The vineyard on the north slope of the Butte stays fenced for fifty-one weeks of the year, and most people who walk past photograph the railings rather than the vines behind them. In the second week of October the gates open, a brass band comes down rue des Saules at quarter to twelve on the Saturday, and something close to half a million people arrive to follow it, eat off paper plates and drink wine poured by the growers who made it. It is the least polished thing Paris does all autumn. It is also free to walk into, which is why the hill stops functioning normally for five days.
What happens across the five days
The Fête des Vendanges de Montmartre (Montmartre and the wider 18th) runs Wednesday 7 to Sunday 11 October 2026. This is the 93rd edition, themed Le 18e donne le rythme, the rhythm of the 18th, so music runs through the whole programme rather than decorating it. There is no ticket, no wristband and no door. You walk up, and you are in. The only part of the week that needs a reservation is the vineyard itself, and those slots go early.
Three fixtures matter for planning. The Parcours du Goût, around a hundred producers and winemakers, vignerons through to regional food stands, sets up at the foot of Sacré-Cœur and runs Friday 9 to Sunday 11 October. Everything there is paid per item, card or cash, and it is the part of the festival most worth arriving early for: by early afternoon on the Saturday the aisles between the stalls move at a shuffle and you spend more time queuing than tasting. Go at opening, eat standing up, buy the bottle you liked while you can still reach the table.
The Grande Parade leaves the vineyard on Saturday 10 October at 11:45 and walks down to the Mairie du 18e. This is the busiest ninety minutes of the week and the best free spectacle in it: confréries in full regalia, banners, brass, a crowd four deep along the narrow stretches. If you want to see it rather than the back of someone's head, be on the route by 11:00.
The closing ball is at Square Louise Michel on Sunday 11 October, 16:30–19:30, with DJ sets on the terraces below the basilica. It is the most relaxed session of the five days, it ends at a civilised hour, and families do well at it.
Getting inside the vineyard
The Vigne du Clos Montmartre (rue des Saules, at rue Saint-Vincent) is the reason all of this exists. It is Paris's last working commercial vineyard, planted in 1933 on a slope that was saved from developers by people who mostly could not make wine. It is normally fenced off and closed to walk-ups. Entry is guided only, numbers are capped, and during festival week the visits are scheduled for 7, 8, 9 and 11 October 2026. There is no vineyard visit on the Saturday, because the parade starts from the gate. Festival visits are free but need a reservation, and a group of any size should be booking the moment slots open rather than the week before.
The rest of the year this is effectively a sealed garden. The Musée de Montmartre – Jardins Renoir (rue Cortot, two minutes uphill) runs its regular vineyard tours May to September, which means October access is festival-only. The museum's combined ticket, vineyard tour with a tasting plus the museum, runs to around €39, and the guided commentary is given in French with English handouts, so bring patience if your French is thin.
Even without a vineyard slot, the museum earns its mid-teens euro entry during this week for one reason: its gardens are the only place you can reliably look down onto the vines without a guided ticket. It is open daily, including public holidays, 10:00–19:00, with a dedicated booking channel for adult groups and schools. Renoir, Valadon and Utrillo all worked in the building, and the Café Renoir (11:00–18:00) is the calmest seat within a hundred metres of the festival crush, the one place on the Butte where you can sit down on the Saturday afternoon without shouting.
Eating when half a million people want lunch
The hill's restaurants have a structural problem during the festival: most of them shut between lunch and dinner at exactly the moment the parade breaks up and fifty thousand people start looking for a chair. Plan around that rather than hoping.
Le Moulin de la Galette (rue Lepic) is the answer to it. The windmill Renoir painted is still a working restaurant, under chefs Nicolas Tourneville and Cédric Barbier, and it serves continuously from noon to 23:00, seven days. That continuous service is worth more than any menu detail during festival week, because it is one of the very few kitchens on the Butte that can seat a group at half past three. Book online, reckon on €45–70 a head, and take the courtyard if the weather holds.
La Bonne Franquette (corner of rue des Saules and rue Saint-Rustique) is the large-group option and there is no close second. It takes up to 180 across its tables, has private rooms, does full buy-outs and banquet menus, and will put on Montmartre-style entertainment if you ask. The singalong tradition it leans into is either the point or the problem depending on your party; during harvest week it is unambiguously the point. Open daily 12:00–15:00 and 19:00–23:00, €35–60 a head. Van Gogh painted the garden on this corner, and the building has been trading on that ever since. Fairly, in my view.
