Montmartre, the postcard-perfect hilltop district of Paris, is facing mounting pressure from a surge in visitors, sparking fears among residents that their neighbourhood could follow the path of overtouristed cities such as Barcelona or Venice.
While Paris has largely avoided the large-scale protests seen elsewhere in Europe, Montmartre locals say the impact on daily life has become impossible to ignore. Narrow cobbled streets are increasingly jammed with guided tours, long queues for street food, and crowds rushing to snap photos of the Sacré-Cœur Basilica.
For longtime residents, the changes have been stark. Essential food shops that once anchored the community — butchers, cheese stores, and grocers — are steadily disappearing, replaced by crêpe stands, ice cream stalls, and souvenir shops. “We’re down to just a handful of traditional food stores,” said Anne Renaudie, who has lived in Montmartre for nearly three decades and heads the Vivre à Montmartre association. “The neighbourhood now feels like an amusement park, with people arriving for a few hours, buying a beret or a crêpe, and then leaving.”
The association is urging the local town hall to introduce new regulations similar to those adopted in other European tourist hotspots. Proposals include limiting tour groups to 25 people, banning the use of loudspeakers, and increasing the tourist tax.
The numbers underline the challenge: Paris welcomed nearly 49 million visitors in 2024, with around 11 million making their way to Montmartre each year. And with early bookings for 2025 already up 20% compared to the previous year, residents fear the worst may be yet to come.
Beyond the strain on local businesses and infrastructure, housing is emerging as the most pressing concern. The mayor of the 18th arrondissement, which encompasses Montmartre, has warned that rising real estate prices and the boom in short-term rentals could drive residents out altogether. Property prices have climbed 19% over the past decade, with small apartments now fetching half a million euros. Paris has tightened its short-term rental rules, reducing the annual limit for renting out a primary residence from 120 to 90 days, in an attempt to keep housing accessible.
Even small details highlight the shift from neighbourhood to tourist attraction: a single scoop of ice cream in Montmartre can now cost 5 euros. For residents like Anthea Quenel, a mother of two, the frustration is clear. “Sometimes I have to raise my voice just to get past a tour group,” she said. “It feels more and more like Disneyland.”
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