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Things To See When Traveling To Montmartre, Paris

Some Of The Best Historic Places To Visit In Montmartre

On a quiet, sunny, Wednesday morning in April, our first full day in Paris, we lost ourselves in the steep and cobbled streets of Montmartre, one of the most historic and interesting neighborhoods in Paris.

We took the metro from our hotel to the Abbesses station and stepped out right into the heart of Montmartre. Before we left for our trip, I remember worrying about taking the metro in Paris. Would it be safe? Confusing to navigate? Would we get irreversibly lost since everything was in a foreign language??

Montmartre, Paris, France.

Montmartre, Paris, France. But fortunately the metro was a cinch to figure out. And we felt completely safe on the trains and in the stations. And as for getting lost, the Google Maps app works in Paris too. You just type in where you want to go, and it tells you exactly what train to get on, where the train station is, and what station to get off at. It was a lifesaver in London and Paris!

Montmartre, Paris, France.

Montmartre is home to the highest point in the city, so we made our way up the many, many steps… :)

Montmartre, Paris, France.

To the Sacre Coeur Basilica, which  sits on the crest of the hill.

Montmartre, Paris, France.

The Sacre Coeur is a Roman Catholic church dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. You can go inside and go up to the top of the dome for a view of Paris, but we didn’t do that.

Montmartre, Paris, France.

You can get a pretty good view just outside of the church! A beautiful place to sit for a picnic with a view of Paris.

Montmartre, Paris, France.

Montmartre is the home that nurtured most of the great artists and writers living in France for over 200 years. Picasso, van Gogh and countless others lived and worked in these narrow streets.

Montmartre, Paris, France.

We Loved The Colorful Popular Tourist Areas

In the popular tourist areas, Montmartre is filled with colorful cafes, watercolor paintings, and caricature artists hoping to paint your portrait, but there are some hidden, charming side streets as well that should not be missed.

Montmartre, Paris, France

Below is a photo journal of what we saw on our day in Montmartre.

Montmartre, Paris, France.

A mini train, that will take you to some of the more popular spots in Montmartre, in case the steep cobblestone roads are too much to walk.

Montmartre, Paris, France.

A cute little “Biscuiterie” cookie shop!

Montmartre, Paris, France

Gorgeous cafes.

Montmartre, Paris, France.

Ivy covered homes.

Montmartre, Paris, France.

Steep cobblestone streets.

Montmartre, Paris, France.

A pink cafe.

Montmartre, Paris, France.

La Maison Rose literally translates to “The Pink House”

Montmartre, Paris, France.

A perfect spot to spend a morning in Paris.

Montmartre, Paris, France

We walked through floral draped streets.

Montmartre, Paris, France.

And saw famous cabarets, where the aforementioned artists gathered for evenings of entertainment.

Montmartre, Paris, France.

A vineyard with brightly colored houses sits right in the middle of Paris, in Montmartre.

Montmartre, Paris, France.

Secret porthole.

Montmartre, Paris, France.

The Historic Moulin de la Galette Windmill Was Beautiful

This flour-grinding windmill (moulin) is the Moulin de la Galette. It is one of only 3 remaining windmills in Montmartre, one of the others being the famous Moulin Rouge. But the Moulin de la Galette has been known for so much more than its milling capabilities since all the way back to the 17th century. Artists like Renoir and van Gogh have immortalized Le Moulin de la Galette in their artwork, like van Gogh’s painting here. In the 1800s, the Debray family made a a brown bread, a galette, with flour ground from the mill. It became wildly popular and they served it in their restaurant inside the mill with a glass of milk.

Montmartre, Paris, France.

Purple and teal apartments.

Montmartre, Paris, France.

The third windmill of Montmartre that I mentioned earlier, on Rue Lepic.

Montmartre, Paris, France.

Loved just getting lost in Paris on a sunny April day.

Montmartre, Paris, France.

Colorful windowsills.

Montmartre, Paris, France.

Roses!

Montmartre, Paris, France.

And at the bottom of the hill, the infamous Moulin Rouge.

Galeries Lafayette, Paris, France.

After a beautiful morning in Montmartre, we stopped by the Galeries Lafayette for some Pierre Herme macarons and Amorino gelato. A perfect day in Paris.


View Paris in a larger map

Use This Map Of GPS Locations To Visit These Historic Sites In Montmartre

Here’s a map of everything we did in Paris. It’s got the GPS location of all the spots you see in this post in case you want to find them on your own. :) Click here to see this map on a larger screen, with a list of all the places we went.

 

Follow along on our Scotland, London, and Paris Vacation!

Scotland

Scotland Day 1 & 2 — Inverness, Loch Ness, Skye, and Talisker Bay
Scotland Day 3 — Skye, Fairy Pools, The Highlands, and Oban
Scotland Day 4 — Islands of Scotland: Mull, Iona, and the Cave of Melodies
Scotland Day 5 — Fa’side Castle, Edinburgh
Scotland Day 6 – Edinburgh & Castle Driving the Coast of Scotland
Everything I Ate In Scotland — Restaurant Guide for Scotland

London

London Day 1 — Notting Hill, Seven Dials, and The London Eye
London Day 2 — Tower of London, Borough Market, and Big Ben
London Day 3 — Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Fortnum and Mason
London Day 4 — Bakery Hopping, Harrods Food Hall, and the London Tower Bridge
London Day 4 — Sunset at The View from The Shard
Where We Stayed In London — Hotel Indigo Tower Hill
Everything I Ate In London — Restaurant Guide for London

Paris

Paris Day 1 — Sunset at the Eiffel Tower
Paris Day 2 — A Walk Through Montmartre
Paris Day 3 — Palace of Versailles
Paris Day 3 — Garden of Versailles
Paris Day 4 — Sightseeing & Landmarks
Paris Day 5 — Hidden Paris (Self Guided Photography / Walking Tour)
Everything I Ate In Paris — Restaurant Guide for Paris
Where We Stayed In Paris — Incredible View of the Eiffel Tower

Thanks so much for looking!!

