The Quartier

Montmartre

"For visitors who prefer to search for the crustiest baguette and perfect melon and cook for themselves,
there is no better place to rent an apartment and to pretend, even for a brief time, to live in Paris. "
- Elaine Sciolino, New York Times Sunday Travel Section, February 27, 2005

view an interactive map showing the location of the apartment and nearby transportation

The serene splendor of the Basilica of Sacré Coeur, the showgirls of the Moulin Rouge, and everything in between—that’s what Montmartre has to offer. Pleasures await you around every corner.

Located on the border of the 9th and the 18th arrondissements at the foot of Montmartre, Villa Dancourt is a short stroll to Sacré Coeur, Place du Tertre, Montmartre Cemetary, the Moulin Rouge, and the Brasserie Wepler. But Parisians who aren’t lucky enough to live in the neighborhood go there for cocktails, jazz, and people-watching at Café Sancerre on Rue des Abbesses.

They stop by La Flute Gana for some of the best bread in Paris. They have coffee and hang out at Le Progres. They have dinner at La Famille, the neighborhood’s “in” restaurant. They stand on the steps of Sacré Coeur at midnight and watch the city spread like so many jewels at their feet.

This neighborhood - known as "Abbesses," after its central metro stop -
has become one of the trendiest in Paris.

Follow in Amelie’s footsteps...

Or just wander. The true denizen of Paris is the flâneur, who roams the city with no particular destination, letting the streets carry him from one lovely spot to another.
	There’s no better neighborhood for flânerie than Montmartre, where something charming and magical awaits you wherever you wander—
a sculpture doubling as a fountain, the most charming café you’ve ever seen, a bookstore to spend the afternoon in, a film being shot.

Rue Lepic will be your main food-shopping street during your stay at Villa Dancourt. Duck terrines, fish terrines, mezzaluna pasta filled with goat cheese and eggplant, vegetable tarts, chocolate almond tarts, fruit tarts, fresh fish, fresh meat, fresh vegetables, cheese in the shape of tears and hearts, chocolates and bonbons— this is a taste of what you’ll find before you even get halfway down the street.

The French restaurants in the neighborhood are wonderful and abundant. And there's excellent Japanese, Chinese, Nouvelle Fusion, Middle Eastern, and Hungarian cuisine within a few blocks.

Tucked among the boulangeries, patisseries, fromageries, and wine shops, you’ll discover romantic restaurants, hip cafés and bars, and shops selling everything from high-design graphic novels and cool clothing to contemporary art and classic antiques.

And the quartier is surprisingly kid-friendly—with merry-go-rounds and carnival rides and lots of ice cream. If you like to swim, bring your bathing suit—there is a wonderful outdoor pool just across the street. (Ask us about pool hours and regulations.)

Night and day the narrow winding cobblestone streets are filled with visitors seeing the sights,
and Parisians coming home with baguettes under their arm.
Opéra and the Galeries Lafayette department stores are within walking distance,
and you can get everywhere else in Paris by an easy métro or bus ride.
But even if you never leave Montmartre, you’ll get to know the real Paris.

view an interactive map
showing the location of the apartment
and nearby transportation

Some history of the quartier.

The magical hill of Montmartre has been a spiritual center since the days of the Gauls who first settled the region. Later, the Romans built temples there to honor their gods. Montmartre got its name in the third century, as the site of the martyrdom of Saint Denis—Paris’s first bishop—and other Christians. Two centuries later Saint Genevieve, famous for her successful prayers to keep the Huns away, built a temple to commemorate the martyrdom of Saint Denis. And in the 12th century l’Abbaye Saint Pierre de Montmartre was built on what is now the trendy Rue des Abbesses. In 1871 Montmartre was the center of the revolutionary Commune, after whose demise the Basilica of Sacré-Coeur was conceived as a monument to reconciliation.

From the 1820s on, Montmartre gained fame as a center of modern art. The world’s greatest painters, musicians, and poets lived, worked, talked, and played here. Van Gogh, Pissaro, Picasso, Modigliani, Apollinaire, Utrillo—the list in fact goes on and on. The defining block of the artist’s quarter is Le Bateau-Lavoir, where Picasso painted the Cubist masterpiece Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.

Le Bateau-Lavoir (mid-20th century)

The block still exists, and it’s still a street of ateliers belonging to working artists. There are a number of galleries in the neighborhood, though these days the neighborhood is better known for the street artists who hang out making portraits for passersby in the lively Place du Tertre, where you can have a drink or dinner in one of the cafes in and around the square. And you can still enjoy an evening of French song at one of Picasso’s favorite haunts,Au Lapin Agile.


Au Lapin Agile	Maison Rose (Au Lapin Agile) by Maurice Utrillo	Au Moulin Rouge: la Danse by Toulouse-Lautrec	La Goulue demonstrating the can-can

The Moulin Rouge is within walking distance, and the historic Theatre de l’Atelier is on a charming square right across the street from Villa Dancourt. Afterward, have a drink at Le Sancerre, where you can sit at a table on the sidewalk and listen to French jazz music. Le Divan du Monde, a trendy club in a former brothel, is a great place to dance or listen to Arab music. Around the corner you can catch international pop stars performing at La Cigale or a show at Le Trianon.

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