Things to Do in Montmartre Paris
Seven ways to spend real time on the Butte, each with what it costs, who it suits and how long it takes.
The sights list tells you what to look at. This is the other list: the things that take an hour or an afternoon rather than a photograph. Opening times and prices for the ticketed ones are together here, because they are the part that catches people out.
| What | Cost | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Musée de Montmartre | €16 · €6 gardens only | 10am–7pm daily, last entry 6.15pm |
| Dalí Paris | €16 · €13 or €11 reduced | 10am–6pm daily |
| Montmartre Cemetery | Free | 8am–6pm summer, to 5.30pm 6 Nov–15 Mar |
| Clos Montmartre | Guided visits only | By arrangement |
| The funicular | €2.55 | One ride, one direction |
| Fête des Vendanges | Free to walk | 7–11 October 2026 |
Ride the funicular, then walk down
What it is: the 1891 cable railway from Square Louise-Michel to the
parvis, and the alternative to 222 steps.
What it costs: one Métro-Train-RER ticket, €2.55 as of
January 2026, for one ride in one direction.
Best for: anyone arriving at Anvers, anyone with a pushchair, and anyone
who would rather spend their legs on the village than on the climb.
How long: ninety seconds up, then as long as you like coming down through
Abbesses.
Spend two hours in the Musée de Montmartre and its Renoir gardens
What it is: the house at 12 rue Cortot where Renoir, Suzanne Valadon
and Maurice Utrillo all worked, now a museum with gardens laid out after the paintings
Renoir made on the spot.
What it costs: €16 full, €10.50 for students aged 18 to 25,
€9 for 10 to 17s, free under 10, and €6 for the gardens and the café
alone.
Best for: anyone who wants the art story told properly, and anyone who
needs to sit down somewhere quiet.
How long: two hours with the gardens; open daily 10am to 7pm, last entry
6.15pm.
See 300 Dalí works under Place du Tertre
What it is: more than 300 pieces — the largest private
Dalí collection in France — in the old quarry cellars at 11 rue Poulbot.
What it costs: €16 full, €13 or €11 reduced, free under
8, audioguide €3.
Best for: a rainy hour, and anyone who has already done the square
above.
How long: an hour; open every day, 10am to 6pm.
Walk Montmartre Cemetery
What it is: more than 20,000 graves in a sunken quarry at 20 avenue
Rachel, under the iron bridge of rue Caulaincourt, with Degas, Nijinsky, Truffaut and
Dalida among them.
What it costs: nothing.
Best for: a quiet hour at the start of the day; one of the walks here
begins at its gate.
How long: an hour. Open 8am to 6pm from 16 March to 5 November and to
5.30pm the rest of the year, opening at 8.30am on Saturdays and 9am on Sundays and
holidays, with no admission in the last quarter of an hour.
Get inside the Clos Montmartre on a guided visit
What it is: 2,000 vines behind railings at 14 rue des Saules, first
harvested in 1934 and still worked, yielding up to 1,300 kilos of grapes in a good
year.
What it costs: the City of Paris opens it on guided visits only; from the
street it is free to look at.
Best for: anyone who likes the idea of a working vineyard inside a
capital city.
How long: an hour on a visit, two minutes at the fence.
Come for the Fête des Vendanges, 7–11 October 2026
What it is: the harvest festival, in its 93rd edition, five days of
parades, tastings and street music around the vineyard and Place du Tertre.
What it costs: nothing to walk into.
Best for: anyone who wants the hill at its liveliest — and nobody
who wants it quiet.
How long: a day. Book any guided walk for those dates well in
advance.
Sit on the steps for the sunset
What it is: the terrace in front of the basilica, facing south over
the whole city, free at any hour.
What it costs: nothing, and a bottle of water from the shop behind
you.
Best for: the end of any day up here, and the single best free thing in
Paris.
How long: as long as you like; sunset runs from 4.55pm in late December
to 9.57pm in late June, and the weather page has the month by
month.
Prefer to be shown round?
Guided walks from $23 and food tours from $68, all of them refundable in full up to 24 hours before you start.
None of the seven above is the Sacré-Cœur, and that is deliberate — the basilica is free, takes half an hour and is on everybody’s list already.
Montmartre food and wine tours build several of these into one morning; the full list 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.