Petit train de Montmartre

A train ride is the perfect way to explore one of the capital’s most ravishing – but steep – neighbourhoods. The official starting point is Place Blanche, opposite the Moulin Rouge, or, if you have already climbed the hill, then Place du Tertre. However, visitors are free to come and go as they please: and can hop aboard at any stop, stay on the train as long as they wish and even come back later in the day for the return journey.

The sites without the effort

Guided tours in French and English, which last around forty minutes, provide insight into the village of Montmartre, which is as rich in
romance as in artistic history. Children will have fun with the tour’s treasure hunt. Along the fourteen stops, the train will drop you at the foot of the Sacré-Coeur Basilica and, two stations on, the Place du Tertre, where the bustle is always impressive: dozens of painters and caricaturists set up their stools and canvases here daily, to the delight of onlookers. A little further on, the musée de Montmartre harks back to the era of the cabarets and helps give visitors a sense of the artistic effervescence that once reigned in Montmartre.

The train ride holds many other surprises, such as views over the Montmartre cemetery and a glimpse of one of the neighbourhood’s last windmills.