Paris’ Eighteenth Arrondissement
All sorts of life exists side by side in the 18th arrondissement, a quarter that combines some of Paris’ finest living with it’s famous sex trade. From the sex shops of Pigalle to the mansions of Montmartre, the eighteenth arrondissement shows up the best and worst of the city.
The eastern half of the district is lost under the rail lines trailing out from the Gard du Nord - here, around Chateau Rouge Metro station stands the Goutte d’Or district - a lively but troubled social housing estate. Follow westward the unpronounceable Boulevard de Rochechouart and cheap department stores and fast food chains give way to more than a kilometre of strip clubs and sex shops.
This is Pigalle, home of the Moulin Rouge (where the ‘can-can’ was born) and packed day and night with a mixture of tourists and thrill seekers. Truthfully, it’s more tourist trap than real red light district - the true Paris sex trade continues elsewhere in the city, and the lively atmosphere of Pigalle is certainly well worth sampling - but it’s not a place to linger too long, or indeed, to live.
Barely a hundred metres north stands Montmartre, a small, steep hill that rises very suddenly out of the ground. Crowned with a beautiful and famous white stone cathedral, the Sacre Coeur, the top of the hill offers incredible views over the city. The series of small squares at its summit were once home to painters including Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso - now they’re packed with cafes and restaurants catering to the regular influx of tourists, not to mention the many street portrait painters in search of willing subjects.
Montmartre is stuffed full of tourists, but heading north or west leads to the Abesses quarter: a delightful residential district which feels much like a small village in the heart of the city. Here the wealthy residents of Montmartre collide with the poorer Parisians of Pigalle - and it’s a lively, varied quarter as a result.
More Paris districts:
1st - Louvre 11th - Bastille
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[...] 18th - Montmartre [...]