The best time to explore Montmartre is in the early evening. Take a leisurely stroll through its winding streets and enjoy the pleasant abundance of restaurants and cafes, which litter every pavement. Visit the Sacre Coeur around the same time and you'll be treated to a fantastic view of Paris. You don't have to pay for this pleasure either, something you'll appreciate once you understand how expensive Paris can be.

The Sacré-Coeur is a holy place and a flagship of Catholic devotion to the Holy Virgin in Paris. It attracts many pilgrims from all over the world and has a large network of affiliated churches.



After lunch you could take the metro down
into the Place du Tertre district of Paris, another post card pretty area of Montmartre but also one of the most expensive. The Sacre Coeur is the main landmark here as well as numerous portrait artists harassing any and every passer by for a spot of business. To avoid such nuisances try visiting early in the morning when the streets are relatively clear, or early evening when you can pay E2 to climb the Sacre Coeur tower. Standing roughly at the same height as the Eiffel tower you'll be able to see almost every major landmark, the Notre Dame Cathedral being the most prominent directly in front.

for lovers of shopping :

With the exception of the paintings, portraits and other caricatures of the Place du Tertre, which you will find at very interesting prices, the 18th arrondissement does not offer any other special shopping opportunities, apart from the small souvenir shops near the Sacré Cœur. But it is worth discovering the atmosphere of the food shops on Rue Lepic.

After this, avoid the overpriced restaurants and bars if you can and instead head for the Montmartre cemetery which lies just west of the butte at the beginning of Rue Caulaincourt and Place de Clinchy. The cemetery is hidden beneath road level and boasts such figures as Traffaut, Stendhol, Zola, Berlioz, Degas, Feydeau and Offenbach. It really is a beautiful spot, the surrounding gothic buildings and overgrown vegetation which cling to every gravestone making you feel like you've stepped straight off the street and into some sort of latter day Hammer horror movie.

The entrance to the cemetery can be found on Avenue Rachel Caulaincourt. It is probably best to visit during the day if you're of a nervous disposition. Continue past the cemetery and you'll come to a great little burger bar, where you can order a wide variety of foods from hot dogs to steaks. Two Asian brothers run the popular stall and are always helpful with directions if you happen to find yourself lost. You can watch them make your food as you wait and you won't have to pay a fortune either once your meal is finished. It's also a good spot to meet new people as the bar stands at the very gateway to Pigalle, famous site of the Moulin Rouge.





This is undoubtedly the most touristy and most picturesque part of Paris. Indeed, the 18th arrondissement is best-known for Montmartre, the well-known landmark famous for the artists and intellectuals who met in the steep, cobbled streets of Montmartre between the vines and the Sacré Cœur. The only remains of these roads decorated with lilacs is the Place du Tertre at the top of the hill, where painters still meet and portrait artists display their talents for all to see. Don't be surprised by the somewhat strange automata on the façades of the Sacré Cœur; they too are street artists. But the 18th is not just Montmartre, it is also, at the foot of Montmartre, the every changing Goutte d'Or neighbourhood, a mixture of Asia, Africa and Europe, whose name comes from the wine formerly produced there.

Routes for everyone:

for lovers of leisurely walks:

You will definitely like Montmartre. It is a village raised up on high, with winding, cobbled streets, and little squares with gardens, which have become petanque grounds, and the warm cafés, former intellectual cafés where philosophers, writers and other artists met to ponder over the Society of their time while enjoying a drink. But it is also, from its summit, the most beautiful panoramic view of the capital from the Sacré Cœur. This building, built in 1914, constantly surrounded by all kinds of artists and tourists from all over the world, overlooks, with its Byzantine style, the whole city and the kitchengardens and parks of the neighbourhood.

Next to it, you can stop at the Place du Tertre where nostalgia for the bohemian life can be found in artists proving their talent before your eyes, which is also their source of income. On going back down to the Goutte d'or neighbourhood, you will pass in front of what remains of the most famous vineyard of Paris. Montmartre is both romantic and initiatory, and perfumed by lilacs.

for lovers of culture :

It is again in Montmartre that you will find the most beautiful cultural treasures of the 18th arrondissement. You can, indeed, discover the Montmartre - Dali space, which will tell you how this famous painter was involved with the artists of his time. You will also discover his first exhibition in Paris in 1929. You will also be surprised to see the remains of the Gallo-Roman period in the columns erected in the Eglise St Pierre de Montmartre, one of the oldest and most charming of the capital, near to which can be found the Calvaire cemetery dating from the Merovingian period.

Finally, you mustn't miss the famous Sacré Cœur and its superb Byzantine architecture, from which you can see the whole of Paris.