Montmartre
Montmartre features on the Gingerguide audio walk through Paris. Give it roughly ~120 min: enough to look, hear a two to three minute story on the spot, and ask the AI guide whatever the story leaves open.
- Type village
- Suggested visit ~120 min
- Paris Paris guide
About Montmartre
Paris's bohemian hilltop village, the former haunt of Picasso, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec and Renoir, still retaining its village atmosphere with cobbled streets and a working vineyard.
Montmartre is a village within a city, a 130-metre hill in the 18th arrondissement that managed to preserve something of its rural character even as Paris grew up around it. Annexed by Paris only in 1860, Montmartre remained a working-class village of windmills, vineyards, cabarets, and guinguettes well into the 19th century. Its cheap rents and bohemian atmosphere attracted generations of artists: Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh, Picasso, Modigliani, Degas, and Utrillo all lived or worked here.
The neighbourhood's artistic heritage is still palpable. The Place du Tertre, a five-minute walk from Sacré-Cœur, is lined with portrait painters carrying on the old tradition. The Clos Montmartre vineyard, Paris's last working vineyard, produces a few hundred bottles of wine each year, harvested with great ceremony in October and auctioned for charity. The winding cobbled streets, staircases, and hidden squares retain their village character, making Montmartre one of the most evocative and romantically atmospheric places in all of Paris.
Did you know? Picasso and Braque invented Cubism while working in adjacent studios at the Bateau-Lavoir in Montmartre in the early 1900s.
How long is a visit to Montmartre?
Set aside roughly ~120 min for Montmartre. That covers a good look and the narrated story, and because you set the pace you can always stay on.
Is Montmartre worth your time?
Montmartre is among the 44 narrated highlights the Gingerguide team chose for Paris, so it is worth a look. Hear the story for the context, then ask the AI guide for anything more.
Nearby stops in Paris
Hear the story of Montmartre
Preview the Paris tour free in the Gingerguide app.