Paris · The river · Sightseeing cruises
Seine river cruises: tickets, boats and boarding points
See Notre-Dame, the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay and the Eiffel Tower from the water. Choose a day, evening or sunset cruise and book your boat.
In short
- Most cruises last about one hour, and a few last longer: 1 hour 10 minutes on the Bateaux-Mouches boat and 2 hours for the guided cruise on the Seine and the Canal Saint-Martin.
- Each operator has its own boarding point: near the Eiffel Tower, at the Pont de l'Alma, on the Île de la Cité at the Pont Neuf, and on the Canal Saint-Martin.
- Arrive 15 to 30 minutes before departure, depending on the cruise. Choose a day cruise for the views, an evening cruise with music, or a sunset cruise with a drink.
What a Seine cruise is like
A cruise gives you Paris from a different angle: the great monuments line the banks, and the bridges pass over your head one after another. The classic boats have a covered lower deck and an open upper deck, and the biggest ones carry up to 1,000 passengers. The name "bateaux-mouches" goes back to the steamboats of the exhibition of 1867.
From the Pont Neuf the route takes in the Île de la Cité, Notre-Dame, the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, the Grand Palais, the Conciergerie, the Institut de France, the Hôtel de Ville and the Eiffel Tower. Part of the route follows the banks of the Seine that are on the UNESCO list.
Day, evening or sunset?
The classic day cruise comes with an audio guide: the Bateaux-Mouches boat has commentary in 10 languages and the Bateaux Parisiens boat in 14. If you prefer to hear a person, choose a cruise with a live guide, in English and French. Families have a cruise of their own.
In the evening there is a cruise with music on board, on an electric boat, with a drink if you want one. The sunset cruise from the Pont Neuf includes a drink and blankets on board. If you like the idea of a long evening, these two are the right choice.
The Canal Saint-Martin
If you want something less usual, take the cruise that combines the Seine with the Canal Saint-Martin. The canal is 4.6 kilometres long and joins the Canal de l'Ourcq to the Seine, with nine locks. It was ordered by Napoleon in 1802 and finished in 1825, and a long covered stretch of about 2 kilometres runs under the Bastille.
Choosing your boat
The boats differ in size, boarding point and style, and the cruises on this page are run by several companies: Bateaux-Mouches, Bateaux Parisiens, Vedettes de Paris and Vedettes du Pont Neuf. For a classic cruise with audio guide, take Bateaux-Mouches or Bateaux Parisiens. For an electric boat, take one of the Vedettes de Paris boats. For a live guide, choose the Vedettes du Pont Neuf cruise.
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