La Maison Rose (rue de l'Abreuvoir) sits twenty metres from the vineyard gate, directly on the Grande Parade route, which on Saturday 10 October makes its terrace the best-placed seat on the hill and the hardest to get. Seating is very limited, booking is via the website only, and there is no real capacity for a party above four to six, so send the rest of your group ahead to eat elsewhere and meet them after. Closed Monday and Tuesday. €25–45 a head. Reserve the day you fix your dates, not the week you travel.
For the strongest cooking in walking distance, go down the north slope to L'Esquisse (rue Lamarck, about ten minutes below the vines). It is in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide, the room is small, and it is far enough from the festival that you can hear the person opposite you, which by Saturday evening is a genuine luxury. Closed Sunday and Monday, last orders 22:30, €40–55 a head, best for two to six. Book ahead.
When everything on the hill is full, and on the Saturday it will be, drop down to Bouillon Pigalle (boulevard de Clichy, at place Pigalle). Around 300 covers, open noon to midnight every day, and now bookable online up to thirty minutes ahead, which makes it the easiest large-party seat in the area by a distance. Walk-in queues run 20–40 minutes and up to 90 at peak, so use the booking. Œuf mayo is €1.90, bœuf bourguignon €12.50, and three courses with wine lands at €15–25. A group of ten can eat here without a negotiation, which is not true anywhere uphill.
Wine you don't have to queue for
The Parcours du Goût stalls pack up at the end of each day, and the obvious move is to keep going somewhere with a roof.
La Cave des Abbesses (rue des Abbesses) is a working caviste with a drinking room behind it: around 250 wines by the glass or the bottle, a good run of organic growers, glasses at €6–10, about €30 with a cheese and charcuterie plate. It is tiny and it fills fast, fine for four, hopeless for ten, and you want to be through the door before 18:00. Closed Monday.
Aux Négociants (lower north slope, rue Lambert) has been trading since 1920 and pours the most honest glass of wine in the 18th: terrines, chicken-liver pâté, growers' bottles, no concessions to anyone. It is genuinely small and old-school, so book by phone and keep the party under six. Mon–Fri lunch and dinner, Saturday evening only, closed Sunday, €30–40 a head. Patron Jean Navier is close to retirement, so treat this as a place to catch now rather than a fixture you can come back to in five years.
Where to stand for the view
The Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre (parvis, top of the Butte) is free and unticketed to enter, with no photography inside the church. The dome is the part that matters this week: €8, or €5 for under-16s, open 10:30–20:45 with last admission at 20:15, and a roughly 300-step climb with no lift. Tickets are sold on site only and there is no group booking, so queues build through the day. From the top you look straight down onto Square Louise Michel, which on Sunday 11 October means straight down onto the closing ball. It is the best vantage point over the festival, and the only one that costs less than a drink.
For a horizontal view, Terrass" Rooftop Bar (rue Joseph de Maistre) is the one high terrace on the hill that faces south over the whole city rather than at the back of the basilica. The outdoor terrace is free to enter with no reservation, subject to capacity, and capacity is first-come; during festival week it goes early in the evening and stays gone. Drinks €12–18. The indoor restaurant is bookable if you want a guaranteed seat.
After the hill empties
The Butte itself goes quiet around midnight even during the festival, which surprises people who expect an all-night street party.
Au Lapin Agile (rue des Saules, fifty metres downhill from the vineyard) is the oldest bar-cabaret in Paris and the least like a tourist cabaret: chansons sung round a table with everyone joining in, no feathers, no floor show. Shows Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 21:00–01:00. €40 including one drink, €25 for students under 26 except Saturdays and holidays. Reservations are strongly advised, and full privatisation is possible on other dates for a large party. It is cash only, which catches people out every single night. Bring notes.
Le Très Particulier (avenue Junot) is reached through an unmarked gate minutes from the parade route and is completely invisible from the street. No reservation is needed for the bar and walk-ins are welcome, but the garden is small, so arrive early if you are more than six. Cocktails €18–22. Open Monday 18:00–01:00, Tuesday to Saturday 18:00–02:00, Sunday 16:00 to midnight, with DJ sets Thursday to Saturday.
Le Sancerre (rue des Abbesses) is the anchor that stays up latest: 07:00–02:00 daily, until 04:00 Friday and Saturday, DJs later on, a big pavement terrace, a long room, step-free access and no hostility to groups walking in. Drinks and plates run €8–20, happy hour 18:30–21:00. The food is standard brasserie fare, so come for the terrace and the hours, not the cooking.
