Among the highest hills in Paris, Montmartre is easily recognisable from almost anywhere in Paris because of its crowning feature: the gleaming white-marble Byzantine-style domes of the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur (map).

This "Hill of Martyrs" is famous from history, literature, music and art as cradle of creativity during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

You can take the Montmartrobus from Place Pigalle, or walk from the Anvers Métro station up rue du Steinkerque to the Funiculaire du Montmartre to get to the top (map). The young, strong and eager can take the stairs instead of the funicular from the carrousel (merry-go-round) at the top of rue du Steinkerque.

The Place du Tertre, behind Sacré-Coeur, was lined with cheap cafes and restaurants where artists and writers hung out, traded ideas, drank too much, and created the future of literature, philosophy and painting.

Art still flourishes in Place du Tertre, now filled with popular painters and sketch artists ready to sell you their work. Choose a Parisian scene from those on display, or sit for your own portrait, done in as little as 10 or 15 minutes. More...

The square is lined with cafes and restaurants filled with visitors who've come to stay 30 minutes, but the basilica and church are still splendid, the surrounding streets picturesque, and the panoramic views of Paris spectacular—and free.

At the base of the hill, around Place Pigalle (map), is Paris's naughty nightlife district of nightclubs (including the renowned Bal du Moulin Rouge), adult video and sex shops, peep shows and ladies-of-the-night. More...