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23 Responses
  1. Amanda Anderson

    This is a wonderful article! thank you! I’m going to paris in October. It’s going to be my first time out of the country, so I’m really excited! I’ve been looking at a lot of different things on google and pintrest and it keeps returning me to another one of your blog posts, and they’ve all been so helpful! 

    Just out of curiosity, out of all the places you have been, which is your favorite? I want to travel all over. I think our 5 year anniversary we’re going to go to Amsterdam!

  2. Gabrielle

    Hi, LOVE all the beautiful photos of my former home (I lived in Montmartre for 5 years). Just wanted to point out to you that the pic you have labelled as the Moulin de la Galette is actually the Moulin Radet. It sits above the restaurant named the Moulin de la Galette, which causes the confusion. The real Moulin de la Galette is the one a few doors down. My bedroom doors overlooked both the windmills, so I was always fascinated by their history :)

  3. hina kaleem

    Hi Amanda!
    I love your blog and I am going to Paris with my husband and 19 month old toddler this summer and looking forward to exploring the city. I hope we get to see half of the things I plan to because I am not sure how much we would be able to do with our son.
    I was wondering if I could download the list of places and google map locations because I don’t want to use my phone all day long and its battery dying on me while we are out and about.

    Thanks

  4. Carol Petrie

    Hi Amanda. First of all I love your work! I pin a lot of your images on Pinterest and I’m following you. I just wanted to let you know that there is a Tumblr blogger who has been taking your images and stripping the links and credits and posting them to her Tumblr and Facebook page, linking the source back to herself. She has a rather large following and gets lots of repins, etc. so you can imagine your losses. If you can keep this post private, I’d appreciate it. I just thought you should know. Good luck and keep up the good work! Here is her Pinterest info and there is a link to her Facebook page there, too: http://www.pinterest.com/audreyheart/boards/
    Here is her tumblr blog info: audreylovesparis.tumblr.com

  5. Connie Lutz

    Awesome photos – I spent the month of May in Paris. I have several of these same photos! Thanks for sharing!

  6. Shawna

    I have nightmares of this Metro station! I arrived in Paris early in the morning, by myself – a car was supposed to pick me up and bring me to my hotel in Montmartre to meet my daughter who was already there. The car never arrived! I figured out how to take the Metro to my hotel – part way there, having to get off, due to a part of the line being closed…I then got back on, but was headed the wrong way now! Then, I got off, found an English speaking person, who directed me back to my destination, headed the right way. I finally arrived at the Abesses station, and happily got off. Only, I was unable to locate an elevator, so I carried my luggage up the many many flights of stairs from the subway up to the top! I had to stop several times along the long lonely flight…..I finally reached the top, completely out of breath — to be greeted by my beautiful daughter :) We walked another few blocks to the hotel, then went out to breakfast for my first Omelet du Fromage and Cafe. So delicious…. I later found the elevator. Ugh. Memories of Montmartre!

    1. Amanda

      Oh my word, Shawna!!! We vividly remember all those stairs in the Abesses station!! I cannot even imagine trying to haul luggage up all those flights!! We could barely get ourselves up, lol!!

  7. Ricki

    Hi. Love your photos and travel info. I’m going to Europe for a few weeks this summer. Just curious, what type of shoes do you favor when sight-seeing all day?

  8. maria

    Hello. Beautiful pictures. I must admit I am a bit jealous. I was on your website and was trying to download your Spring mini kit. When I tried to open the zip file it says “unable to expand. No such file or directory. Can you advise as to what I can do or am doing wrong? Thanks

  9. Amy

    Thanks for sharing your beautiful pictures and European adventures! My husband and I are planning 12 days in London and Paris in September, I can’t wait! Your great posts are making it even more exciting!!

  10. kathi @laughingspatula.com

    I am in awe! Your photo’s and commentary are fabulous! You have a real talent….where are you going next?

  11. Debbie

    We loved our visit to Montmartre too! The only thing bad that happened to us was I had just warned our friends that pick pockets will seek out people who are not paying attention to their surroundings. As soon as we jumped on the metro and the doors were beginning to close a Parisian grabbed our friends pants pocket and tried to grab his wallet. As the door was closing we were kicking and punching the guy and he finally got off the metro unsuccessful of the wallet and ended up with a major bruised body. The city itself was beautiful and I would love to go back again and visit again.

  12. Rachel

    I’ve been anxiously awaiting your Paris updates (especially the food post) for weeks as my husband and I are going there for the first time for our anniversary. However, we leave tomorrow (!) so it looks like we might miss the rest. Love these two posts though!

  13. Pam

    Are any of the windmills still in use? (Your photos are stunning! They should pay you to post them because they all make me want to be there!)

  14. Shelley

    Your photos are always so wonderfully colourful and vibrant – do you have any tips on taking such shots or do you enhance them on Photoshop afterwards?

    Shelley

  15. Anele @ Success Along the Weigh

    What a charming city!! I would love to walk those steep streets. We really loved walking the streets of San Francisco last month and this is right up our alley but with a little more swoon factor! :-)

  16. Nancy

    Thank you so much for the beautiful pictures of Paris. I was there almost a year ago and this really takes me back. Lovely!

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Meet Kevin & Amanda

Kevin and Amanda

We love to travel and to eat! Here we share our favorite quick and easy recipes, plus travel tips and guides for our favorite places around the world. If you have any questions about what camera I use or how I edit my photos, check out my photography tutorials.

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