Paris 18e arrondissement · The butte

Montmartre & Pigalle

Sacré-Cœur and the artists' square up top; the back-streets of Abbesses and Lamarck below; Pigalle's neon and the Saint-Ouen flea market at the edge. Steep, photogenic, and busiest where the tour groups cluster.

Where to eat in the 18e (5)

• Bouillon Pigalle€ · BouillonThe modern bouillon below Montmartre: oeuf mayo, bœuf bourguignon, île flottante, in big portions at small prices.
• Keur Bour Guewel€ · Senegalese / West AfricanA Senegalese table in the thick of Château Rouge, working the canon — thiéboudienne, yassa, mafé — at a flat dozen euros a plate. From the evening it tips toward dibi and grilled meat, and the room stays open absurdly late.
• Le Relais Gascon€ · Southwest French / saladsThe Abbesses address that made its name on one thing: the giant salad, an outsized bowl finished with a layer of garlic-fried potatoes. The rare Montmartre plate that fills you for twelve euros.
• Soul Kitchen€ · Vegetarian caféA small café-canteen below the Montmartre steps, run by a trio of cooks who rewrite the menu every morning around organic, local produce. Lunch is a fixed plate, always with a vegetarian and a gluten-free option, finished with homemade cakes.
• L'Été en Pente Douce€€ · French bistroA former bakery at the foot of the Utrillo stairs on the quiet north flank of the Butte, still baking in the old bread oven and serving home-cooking that earns a local crowd: veal blanquette, quiche lorraine, a proper niçoise. The terrace catches both shade and sun.

Where to stay in the 18e (7)

• Caulaincourt Montmartre€ · Boutique hostelSet by the Lamarck-Caulaincourt steps on the quiet north flank of the butte, with a terrace that looks out over Montmartre's staircases rather than its crowds. French breakfast included.
• Hôtel Bonséjour Montmartre€ · Budget hotelA plain, well-kept budget house on the cobbled rue Burq below Abbesses, several of its rooms opening onto small iron balconies over the street. No frills, strong value, a quiet address inside a busy quarter.
• Hôtel des Arts Montmartre€€ · Montmartre boutiqueA family-run boutique on rue Tholozé, the street that climbs to the Moulin de la Galette, a few minutes below Sacré-Cœur. No grand view; the reward is the address and the upkeep at a fair price.
• Hôtel Particulier Montmartre€€€ · Garden-mansion hotelA private mansion on Avenue Junot with five suites, each handed to a different artist, set around one of the largest private gardens in Paris. No panorama; the feeling is of having slipped behind Montmartre's walls.
• Le Village Montmartre€ · Boutique hostelA first-floor terrace with a swing seat faces the Sacré-Cœur head-on; downstairs there's a pub called On the Road and a small library. The Abbesses end of Montmartre, below the basilica steps rather than at the top.
• Les Jardins de Montmartre€ · HotelThirty-eight rooms on rue Ordener by Jules Joffrin métro, on the working northern side of the butte away from the funicular crowds, decorated on a four-seasons theme with rooftop views from the upper floors.
• Terrass'' Hôtel€€€ · Rooftop-bar hotelA Montmartre hotel whose seventh-floor bar, Le Terrass'', lays out the Eiffel Tower and most of the southern skyline. The rooms below are comfortable rather than remarkable; the roof is the reason to come.

Underground & cool in the 18e (9)

• Musée de Montmartre — Jardins Renoir€€ · Local museum & artist studioThe oldest house on the Butte, where Renoir painted the 'Bal du Moulin de la Galette' in the garden and where Valadon and Utrillo later kept a studio-apartment, now restored. The terraced Renoir gardens look straight down onto the Clos Montmartre vineyard.
• Madame Arthur€€ · Drag cabaretA drag cabaret operating under this name since 1946, now a weekly French-chanson revue in a small Pigalle room: four performers in opulent costume reworking the standards, the theme rewritten each week.
• Studio 28€ · Historic cinema with garden barOpened in 1928 as the first cinema built for the avant-garde — Buñuel's L'Âge d'Or provoked a riot here in 1930. Chandeliers designed by Cocteau hang in the 170-seat hall, and a back garden runs as a bar.
• Arkose Montmartre€ · Bouldering gymA bouldering gym below Montmartre with ropeless walls graded for first-timers as well as regulars, plus a bar and yard for when your forearms give out.
• Cimetière de Montmartre€ · CemeterySunk into a former gypsum quarry below the streets, with the iron Pont Caulaincourt carried straight over the graves. Zola, Degas, Stendhal and Berlioz lie here; Dalida's flowered bust draws a daily crowd. Quieter and more wooded than Père-Lachaise, and full of cats.
• La REcyclerie€ · Eco arts spaceA former Petite Ceinture station turned eco-hub, with an urban farm, a repair workshop and a canteen on the old platform — and hundreds of cheap or free events a year.
• La Station — Gare des Mines€ · Experimental music venueA timber venue built into a derelict rail building at the Porte d'Aubervilliers, on the literal edge of Paris beside the ring road — a self-described laboratory for the musical and artistic margins. Club nights, label showcases and experimental sets.
• Les Puces de Paris Saint-Ouen€ · Flea marketThe largest antiques flea market in the world — a dozen labyrinthine sub-markets of vintage furniture, art and curiosities just north of the 18th. Go to get lost, and to haggle.
• Marché Saint-Pierre€ · Fabric marketSeven floors of fabric at the foot of the Sacré-Cœur steps, the trade descendant of a 1920s Montmartre barrow-man. Couturiers, set decorators and students come for wholesale-priced cottons, silks and remnants; the surrounding streets hold a dozen rival cloth houses.