Montmartre On The Inside Track

Where Elvis would have a pint, hidden streets and vintage perfume

Montmartre is one of the most overrun neighbourhoods of Paris, it’s true. But it’s still a favourite with locals. I was lucky enough to live here for a little while, which is when I discovered how local a vibe it really has once you leave the throngs of tourists behind. Montmartre has two parallel worlds. One of crammed brasseries serving over-priced, mediocre food, and another of local bars and restaurants I’m going to share with you here… I’ve put these on my Montmartre map to make it easy for you if you’re venturing over.

1. Chez Camille is by far the best bar here. Don’t expect fancy cocktails though. It’s more about ambience than how many herbs you’ve never heard of they can fit into a steamy concoction.Photos of the world’s top rock n roll legends from Little Richard to Elvis hang on the wall, and sometimes, when the tourists have gone back to their hotels, a band crams into the back, banging out tunes that’ll make you wish you’d been born in the 60s.

2. One of my favourite art venues in town is the Halle St Pierre close to the St Pierre cluster of fabric shops. A huge Art Nouveau glass structure, it often shows Art Brut exhibitions. There’s also a good art book store and a café serving good-value quiche. 

3. Looking for home cooked French food at reasonable prices? Head to La Vache et le Cuisinier or La Part des Anges. 

4. Other bars of note where you can go to rub shoulders with the locals is Le Petit Café on rue des Abbesses, Tagada, or Chez Ahmed, which isn’t the bar's real name, but it’s the name everyone knows it by.

5. Go dancing at the club hidden under the Soleil de la Butte, which stays open all night at the weekend. Expect cheesy classics that’ll keep you out all night long.

6. There are lots of shops in Montmartre but for something truly special, stop at Abstraction, where owner Sébastien Plan creates fragrances that he ages like good wines and sold in elegant bottles.

7. In terms of things to see and do, pop in at the permanent Dali exhibition to see some of the artist's most iconic pieces or take in a show at La Manufacture des Abbesses theatre or a film at vintage Cinéma 28, which also has a laid-back neon-lit bar. There’s also a cosy theatre with red sofas, the Ciné 13, which puts on independent plays nearby.

8. Another bar you should try to visit if you have a bit of cash to splash and you love a good cocktail, is the Très Particulier inside the renovated Hotel Particulier down a closed off side street (off Avenue Junot) where you have to ring the buzzer to be let in. A magnificent house with a garden in the heart of Montmartre, it’s worth the trip. Take a peek at the pétanque ground next door, a popular meeting place for real locals. 

9. Hidden behind a gate on rue Girardon, you’ll notice beautiful houses crouching in a quiet leafy garden. It’s an artists’ residency which you can’t access outside events, when you get to wander through the houses, wishing you lived here. 

10. Another hub for artists is the tucked-away Bateau Lavoir, known for having housed Picasso and Gauguin in the early 1900s, when the building creaked and bowed in the howling winds like an old wash boat, which is where it got its name from. While there is a small museum, it is rare that the ateliers are open to the public, but when they are, jump at the chance to explore; the building is beautiful and there’s a pretty secret garden in the centre.