Montmartre Hotels

The district of Montmartre, in the northern part of Paris, is a must-visit for tourists to the French capital. From a distance, the Sacre Coeur church presides over the area from the summit of the hill like a phantom. For long the haunt of artists including great names such as Monet, Van Gogh and Picasso, the area is rich with bohemian feeling. Walking around the streets, Montmartre is alive with cafes, night clubs and cabaret shows.

Needless to say, visitors to the area can flirt with the spirit of Montmartre in their choice of hotel. Le Chat Noir is a three-star hotel at the foot of the Montmartre hill and close to Blanche metro station. It is also a stone's throw away from the Moulin Rouge cabaret. In particular, Le Chat Noir hotel captures the mood of the cabaret of the same name which ran for two decades from 1881 during the vibrant "fin du siecle" era. Located not far away on the Rue du Rochechouart near the present-day Anvers metro station, Le Chat Noir cabaret was a bustling venue, part artists' salon, part rowdy night club. Its legacy is the iconic poster by Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen in which the depiction of a black cat is complemented by Art Nouveau lettering announcing the cabaret's going on tour. Today the iconography of a black cat with bright eyes and curling tail is recalled at the hotel on the walls of the reception area and on the windows of the breakfast room.

If Le Chat Noir is fully booked, a few streets away is the Comfort Hotel Place du Tertre. This two-star hotel is at the epicentre of streets that lead to the Musee Montmartre, the cemetery of Saint-Vincent and, not surprisingly, the Place du Tertre itself. This is the place to visit if you want to experience the artistic climate of Montmartre. As at Leicester Square in London, at Place du Tertre artists set up their easels and draw their subjects, either in full portraits or in caricatures executed with a few strokes of the pen. The artists in the Place du Tertre thrive in the tradition of the masters that preceded them. Just round the corner from the Place du Tertre is the Espace Dali, a permanent exhibition dedicated to the surrealist artist Salavador Dali and in particular his sculptures and engravings.

If you want to look into the future rather than the past, try the four-star Kube Hotel on the other side of Sacre Coeur. The cobbled streets of Montmartre are in contrast to the "Ice Kube", an ice bar which was the first of its kind in Paris, at this trendy design hotel. The traditional façade of the hotel hides a futuristic interior. Guests use the technology of fingerprint recognition to allow entry to their rooms. Fluorescent lighting adds atmosphere to commonplace aspects of a hotel. The lounge bar is upholstered with fake fur. The reception area is in a plexiglass cube. This boutique hotel is a piece of modern art in its own right. Truly, Montmartre is the place to visit for an artistic hotel experience in Paris.