, and painters peddling multilingual banter and third-rate impressions of Utrillo and Toulouse-Lautrec. The final flourish on the tourist trail is le Momartrain, a twee little white train that creeps between the quartier’s main sights as far as the Moulin Rouge in neighbouring Pigalle, bellowing out its commentary to the irritation of local residents. South of La Butte are the funky little bars and alternative shops of Abbesses and the red-light district of Pigalle. The hit movie Amélie accounts for the recent influx of Americans and rising property prices. Even the gritty African areas of the Goutte d’Or and Château Rouge flanking Montmartre to the east are beginning to arouse the interest of property developers.

Sights

Parvis du Sacré Coeur, 75018, T 01 53 41 89 00. Mon-Sun 0600- 2230 (dome and crypt 0900-1730). Church free, dome €5. M Anvers, Lamarck-Caulaincourt, Abbesses plus funiculaire.

The first place of worship to crown this hill was erected by the Romans, who beheaded Denis, the first bishop of Paris here in the 3rd century AD. In recognition of that event, Denis became St Denis and the hill became the Mont des Martyrs for early Christians. The church was financed largely by national subscription and took nearly 40 years to build, finally being consecrated in 1919. Chosen architect Paul Abadie created a glorious flurry of domes and/or a fanciful abomination, depending on your point of view. The basilica is not lacking in critics, but the fact remains that some five million visitors drop in each year. Inside, a golden Byzantine mosaic of Christ by Luc Olivier Merson hovers beatifically over the high altar. Amazingly, a round-the- clock prayer vigil has been performed in the Basilica since 1885. The spiral staircase to the dome is definitely worth tackling, if you’re partial to a long view. On a clear day it is possible to see for 30 km. Those that simply can’t face the extra effort, or expense, can enjoy almost the same view from the steps of the basilica – along with the crush of tourists, hustlers and pigeons.

11 rue Poulbot, 75018, T 01 42 64 40 10. Mon-Sun 1000-1800 (Jul-Aug until 2100). €7, concessions €6, children €5. M Abbesses, Anvers.

This small museum around the corner from the place du Tertre holds more than 300 of the Spanish Surrealist’s etchings, lithographs and sculptures. Altogether the exhibits stand as powerful testimony to Dalí’s imagination and philosophy. The subjects and symbols they seek to elucidate include Freud, Alice in Wonderland, snails, the beauty of the female form, religion, technology and time. There are several bronze sculptures dedicated to a conceptualization of time, incorporating the well-known Dalían melted watch draped over the tree of life. Small-scale replicas of the paintings and sculptures can be bought, with certificates of ‘authenticity’. The exit stairs are lined with a series of witty photographs of the famous Dalí moustache.

12 rue Cortot, 75018, T 01 49 25 89 37. Tue-Sun 1100-1730. €4, concessions €3, children €1. M Lamarck Caulaincourt, Abbesses.

A fine white house committed to telling the history of the quartier and its more interesting residents. Many of them were hard-up painters, poets and composers, attracted here by the low rents and high spirits for which the area was well known in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Montmartre story is told through old documents, photographs, maps, drawings, Toulouse-Lautrec posters and general artefacts. The most vivid exhibits include the reconstructed study of composer Gustave Charpentier and the interior of the Café de l’Abreuvoir. This one-time café was regularly frequented by the painter Maurice Utrillo, who temporarily lived in one of the studios above the Montmartre museum with his artist-mother, Suzanne Valadon.

Rue Lucien-Gaulard, 75018. 6 Nov-15 Mar Mon-Fri 0800-1730, Sat 0830-1730, Sun 0900-1730; 16 Mar-5 Nov 0800-1800, Sat 0830-1800, Sun 0900-1800. Free. M Lamarck Caulaincourt.

This handkerchief-sized cemetery hidden in the heart of Montmartre is an oasis of calm away from the chaotic eddy of place du Tertre and the surrounding streets. From the entrance gate it is possible to see the heart-rending statue of two women, René and Jeanne Dumesnil, their embrace breaking as one flies heavenwards. In the furthest corner lies the tomb of local painter and alcoholic Maurice Utrillo, who is remembered for repeatedly painting the streets of Montmartre. When alive it seems he was better known for exposing himself to women in the quartier, which resulted in him being banned from walking out alone.

22 rue des Saules, 75018, T 01 46 06 85 87. Tue-Sun 2100-0200. Show (including one drink) €24. Subsequent drinks €6-€7. M Lamarck-Caulaincourt.

