Paris has many souls: one per arrondissement, and often one per street or square, sometimes even one per monument. It is a great city made of small villages, and the trick is to choose your own and, once you have, to enjoy it fully, whether you are a Parisian or a visitor.
Of all these Parisian souls, Montmartre is perhaps the best known, the one that makes people dream, the most bohemian. It also prompts the eternal question from non-Parisians: “and Pigalle?” Pigalle is a colourful note at the foot of the most famous hill in France, but it is not where I am taking you today.
I lived in Montmartre for a time, in the artists’ residence at the Moulin de la Galette itself, so this is not a researched itinerary. It is the walk through which I fell in love with the Butte one cold November morning, on my first Saturday free from classes and work, my first day as a tourist in my own new city. Here it is, as I still walk it in my memory.
Where I begin: Anvers and the Halle Saint-Pierre
My walk starts at the Anvers metro (line 2). From there I go up rue de Steinkerque, with its bargain-clothes shops, towards the square below the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, so often photographed from behind the old carousel that sets children jumping the moment they see it.
I am always tempted to rush straight up the steps to the basilica, but my ritual pulls me right first, up rue Ronsard, for a quick detour to the Halle Saint-Pierre: a fabric market on one side, the museum of naïve and outsider art on the other. The Halle is a lovely example of Baltard-style iron-and-glass architecture, with good exhibitions, a beautiful library and a proper French salon de thé.
Up into the village: Saint-Pierre and the Musée de Montmartre
From there I climb the steps of rue Paul Albert, glancing into apartments through their floor-to-ceiling windows, and turn onto the even more romantic rue du Chevalier de la Barre, where I always stop at my favourite Gothic church in Paris, the Église Saint-Pierre de Montmartre, which opens onto its little cemetery and the back of the Sacré-Cœur (which I save for later).
From Saint-Pierre I take the picturesque rue Cortot, with its sudden vertical view over the northern edge of the city. This street holds the Musée de Montmartre, one of the most charming and restful museums in Paris, where Renoir, Suzanne Valadon, Émile Bernard and Raoul Dufy once had their studios. The collections in the Maison du Bel Air conjure a district that no longer exists but still makes everyone dream: Utrillo and Marcel Aymé, Pissarro, Picasso, Apollinaire, la vie bohème. The three Renoir gardens around the museum look down over the legendary Clos Montmartre vineyard, an enviable place to sit in the very heart of the hill. My favourite corner is the reconstructed studio-flat of Suzanne Valadon, her son Maurice Utrillo and her companion André Utter, a place suspended in time that I think back to often, the way I do the studio of Cézanne in Aix. The museum is open daily; check the current ticket price, and know that the audio guide is worth it (the sketchbooks in the shop are almost impossible to resist).
The cabaret, the cemetery and Dalida’s street
Leaving the museum, I cannot pass the legendary cabaret Au Lapin Agile, once full of writers, poets and painters, and awash with absinthe. It is still open and famous, though now more a tourist turn than a bohemian den. Behind it, at the corner of rue Saint-Vincent and rue Caulaincourt, lies the Cimetière Saint-Vincent, a small gem: more intimate and far less visited than the big Montmartre or Père-Lachaise cemeteries, and to me more moving for it.
Along Avenue Junot, with its splendid private houses, I feel wrapped in the street’s particular atmosphere, past the house on rue d’Orchampt once lived in by Céline and later bought by Dalida, on what is probably my favourite Parisian street of all.
Amélie’s mill, the Bateau-Lavoir and Place du Tertre
Close by runs rue Lepic, with the now-famous Café des Deux Moulins, the setting of Amélie, and the Moulin de la Galette, one of the last windmills of Montmartre, today an artists’ residence where I was lucky enough to live for a while.
Onward up the steep rue Ravignan to the Bateau-Lavoir, the most famous of all the artistic hubs, where Picasso painted Les Demoiselles d’Avignon and Modigliani had a prolific spell. A fire destroyed it in 1970, and only a “memory window” remains.
From here I loop back towards the too-popular Place du Tertre, by way of rue des Trois Frères and the Maison Collignon, the most photographed grocer’s in the world thanks to Amélie. Truthfully I do not go for the film, but for my friend Éric, who lives in that building with his family. On the square itself, crowded with tourists and portraitists of every level, I always feel oddly uncomfortable, and hurry on to the Sacré-Cœur, always worth it, and best of all around 5.30pm, when its white walls seem to vibrate with the singing of the nuns. Genuinely moving.
Closing the circle
Leaving the basilica, after a long moment lost in the view over Paris, you have two choices: walk down the steps to the Anvers metro and close the loop, or wander back to Place des Abbesses for some browsing and a quiet dinner in one of my favourite corners of Paris.
I miss walking in Montmartre so much.
Frequently asked questions
A lovely circular walk starts at Anvers metro, climbs past the Halle Saint-Pierre to the Église Saint-Pierre and the Musée de Montmartre on rue Cortot, takes in Au Lapin Agile, the intimate Saint-Vincent cemetery, Avenue Junot and Dalida’s rue d’Orchampt, then rue Lepic (the Café des Deux Moulins and Moulin de la Galette), the Bateau-Lavoir, Place du Tertre and finally the Sacré-Cœur. It lets you see the village side of the hill, not just the crowded square.
Montmartre is very much worth visiting, though Place du Tertre and the steps of the Sacré-Cœur can be extremely crowded. The trick is to wander its quieter streets and stairways, the Musée de Montmartre, the vineyard, the smaller cemeteries and back lanes, where the bohemian, village atmosphere that drew generations of artists still lingers.
Allow at least half a day to walk Montmartre at a proper, unhurried pace, more if you go into the Musée de Montmartre and linger in the Sacré-Cœur. It is a hilly walk with many steps, so wear comfortable shoes and build in stops for a coffee or a salon de thé.
Plenty: the Musée de Montmartre and the Clos Montmartre vineyard, the Au Lapin Agile cabaret, the Bateau-Lavoir where Picasso worked, the Café des Deux Moulins from Amélie, the Moulin de la Galette, the intimate Saint-Vincent cemetery, and beautiful streets like Avenue Junot and rue d’Orchampt, where Dalida lived. The Sacré-Cœur is the landmark, but the village around it is the real reward.
The Sacré-Cœur is worth visiting at any time for the view over Paris, but it is especially atmospheric in the late afternoon, around 5.30pm, when you may catch the sung prayers inside. Early morning is best for avoiding the crowds on the steps and the square.
Further reading
- Where to base yourself: where to stay in Paris
- For book-lovers: the best bookshops in Paris
- Getting in from the airport: the Paris airports, an updated guide
- This article is also available as a mobile app, via GPSmyCity, for GPS-guided directions
