The hill, named

Top Sights in Montmartre Paris

Eleven landmarks on the Butte, each with what it is, the fact worth knowing, and whether it costs anything.

Montmartre is small — the whole village fits inside a twenty-minute walk — and almost everything on it is free to look at. What follows is every landmark a guided walk stops at, in the order the hill puts them, from the boulevard at the bottom to the basilica on top.

Sacré-Cœur — free, open 06:30 to 22:30

The white basilica on the summit is the reason most people climb the hill, and it costs nothing to walk into. Its first stone was laid in 1875 to a design by Paul Abadie, who won the competition the year before with a Romano-Byzantine scheme; the building was inaugurated in 1891 with the dome still unfinished, the campanile was topped out on 6 April 1912, and the First World War pushed the consecration to 16 October 1919 — more than forty years after that first stone.

Inside, the apse carries a mosaic of Christ in Majesty covering 480 square metres, inaugurated in 1923. Continuous prayer has been kept here without interruption since 1 August 1885, which is why the doors open at half past six in the morning and do not close until half past ten at night. The main organ is under restoration until May 2027; the choir organ plays at services in the meantime.

The dome — the 360° view, and the 280 steps to it

The one thing on the hill worth queuing and paying for. Admission is €8 for adults of 16 and over and €5 for children up to 15, dropping to €6 and €4 for groups of twenty or more. It opens at 10.30am with last admission at 8.15pm, and shuts briefly at midday.

The climb is 280 steps up a narrow spiral staircase with no lift, and the basilica says plainly that it is not for anyone with mobility difficulties or a dislike of confined spaces. It also closes for maintenance and for weather, sometimes at a day’s notice, so check before you build an evening round it. What you get at the top is the whole of Paris from its highest natural point.

Place du Tertre — the painters’ square, and when to walk it

A small square two minutes behind the basilica where portraitists and caricaturists have worked in the open for well over a century. By late morning in summer it is shoulder to shoulder; at eight in the morning it belongs to the painters setting up their easels, which is the version worth seeing and the reason one of the walks here starts at dawn. The restaurants round its edge — Le Consulat, La Bonne Franquette, Chez Eugène — are the ones the food tours stop at.

Le Mur des Je t’aime — 612 tiles in Square Jehan Rictus

A wall of 40 square metres, ten metres by four, made of 612 enamelled lava tiles each 21 by 29.7 centimetres. Frédéric Baron collected the words by knocking on embassy doors and asking neighbours until he had “I love you” in more than 300 languages; Claire Kito did the calligraphy and Daniel Boulogne built the wall. It stands in Square Jehan Rictus, off Place des Abbesses, and it is free and open. Six of the walks listed here stop at it.

Le Bateau-Lavoir — where Cubism started

A ramshackle building of artists’ studios on Place Émile-Goudeau where Picasso painted Les Demoiselles d’Avignon and where Modigliani, Juan Gris and Max Jacob all worked. The original burned down in 1970 and what stands is a reconstruction, so this is a doorway and a plaque rather than a visit — but it is the single most consequential address on the hill, and every art-led walk stops at it.

Moulin de la Galette — the last windmills on the hill

Thirty-odd windmills once ground grain and pressed grapes on this hill. Two survive: the Blute-Fin and the Radet, together known as the Moulin de la Galette, which became a dance garden in the nineteenth century and the subject of Renoir’s Bal du moulin de la Galette. Both are private, both are visible from the street, and both are on the route of most of the walks here.

La Maison Rose — the most photographed corner in Paris

A pink house with green shutters on the corner of rue de l’Abreuvoir, painted by Utrillo and photographed by everyone since. It is a restaurant, so you can eat there, but most people come for the corner itself. Early morning is the only hour it is not queued.

Clos Montmartre — the working vineyard on rue des Saules

Behind its railings at 14 rue des Saules stand 2,000 vines, first harvested in 1934 with Mistinguett and Fernandel as the sponsors of the party. In a good year the plot yields up to 1,300 kilos of grapes, pressed and bottled at the town hall of the 18th arrondissement, with the proceeds going to social work in the district. The City of Paris opens it to the public on guided visits only; the rest of the year you look through the fence, which is what every walking tour does.

Moulin Rouge — 82 boulevard de Clichy, since 1889

The red windmill at the bottom of the hill opened in 1889 and still runs its revue, currently Féerie. Eight of the walks listed here meet outside it or pass it in the first ten minutes, because it is the easiest landmark in the quarter to find. The guided walks see it from the pavement; the show itself is booked separately with the theatre.

Au Lapin Agile — the cabaret that outlived the bohemians

A small pink-and-green cottage on the corner of rue des Saules, opposite the vineyard, and the oldest cabaret in Montmartre. Picasso paid a bill with a painting here. It still runs chansonnier evenings, and by day it is a photograph and a story rather than a visit.

Saint-Pierre de Montmartre — the church older than the basilica

Tucked beside Place du Tertre, and easy to walk straight past with the Sacré-Cœur fifty metres away. It is one of the oldest surviving churches in Paris, older by centuries than the basilica that overshadows it, and it is free to enter. Two of the longer walks here go inside.

Two of these repay reading about before you arrive. Le Bateau-Lavoir is a plaque and a doorway unless you know what happened behind it, and the Musée de Montmartre puts the same story indoors with the paintings attached.

Montmartre and Sacre Coeur walking tours cover most of this list in two hours; the full set of departures is on Montmartre Paris Tours.

Sources

• Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre — hours, free entry, the dome, the construction timeline and La Savoyarde. Checked 2026-09-08.
• Ville de Paris and Mairie du 18e — the height of the Butte, the 222 steps, the funicular, the Clos Montmartre, the cemetery hours and the pedestrian zone. Checked 2026-09-08.
• Musée de Montmartre, Dalí Paris and Le Mur des Je t’aime — admissions, hours and the wall’s own figures. Checked 2026-09-08.

Hours and prices move; check anything time-critical before you travel.