A breathtaking view and the image of the intimate Paris fantasized worldwide. This is why the Montmartre district, highlighted regularly and cheerfully, always attracts more French and foreign visitors. Last year, there were 11 million to climb on the mound of the 18th arrondissement of the capital to make the Basilica of the Sacred Heart the most visited monument in France.
Amélie Poulain’s fabulous fate At the beginning of the century, the animation series Miraculous or the world famous Emily in Paris More recently: the slightest spotlight on the neighborhood where one of its shops is enough to attract more curious. Nearly 27,000 people live today in what is increasingly akin to an open -air museum, a must -see locations for the 22.6 million foreign tourists who came to Paris last year.
“Every day, all the week, all the time”
Anne Renaudie has lived there for 29 years. She is also president of living in Montmartre, one of the associations who worries and raises the tone in the face of surcourism. “Before the covid, tourism in Montmartre was rather the weekend. But since then, it’s constant: every day, all week, all the time, ”she breathes. A stone’s throw from the Rose house, symbol ofEmily in Paris In front of which dozens of tourists take a picture of each other, banners adorn the balconies. “Threatened Montmartre!” Its forgotten inhabitants ”, can be read in particular. Residents protest in particular against the pedestrianization of new streets, which will according to them even more tourists.
Manon, 27, chose to settle in the neighborhood two years ago … and does not regret. But in front of her apartment – 24m² for 820 euros monthly -, she has no real neighbors: “It’s an airbnb, and it is full time. The owner had squarely installed his key box on the grid in front of my window. “A window that gives directly on the paved alley in which recently paraded many side-cars,” which roll like crazy! »»
Cleanliness, difficulties of access, disappearance of local businesses for the benefit of tourist stores: for the Vivre in Montmartre association, the subjects of tension are numerous. “And since March, we have been in the post-Jo: we now see groups of 80 people, we had never seen that,” said Anne Renaudie.
The crowd and the peloton
On August 3, 2024, for a day, the range of nationalities represented was still as wide, but tourists had given way to cycling fans for the passage of the online race of the Olympic Games. More than 500,000 people were present along the Parisian route. Rue Lepic has turned into an open -air stadium, evoking a parallel edifying with a table by Claude Monet from 1878, Rue Montorgueil. One of the images of the games, once again offering a global exhibition to Montmartre.
A moment of fervor that also caught the eye of the organizers of the Tour de France. “The games made the impossible possible,” recently smiled Pierre-Yves Thouault, assistant to Christian Prudhomme at the head of the Grande Boucle. An idea welcomed by the municipality, less by the police headquarters. But “there was a fairly strong impulse of the President of the Republic,” said the Paris police prefect in May, Laurent Nuñez. And almost a year later, the peloton is preparing again to cross the crowd in Côte de la Butte Montmartre. All broadcast in 190 countries.
“We don’t need more tourism”
“It’s certainly going to be a very beautiful sporting moment, there will be magnificent images. But it is we, the residents, who will pay the price. We don’t need more tourism, we are dying under tourism, ”sighs Anne Renaudie. “We are still torn between two feelings,” admits Pierre Rabadan, sports assistant at the Paris town hall, won over by the popular fervor observed in August 2024. “We want to find this balance between a dynamic and attractive city and major attention to residents so that their living conditions can harmonize with this,” he said.
Simple one-shot Or emerging tradition on the Tour? It is also the sporting success of the stage that will say it. In the meantime, the Parisian district welcomes filming of films every month. And will be like again in the flagship series of TF1 at the start of the school year, soberly baptized: Montmartre.
