Montmartre and the Sacré-Cœur

There is a Paris of great avenues, of couture houses on the Avenue Montaigne, of royal palaces and Michelin dining rooms. There is also another Paris — softer, more romantic — where you slow down to hear your own shoes on the cobbles, catch the smell of coffee from a corner bar, and suddenly feel you have walked into a French film.

That is Montmartre.

For anyone who has come to Paris many times, Montmartre is no longer a place to tick off. It is a living experience of art: a morning over coffee like a writer, an afternoon following the painters' footsteps, or an evening watching the city light up from the hill of the Sacré-Cœur — the moment that explains why Paris is called the City of Light.

The hill of art and of dreams

Montmartre means the hill of the martyrs. On the northern edge of the city, this rise of about 130 metres was a small village outside Paris before it was absorbed into it.

But what made Montmartre immortal is not its history. It was the artists. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the greatest talent in Europe collected here. Small rooms on the hill, ordinary bars, winding streets: this is where several revolutions in art were born.

Pablo Picasso lived in the famous Bateau-Lavoir, where he made important early work and developed Cubism. Vincent van Gogh lived in Paris with his brother Théo and was deeply marked by the city's light and colour. Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and other Impressionists found their subjects in these streets. And Montmartre is bound to the life of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who recorded the night world of cabarets such as the Moulin Rouge with an unmatched energy of line.

It feels as though the painters have only just stepped out of some café, and might come back at any moment.

The Place du Tertre

The heart of Montmartre is the Place du Tertre — one of the few squares in Paris where street art has kept a classical charm. Painters sit under small parasols with their palettes, their brushes, and portraits still half-finished.

Of course the place is far better known now than in the days of Picasso or Modigliani. But arrive at the right hour, when the morning light falls on the pastel façades, and you can still feel a little of the old Montmartre.

A very Parisian suggestion: rather than hurrying to buy a picture as a souvenir, sit down at a café on the square, order an espresso or a glass of champagne, and watch the painters work. It is a spectacle vivant — a performance taking place in front of you.

The Sacré-Cœur, the white stone on top of Paris

The Basilica of the Sacred Heart is the great building at the summit. Begun in the late nineteenth century and completed in 1914, it strikes visitors with its Romano-Byzantine architecture, entirely unlike the Gothic of Notre-Dame.

The particular whiteness of its travertine keeps the basilica bright under the Paris sun. That is why, more than a century old, it still looks clean and almost outside time.

But what people love most is not only the architecture. It is the view. From the steps in front, the whole city opens out: the grey roofs, the Eiffel Tower in the distance, the avenues running on. It is one of the finest places in Paris to watch the sun go down — a small glass of champagne, a street musician playing, the last light turning the city gold.

Where Paris becomes the main character

Montmartre has always drawn film-makers. Amélie turned the quarter into a dream for millions of viewers: the small streets, the cafés, the greengrocer, the ordinary corners became a Paris both real and imagined. Anyone who loves cinema can stop at the Café des Deux Moulins, where Amélie worked.

Beyond that film, the quarter appears in many French and international productions, thanks to an atmosphere entirely its own: classical, free, and faintly rebellious.

Where to eat

La Maison Rose — one of the most photographed pink houses in Paris. Small, romantic, right for a light lunch or a glass of rosé in the middle of the walk.

Le Consulat — one of the most classically Parisian cafés on the hill. Its façade is among the best-known frames in the quarter.

Terrass' Hotel — a finer choice for a cocktail or dinner with a view across the Paris rooftops.

For older Paris, try a dinner of traditional cooking: confit de canard, bœuf bourguignon, or a plate of cheese with red wine.

A walk that cannot be hurried

Montmartre is not for people who only want to see enough of it. It has to be found on foot, by eye, and by feeling.

Let yourself be lost in the small streets, stop in front of a window box, listen to a violinist on a corner, drink a coffee, and imagine the Paris of Picasso, Van Gogh, Renoir and the free spirits who found their dream on this hill.

Because Montmartre is not simply a quarter. It is where Paris tells its finest story: a story about art, about love, and about dreams that never grow old.