On Rue Caulaincourt at the foot of the slopes of Montmartre, the Mercure Paris Montmartre Sacré-Cœur hotel is an ideal starting point for exploring this old Parisian village. Follow our guide and our team will take you on a stroll to the heart of this district which is brimming with history.
Sacré-Cœur, a Montmartre icon
In the 19th century, many artists chose to take up residence in Montmartre. You can still see the homes of painters Pissarro and Renoir in the romantic little streets and sense a certain creative spirit in the air. The famous Place du Tertre welcomes a host of drawers and caricaturists to sketch visitors every day of the week. The Halle Saint-Pierre has been transformed into a centre for outsider art and regularly holds exhibitions, while the Espace Dali displays works by the most famous of the Surrealists. If you’d prefer to find out about life in Montmartre in its olden days, we recommend stopping off at the Musée de Montmartre. You’ll be immersed in a past of cabaret bars and painters’ studios. If you’d like to move around the area without breaking a sweat, take the little train that winds up the slopes.
The impressive Sacré-Cœur basilica rises up to the sky not too far from the Mercure Paris Montmartre Sacré-Cœur hotel. You can reach it via the steps which lead up from the park below, or on the funicular train. The basilica’s first stone was laid in 1875, but it wasn’t until 1923 that all its different parts were completed. It’s open to visitors and has trails themed around animals, characters and so on. The crypt holds various saints’ statues, tombs and even the preserved heart of Alexandre Legentil, who launched the building works. It’s also possible to climb up into the dome for mind-blowing views of the capital.
