 | Paris Montmartre/Sacré Coeur Reviews | 11 - 20 of 57 |  |
Beware when you are entering the main stairs/train to the top Sacré Coeur, there are a lot of guys trying to sell braclets to you. They will ask you if they can see your finger. If you do, they will try to tie a braclets onto your figer and ask for money. They are quite pushy and just ignore them. They will try to engage in a conversation by asking "Where are you from". Just ignore them.
If you do have to go up the main stairs of Sacré Coeur or taking the train up, then keep your hand in your pocket and don't answer to the street braclets seller.
If you don't mind the stairs, you can actually take some of the side street to go up the hill and by pass all the pushy braclet sellers.
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By allowing some guy to make me a dumb looking friendship bracelet at the bottom of the steps to le Sacre Coeur. When he approached me and asked to see my wrist, I hardly expected that the guy would swiftly wrap a few strings around my wrist and proceed to braid them. And then he wouldn't let go of the strings (or my wrist) until I gave him a couple of Euros! I would like to blame my naivity on jet leg, but...
Beware similar scams around Paris. I met a bunch of people at Le Village Hostel who had unwittingly fallen for the same scam. One girl had even paid 10 Euros for the dumb braided strings! Leave a Comment
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The Sacre Couer is a beautiful place to visit, especially at night. But beware of young males who prowl around. If you give them your hand they will tie a knot around your finger and make friendship bracelets, and once they have tied them around your wrist it is impossible to take them off or hand them back, so you have no option but to pay. My partner and I ended up paying seven euros for two bits of string, and that took considerable haggling!
Don't get into a conversation or make eye contact with these people, as they make it very difficult to walk away. One thing which did seem to work - a French girl laughed at them and said "Je suis n'pas un tourist!" ("I am not a tourist!") and they left her alone.
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Look. This is approximately as close as you should ever get to Montmartre. The guidebooks and the city tourism officials will tell you that Montmartre is a scenic, cobblestoned-paved, medieval district full of colorful characters, restaurants, and magnificent views from the Sacré Cœur. These are what I like to call exaggerations. Montmarte is an over-touristed, souvenir stand-filled mess of overpriced eateries.
The worst part, however, are the "street performers" (so named by the official literature). I call them mimes, and they are among the world's worst. If you're like me (and you should be, because I'm just that cool), you're a bit worried and perplexed by mimes. Why won't they talk? What fiendish devilry lurks in their silent minds?
When I was a kid, I developed a rather intense fear of clowns. I'm not ashamed by this -- I had a bad experience at a birthday party at McDonald's. I no longer frequent that den of iniquity and mass-produced greasy American food, and I no longer accept mimes and clowns as unalterable parts of the human landscape. Join the coalition. Avoid Montmartre.
(Really, though, the mimes aside, Montmartre is really not worth the trip. There are so many great places on the left bank where you can experience the real, friendly, affordable Paris. Leave Montmartre to the uninformed tourist.)
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Here's a classic Tourist Trap that you should try to avoid. When you start going up the steps of the Sacré Coeur church to get to Montmartre, there's always a group of guys standing on the stairway with some hand-sown bracelets. They try real hard to tie one onto you, "just to try", you know, "to see how it looks". Thing is, apart from the fact that they're horrible little bracelets, that if you get one on you, he'll tie a knot and make you "pay him". This can be a BIG nuissance, especially if you don't speak proper french. No big deal, just be on the lookout and march right through saying "no, no, no" and don't stop. It's a nice walk so you should climb the stairs.
Be really carefull on the Métro, Paris isn't dangerous or violent but pickpockets are real artists. Keep your bag to the front, avoid crowds, etc., I know you think this is dumb, but I live here and had my phone stolen yesterday! They're good. Be on the lookout.
Of course, biggest tourist trap of all is Pigalle. Anyway, don't think your friend will go to any strip shows, but I went with a buddy to do his bachelors party and we wound up being ripped of. Long story, but we had to pay 800$ for 6 glasses of "champagne". The strip show sucked too. If you like this "art form", go to Amsterdam. That's my advice. Do be carefull while walking in Pigalle to see the Moulin Rouge and all that, or you might beat our 800$ record.
Hope this helps!
The Braceletes ar easy to avoid, just be firm and say no, better to be rude than lose money.
As far as Pigalle is concerned, if you really want to go in the clubs, ask for the price of every drink and pay at once. Girls will sit down at your table, talk to you, order a drink and have you pay for the "company". Of course she ordered champagne. Really, it sucks big time and the shows are bad.
Forget the cabaret Moulin Rouge thing and go somewhere else! Beside the Moulin Rouge is a disco called "La Loco", so if you're that desperate, might as well try and pick up someone there, it'll be much cheaper in any case. Try and reflect on women exploitation first. We are all equal. A word to the wise. Leave a Comment
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Place du Tertre is a quite nice place and it´s not a secret that at the place everything is a little bit more expensive but about 4.75 USD for one coffee was a little bit too expensive. Leave a Comment
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Mont Marte is both a tourist trap and a really cool place to visit. You have to take the wierd tram car thing (finicular) to get to it, and you will walk the rest of the time you are there.
The focal point of Mont Martre is the basilica of Sacre Coeur. The area around the basilica is sort of an artsy tourist trap kinda area. There's lots of stores selling garbage, but there are also some good finds. There are lots of artists doing portraits for the tourists in the square near Sacre Coeur. There's also some cute restaurants as well. Just beware of the theives and con-artists on Mont Marte that prey on tourists. Leave a Comment
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Place du Tetre in Montmarte is exciting and annoying (for both inhabitants and tourists). If you make eye contact with someone up there they'll start drawing your self portrait, which will cost you approx 80euro. Some are quite good, but the ones with portable workshops are awful. If you have long hair, they'll practically grab your hair and start braiding it with rope. The tourists love it apparently, but I would recommend not talking to anyone unless you can spend 100euro on a drawing or feel like being badgered on your vacation. Leave a Comment
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Montmartre! The place is just full of tourists, the restaurants are over-priced and with snotty waiters, it is miles away from anywhere else and the famous city view from Sacre Coeur is no better than from the roof cafe at the Samaritaine department store. Besides, the place is littered with pick-pockets and around the corner are some not so nice areas after dark. Leave a Comment
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There are not many places worth not visiting in Paris, but the closest there is is Montmarte. It is a truly unpleasant place. I would stay away, but if you are still curious, I would go out to Pere Lachaise and hit Montmarte briefly after that. But Pere Lachaise cemetary deserves much more time than Montmarte.
Also, I consider the Champs-Elysees a big tourist trap. That doesn't mean you shouldn't walk up it, of course you should, and see the arc de triomphe, but it does mean that it is Americanized and rather disappointing. However, what is on either end of it is worth the mile of Planet Hollywood's and Gaps that you have to walk past. Leave a Comment
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