If you want to go properly late, La Machine du Moulin Rouge (boulevard de Clichy) is where the festival crowd ends up. It is one of the largest clubs in Europe, four rooms, electronic programming every weekend plus concerts, €15–25 entry depending on the night. Tickets are per event and worth buying in advance, and there is no table service to negotiate, which makes it straightforward for a group. It is a separate operation from the cabaret next door, despite the name.
Practical notes for the week
Abbesses (line 12) is the closest métro to the Parcours du Goût, but it is one of the deepest stations in the city, with a long spiral staircase when the lift queue backs up. On a festival Saturday, get off at Anvers (line 2) and take the funicular, or at Lamarck–Caulaincourt (line 12) if you are heading for the vineyard side and want to arrive from above rather than climb. Streets on the parade route close to traffic on the Saturday morning; taxis and ride-hails will drop you at the bottom of the hill and no further.
Carry €50–80 in notes. The stalls take card or cash, but Au Lapin Agile is cash only, and small producers at the Parcours move faster when you have the right money in your hand.
Wednesday and Thursday are the local, low-pressure end of the week, the best days for a vineyard slot and for eating properly. Friday the food stalls open. Saturday is the parade and the peak crowd. Sunday afternoon is the ball, and it is the easiest day to bring children. If you only have one day, take the Sunday: vineyard visits run, the Parcours is open, and the ball closes it out at 19:30 in daylight.
Entry, the parade, the ball and the church cost nothing. A realistic day is €10–20 for tastings and plates at the Parcours, €8 for the dome, €35–60 for a proper sit-down lunch, and €40 if you finish at the cabaret. Two people can do the whole Saturday well for around €120.
Book your bed early and book it low. Sleeping on the Butte itself is charming for about a day and exhausting for three: the hill is all stairs, and during the festival the noise runs late. Abbesses, Pigalle and the flatter streets around Lamarck put you ten minutes from the vines with somewhere to sit down at the end of it. Start with a Paris hotel search, and read the wider Paris guide if you are building the rest of the trip around this week.
One honest warning to finish on. Half a million people over five days on a hill with medieval street widths means the festival is at its worst between noon and four on the Saturday. Everything I have recommended above works better either side of that window. Eat at eleven, watch the parade, then get off the Butte for two hours and come back for the evening. The wine will still be there.
Questions
When exactly is the Fête des Vendanges de Montmartre in 2026?
Wednesday 7 to Sunday 11 October 2026 — the 93rd edition, themed 'Le 18e donne le rythme'. The Parcours du Goût food and wine stalls run 9–11 October at the foot of Sacré-Cœur, the Grande Parade leaves the vineyard at 11:45 on Saturday 10 October, and the closing ball is at Square Louise Michel on Sunday 11 October, 16:30–19:30.
Do I need a ticket for the festival?
No. It is a free open-street event with no booking and no door, which makes it unusually easy for groups. You pay per item for tastings and plates at the Parcours du Goût, by card or cash. The only element that needs a reservation is a visit inside the Clos Montmartre vineyard.
Can I actually get inside the Clos Montmartre vineyard?
Only with a booked, guided visit. Festival visits are scheduled for 7, 8, 9 and 11 October 2026 — not the Saturday, when the parade starts from the gate — and they are free but capped, so they sell out fast. The Musée de Montmartre's combined vineyard tour with tasting and museum entry is around €39; tours are in French with English handouts. Outside the festival, the museum's regular vineyard tours only run May to September.
Which single day should I pick if I can only do one?
Sunday 11 October. Vineyard visits run, the Parcours du Goût is open, the closing ball finishes at 19:30 in daylight, and the crowd is far gentler than Saturday's. Pick Saturday only if the parade is the thing you came for — and be on the route by 11:00.
Where can a group of ten eat during festival week?
La Bonne Franquette on the hill takes up to 180 with private rooms and banquet menus, and Le Moulin de la Galette serves continuously from noon to 23:00 so it can seat you mid-afternoon. If both are full, drop to Bouillon Pigalle — around 300 covers, bookable online up to 30 minutes ahead, three courses with wine for €15–25. La Maison Rose, La Cave des Abbesses and Aux Négociants are all too small for a party that size.
First published on theparistravel.com, the Paris guide.
