Perched on a high hill north of the city centre, Montmartre remains a contained and only sightly sullied throwback to a bygone era, with winding streets, ivy-clad houses with gardens, and artists'studios remaining just as you imagine they always were.
Sacré Coeur is endlessly besieged by coach tours, as is the Place du Tertre, peopled by so-called artists. But as soon as you get off the main drag, the area is surprisingly villagey. The tiny 12th-century church of St-Pierre de Montartre ranks among the oldest of the city, while the quiet streets, cafés and squares have a character quite unlike the rest of Paris.
For a total change of mood, head down to Pigalle, the area along Boulevards Clichy and Rochechouard, with the odd diversion into dimly lit streets on either side.
Tourists are still driven in to inspect the neon-lit peep shows, but Pigalle is also increasingly the centre for music, lively clubs and quirky latenight bars, as more and more of former cabarets reopen to new forms of decadence.
Basilique du
Sacré Coeur :Constructed at the end of the 19th-century and completetd in 1914, this Bysanthine-style basilica is situated in the heart of a 19th-Century village of painters, sculptors and poets (Toulouse-lautrec, Modigliani, Utrillo).
Also a 50 km panoramic view of the capital.
Address : Place du parvis du Sacré Coeur, 18th. Phone : 42 51 17 02. access from st Pierre market by funicular ride. Open 9am to 6pm in winter, till 7pm in summer.
Saint Pierre
de Montmartre :The oldest church in Paris is the last remnant of the royal abbey founded by Louis VI and his wife Adélaïde de Savoie. On the left, the "cimetière du Calvaire, cemetery open only on Allsaintsday. Here lie Bougainville, the duke of Fitz-James and the sculptor Pigalle.
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