Lynda T.
Yelp
We visited the gorgeous Sacre-Coeur on a Wednesday morning, to try to avoid the crowds. (We had gone on a Saturday afternoon, and you could not even move from all of the tourists there).
Sacre-Coeur actually houses many different little chapels inside!! While we were walking around, mass was in progress. You can still enter it and look around, wandering around the perimeter, during mass, or you could even take a seat and attend mass, which was being conducted in French, of course!
We paid an extra 7 euros each or so to go to the top. This was a treacherous climb!!! The staircase is very small, spirals and is very narrow, with little to no room for anyone to pass you. You are completely enclosed on both sides with stone walls. The steps are stone and uneven, and there is no handrail during part of the climb. This is for physically fit people only, and they do not warn you about it! It was perfectly fine for us to climb it, but we were amazed at how there's no warnings about it. It is not for people who are claustrophobic or not in decent shape to do this climb of about 300 steps. I wonder how many people have fallen either going up or down.
Anyway, once you get to the top, the views are great. We have photos from here of the Eiffel Tower, and of Sacre Coeur from the Eiffel Tower.
As everyone says, beware of pickpockets and other scams. We kept our phones secured inside our jackets, and it was fine. There was a guy playing the guitar and singing at the front of the Basilica, which we listened to as we were plotting our next adventure.