Montmartre Walking Route Paris
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When we were planning our time in Paris over the summer I made a list of all the places we wanted to visit. This included a lot of cute cafes, viewpoints, quirky shops and historic monuments, many of which I realised were in Montmartre. So, I planned a little walking route of Montmartre for us to follow during our trip – and it worked so well that I thought I’d share it with you.
Where is Montmartre?
Montmartre is a hilltop district in Paris’ northern 18th arrondissement. Until 1860 it was an independent village outside of Paris but is now very much a part of the city.
Why to visit Montmartre?
Montmartre is well known for its artistic history – and the likes of Van Gogh – for the Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur which you can see for miles around, and as a nightclub district – although we didn’t venture into any clubs on our trip! It’s somewhere you can spend an afternoon – like us – or spend a week, visiting different cafes, people watching and just enjoying the Parisien atmosphere. It’s an area with just so much to see.
Getting around Montmartre
The best way to get around Montmartre is to walk. We saw many cars but they all struggled to get around the steep hills and crowds. However, there are many stairs in Montmartre. It’s so much steeper than I realised and it really is great exercise – although that might not be what you’re looking for on your trip to paris!
But, to save your legs, the Montmartre Funicular givess access to Sacré-Cœur from the place Saint-Pierre if you’d like to avoid climbing the 222 stairs on Rue Foyatier! This is between 14 and 15 on my map below.
You can also get the Little Train of Montmartre, a tourist train giving a guided tour of the area which takes around 35 minutes. However, we just love to walk and feel that you see so much more that way.
Where to go in Montmartre
Montmartre is such a gorgeous place to spend time, with so much to see and quirky details everywhere you look. So, it’s hard to narrow down what to see during your time there. However, this is how we spent the couple of hours we had in Montmartre, starting at the Moulin Rouge and working our way to the Sacre Coeur, meandering up the hill as gently as we could! If you like you could always follow this route backwards so you finish at the Moulin Rouge – especially if you have plans to see a show.
The points on the map are meant to give you a route rather than be the only things you look at. Enjoy the stroll, take in the atmosphere and immerse yourself in a really gorgeous part of Paris.
Moulin Rouge
Our walk started at the Moulin Rouge – although we’d spent the day working our way across Paris to this point! The Moulin Rouge is such a famous landmark and a must-see if you’re in Paris.
The Moulin Rouge is a cabaret in Paris and is best known as being home of the can-can. It’s now often more well known as a landmark with a windmill on its roof but you can still visit to see a Moulin Rouge show yourself if you like.
Chez Marie
Our walk took us past Chez Marie, a traditional French restaurant on Rue Lepic which was beautifully decorated with flowers and even a giant teddy on the roof! There are many restaurants like this in Paris – a few of which will be mentioned below – but they go all out to stand out from the crowd.
Le Vrai Paris – 33 Rue des Abbesses
We walked past Le Vrai Paris, a bistro best known for lamb shanks, steaks and risotto – although we walked past purely to see the floral decorations out the front!
Le mur des je t’aime
Our next stop was the Le mur des je t’aime which is accessed through a little gate at the side of a bustling square. This mural, The Wall of Love, covers 40 square metres and was created in 2000 by artists Frédéric Baron and Claire Kito. It is composed of 612 tiles of enamelled lava, featuring ‘I love you’ written 311 times in 250 languages. Sadly, it was nearly covered with scaffolding when we visited as the area is being redeveloped but I hope it survives the work and will be back displayed in all its glory soon.
Place Émile Goudeau
We had a little pit stop at Place Émile Goudeau as we were starting to feel the steepness of the Montmartre hill at this point. This square is lovely, shaded by trees with plenty of benches and a water fountain – plus, it’s home to Bateau-Lavoir, a building which many artists called home over the years like Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, and Henri Matisse.
Maison de Dalida
Carrying on up the hill we walk past Maison de Dalida, the former home of the legendary French-Italian singer Dalida. It’s now a private residence split into apartments.
Le Moulin de la Galette
Further along the street you come to Le Moulin de la Galette, a gorgeous French restaurant housed in an old mill, making it a fantastic landmark and a must see in Montmartre.
Buste de Dalida
Further along you come to Buste de Dalida in Place Dalida which is a really popular spot for tourists and fans of Dalida’s music.
Rue de l’Abreuvoir
One of our favourite parts of our walk through Montmartre was turning into Rue de l’Abreuvoir. What a gorgeous street. Despite it being fairly busy, it looked like something out of a movie and was simply a joy to walk along.
La Maison Rose
At the end of the street you come to La Maison Rose, a beautiful pink French restaurant, serving all the classic dishes, and a backdrop to many tourist photos!
Cabaret Au Lapin Agile
From here you can pop around the corner before doubling back on yourself to visit Cabaret Au Lapin Agile, a cabaret that was a preferred meeting place for many artists in the early 20th century – Pablo Picasso being one of the most talked about.
Vigne du Clos Montmartre
On your way back from Au Lapin Agile you’ll pass Vigne du Clos Montmartre, the last operational vineyard in Paris. Montmartre vineyard also where grape-picking festivals started in Montmartre in 1935.
Le Consulat
Our next stop was Le Consulat, an historic coffee house with so many stories to tell, which was on one of the busiest intersections we came across in Montmartre. Surrounded by tourist shops, make sure you pop into Galerie d’Art Céramique on the way – they create the most beautiful souvenirs and works of art.
Place du Tertre
We then found ourselves in Place du Tertre where restaurants, ice cream shops and cafes blended seamlessly with artists working around the square, selling their creations. It’s a really buzzing place to spend time, full of people and character.
Sacre Coeur
Our final stop was the Sacre Coeur which was free to visit and a definite must if you’ve climbed all the way up the hill – don’t just see it from the outside. You can also pay to climb up to the dome if you want to for one of the highest views in Paris! There’s also a little carousel slightly down the hill in the Sacre Coeur’s shadow.
And that was our little walk around Montmartre. It took a couple of hours – with plenty of stops to rest, reading signs, taking everything in and going into plenty of shops – with the time spent at Sacre Coeur at the end in addition to that.
Montmartre is an incredible area to visit and we really enjoyed our time there. It’s definitely somewhere we would happily spend time on future visits to Paris. If you prefer there are so many Montmartre walking tours that you can book instead of making your own way around Montmartre if you prefer taking part in guided walking tours.
