Place du Tertre

The small square behind Sacré-Cœur, full of portrait painters

Area Montmartre
Type Neighbourhood
Time needed 30m

Place du Tertre is a small square a minute west of Sacre-Coeur, at the top of the Montmartre hill, and it is the most aggressively touristed patch of ground in Paris. Portrait painters and caricaturists hold licensed pitches in the middle; restaurant terraces fill the whole perimeter. The square genuinely was an artists' quarter a century ago, and almost nothing of that survives beyond the trade in portraits.

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Getting there

Abbesses on line 12 is the closest station, about eight to ten minutes uphill via rue Yvonne-Le-Tac and the stairs. Anvers on line 2 plus the funicular lands you by Sacre-Coeur, then it is two minutes west past the church of Saint-Pierre. Lamarck-Caulaincourt on line 12 is the least steep approach. Allow twenty-five minutes from Chatelet including the climb.

What you see

The square itself is a plane-tree courtyard about the size of a tennis court with a double rank of easels in the centre. Working round it you see the painters' licensed stands, a run of unremarkable terraces, and on the corners two or three old facades that hint at what the place looked like. The church of Saint-Pierre de Montmartre on the east side is the real thing: twelfth-century, with reused Roman columns at the entrance and modern glass, and it is quiet and free of charge when the square outside is not. The narrow streets off the square, rue Norvins and rue du Mont-Cenis, are more pleasant than the square and lead away into the rest of the hill.

What to pair it with

Sacre-Coeur is two minutes east, the Musee de Montmartre and the Clos Montmartre vineyard five minutes north, and the whole Montmartre walk starts from here or ends here.

When to go

Before nine in the morning you can have the square more or less to yourself and see its shape, which is otherwise invisible. From late morning to dusk, every day, it is shoulder to shoulder. Evenings are a little thinner but the terraces are at their most expensive. Low-season weekday mornings are the only genuine relief.

What is hard about it

The portrait painters work the crowd actively: expect to be approached, to have a sketch started on you without asking, and then to be quoted a price well above what you would guess, with pressure to pay for work you did not commission. Agree a figure in advance and in writing or decline clearly and keep walking. Food and drink on the square is poor value and the menus aimed squarely at people who will not return. Pickpockets work the density. If you want to see Montmartre rather than be sold things, the square is twenty minutes of your visit at most.

Common questions

How long do you need at Place du Tertre?

Fifteen to thirty minutes. It is a small square and there is nothing to go into except the church.

How much is a portrait and should I agree to one?

Prices vary widely and are negotiated, so settle the figure before anyone starts drawing. If you have not agreed a price, you are under no obligation to pay for a sketch begun uninvited.

Is it worth eating there?

Not really. The side streets off rue des Abbesses and rue Lepic, five minutes downhill, are better and cheaper.