This famous cabaret acquired its infamous name in 1880, when André Gill painted a mural on the exterior of a rabbit leaping out of a casserole pot. The name Lapin à Gill (Gill’s rabbit) quickly became Le Lapin Agile (the agile rabbit). The establishment was a favourite with local, impoverished painters including Renoir, Picasso and Modigliani, who in lean times settled their tabs with paintings.

The wine quaffed here may once have included the local tipple from Montmartre’s very own vineyard, just around the corner, which still produces a few hundred bottles each year.

20 ave Rachel, 75018, T 01 43 87 64 24. Mon-Fri 0800-1730, Sat 0830-1730, Sun 0900-1730. Free. M Place de Clichy. Descend the stairs from the bridge to the entrance.

This cemetery was founded by Napoleon in 1806 as part of his bid to clean up the city by establishing cemeteries on its outskirts. Away from the bridge above the entrance the cemetery is surprisingly tranquil and leafy. In some places nature has gained the upper hand, with moss growing like a blanket over tombs and the roots of overgrown yews causing gravestones to topple over. Tombs are laid in streets on different levels, adding to the impression of overgrown disorder. This is the final resting place of many celebrities, including film director François Truffaut, composer Hector Berlioz, and ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. There is a sorrowful-looking joker sitting on top of his tomb.

75018. M Abbesses.

This quiet square may be a far cry from the grand monuments to urban design in the city centre, but Abbesses is a haven of alternative and funky delights. The charm here is of the leafy, cobbled kind. Worthy of notice is the metro station itself, or rather the entrance to it. This is one of only a few of Hector Guimard’s original art nouveau stations – instantly recognizable for its attractive green, wrought-iron arches and glass roof – to still exist in Paris.

M Pigalle, Blanche.

Pigalle is not romantic Paris or pretty Paris, it is touristy red-light-district Paris. It is the Paris of leery stag dos and bleary hen nights. Think sleazy strip shows, seedy sex shops and fast-food joints. Its saving graces are the cabarets and excellent music venues, such as the Elysée Montmartre and La Cigale .

72 blvd de Clichy, 75018, T 01 42 58 28 73. Mon-Sun 1000-0200. €7, concessions €5. M Blanche.

The supposed purpose of founding an erotic museum here was to lift the tone of Pigalle, and give due attention to the artistic side of erotica. Visitors are invited to admire over 2,000 exhibits hailing from the five continents, including sculptures, paintings, and Japanese prints. Extending over several floors and staying open late into the night, it’s tasteless, harmless, entirely unerotic fun.

82 blvd de Clichy, 75018, T 01 53 09 82 82. Mon-Sun, dinner 1900, shows at 2100 and 2300. Dinner and show from €130, show only from €82. M Blanche.

In the heart of Pigalle, the Moulin Rouge (red windmill) is undoubtedly the best known of all Paris’s dance halls. Its ongoing world-wide notoriety is traditionally attributed to Toulouse-Lautrec’s paintings of dancers – and Baz Luhrman’s Hollywood blockbuster Moulin Rouge is oft credited with a more recent revival of interest – but, lest we forget, the truth of its timeless appeal lies in the bodies beautiful of the chorus girls themselves. The cabaret has changed remarkably little over the years – why change a winning formula? – so expect to find all the usual kitsch hallmarks of cancan dancing: long legs, nude breasts and an abundance of feathers. Before graduating into showbusiness, the Moulin Rouge was just a humble windmill, used for grinding wheat. There is a second surviving windmill in Montmartre, the Moulin de la Galette, which once inspired Renoir and is now a smart restaurant.

75018. M Château Rouge.

Exit Château Rouge metro and enter the African quarter of Paris, separated from elegant, bourgeois Montmartre by boulevard Barbès. Steps from the metro is the market, possibly the city’s most packed. The market and the surrounding back-alley shops are the places to stock up on fresh fish, dried fish and saltfish, as well as manioc, plantains, sweet potatoes, taro and crinkly red, green and yellow chillies. The Afro-Caribbean beauty shops and hairdressers do a good line in hair extensions and braids. Don’t be alarmed by the sight of the big police van packed with armed policemen that surveys the market scene from outside the metro – ‘incidents’ are far more often anticipated than actual.

75018. M Barbès-Rochechouart.

Between Château Rouge and Barbès-Rochechouart metros is the rue de la Goutte d’Or, literally Street of the Drop of Wine. The name is all that remains of the vineyard that was once here. Today there are plenty of eager streetsellers – particularly on boulevard Barbès – doing sly business in gold bracelets, batteries, men’s shirts and turning fruit. Men congregate for couscous and mint tea in the local cafés, or hang out in sulky groups on street corners observing passers-by. Once the preserve of drug dealers, the biggest threat the local community now faces are property developers.

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