Abbesses Metro: The most beautiful metro station in Paris

This is my guide to the Abbesses Metro station, one of the most evocative of all Paris Metro stops – read on to find out what makes it so special.

Abbesses Metro is the best Metro station to visit in Paris. It is the crowning glory of Paris Metro Art Nouveau, with its dragonfly-style entrance, decorated in gorgeous Parisian murals and a famous movie location. And it’s a short, easy stop on your way around Montmartre. 

My guide to the Abbesses Metro station shows you what to see, tells you its history and its context as one of the most famous Paris Art Nouveau sites. Take a few minutes to browse, view the images and enjoy.

Why Visit Abbesses Metro?

Its long winding staircases are decorated with murals depicting Parisian scenes – otherwise you can always take the elevator

Abbesses Metro features in some scenes in the wonderful Jean-Pierre Jeunet movie Amélie (titled Le Fabuleux Destin d’ Amélie Poulain in France)

The platforms at Abbesses Metro are also beautiful, the walls and ceiling covered with bright white and navy-blue ceramic tiles

Abbesses Metro station was opened on 31^st October 1912, and was originally a stop on the Nord-Sud company’s line A before being incorporated into the single Paris Metro.

Line A was renamed line 12 in 1931.

The station is named after the Abbesses of the former Montmartre Abbey (Abbaye de Montmartre), which was closed in 1790, and demolished a few years later – the only remnant of this is the church of St Pierre de Montmartre, which stands across the street from the Sacré Coeur Basilica.

The famous Paris Art Nouveau entrance portal by Hector Guimard was moved from the Hôtel de Ville station to Abbesses in 1974.

This glass ‘butterfly’ style édicule is one of only two originals to survive in Paris – the other is at Porte Dauphine, the terminus of Metro line 2. There is also a later reconstruction at Chatelet on line 1.

The 2001 movie Amélie is set in the Abbesses area of Montmartre, but the station scenes were filmed at a vacant platform at Porte des Lilas Metro instead.

Abbesses Paris Metro station is situated on Place des Abbesses, in the 18^th arrondissement (administrative district) of the city. Place des Abbesses is located on Rue des Abbesses, 

It is around halfway up the Butte de Montmartre (Montmartre hill), a short walk from the lower station of the Montmartre funicular. Visiting Sacré Coeur and Place du Tertre from Abbesses is easy, a steep, mainly stepped walk to the summit of the Butte de Montmartre.

Abbesses station is on Paris Metro line 12, which runs from Mairie d’Aubervilliers in the north of Paris to Mairie d’Issy, in Issy-les-Moulineaux to the south-west of the city.

Line 12 also links Montmartre with Montparnasse, which later also became a popular area for artists.

It is located between Pigalle (which is also on line 2) and Lamarck-Caulaincourt station on the north side of the Butte de Montmartre.

If you’re travelling to Abbesses by Metro, doing so via line 2 is one of the easier options. If you change at Pigalle line 2 station, you then only need to change for line 12 and travel to the next stop (Direction Mairie d’Aubervilliers) to Abbesses.

It’s also possible to reach the Places des Abbesses and Abbesses Metro stop on the useful RATP bus 40, which continues up the hill to Place du Tertre and the heart of Montmartre.

In total, 86 of the distinctive Hector Guimard Paris Metro signs have survived around the city.

Line 2 – which includes Pigalle, where many passengers change for the one-stop journey to Abbesses – is particularly well-endowed with Hector Guimard Metro signs. Each has the distinctive ‘Metropolitain’ sign and the name of the station written separately at the back of the entrance stairway or escalator.

They – and others around the city – also have the characteristic plant-like pillars holding the sign and lamps. There are also some excellent examples along the Rue de Rivoli, which runs immediately to the north of the Louvre in the 1^st arrondissement.  

The Place des Abbesses is on busy Rue des Abbesses, a great place to stop at a café (the flower-decked Vrai Paris) and watch the world go by for a while.

The Place is also home to the Mur des Je T’Aime, a mural with ‘I love you’ written in around 250 languages (including Welsh – though this one should be changed to something less formal!).

Place du Tertre, Sacré Coeur and the much-frequented charms of Montmartre are a few minutes’ climb up the Butte. Take a walk down the other side of the hill, where you’ll find some of the most beautiful streets in Paris, including Rue de l’Abreuvoir and Rue St Rustique.

You can also seek out more Amélie locations near Abbesses station. Her apartment is around the corner at 56 Rue des Trois Freres and, more famously, the Café des Deux Moulins where she works is down the hill on Rue Lepic.

If you continue down Rue Lepic, you’ll reach the Boulevard de Clichy and Blanche station, where you’ll see a crowd of cameras and phones pointing at something to your right. Turn around and you’ll see one of the best-known Paris icons, the Moulin Rouge windmill in perpetual motion.