Discover Paris on the Seine :
bateaux mouches today. Image chosen by monsieurdefrance.com: by SoleneC1 from Pixabay
Bateaux-Mouches
Since 1950, it's been possible to take a bateau-mouche cruise and discover Paris from the Seine. The trip departs from the Pont de l'Alma and takes you past the Place de la Concorde, the Louvre, Paris City Hall, around the Ile de la Cité and past Notre-Dame, the Conciergerie, the Musée d'Orsay, the Palais Bourbon and the Invalides, before ending at the Tour-Eiffel. The tour includes commentary, and you'll learn all about Paris.
Price list
Single cruise: 15 euros for adults (2023 fares) and 6 euros for children aged 6 to 13. Free for children under 4.
Dinner cruise: from 85 to 155 euros (2023 prices) depending on menu. You can also propose for 340 euros. A dinner cruise lasts about 2 hours 15 minutes, and proper attire is required (no Bermuda shorts, caps... Business attire appreciated).
Timetable:
High season (April to September)
Cruise times: Monday to Thursday: one departure every 45 minutes from 10:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., then every 30 minutes until 10:30 p.m. Friday to Sunday: one departure every 30 minutes from 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Low season (October to March) Cruise times: One departure every 45 minutes between 10:15 and 22:00, i.e. 10:15, 11:00, 11:45, 12:30, 13:15, 14:00, 14:45, 15:30, 16:00, 16:45, 17:30, 18:15, 19:00, 19:45, 20:30, 21:15, 22:00. School vacation times (20Oct-5Nov): one departure every 30 minutes from 10am to 10:30pm.
The cruise lasts 1h10min.
The pier address
Port de la Conférence (near the Pont de l'Alma)
75 008 PARIS
Free parking during the cruise.
Metro : ALMA (line 9) or CHAMPS-ELYSES - CLEMENCEAU (lines 1 and 13)
Bus : 28/42/49/63/72/80/83/92
RER C: ALMA (Line C)
Official website
To find out more, make a reservation or contact us for groups, visit the official website of the Compagnie des Bâteaux Mouches .
How about the waterbus?
The boat-bus is also a great alternative for discovering Paris from the Seine. You can take it whenever you like, as long as you have a day pass. Most of Paris's major monuments are never too far from the Seine, so you can use the river as an axis of discovery and take the boat-bus to go a little faster between two monuments while enjoying the view. There's no commentary on the tour like on the "bâteaux-mouches", but it's a real pleasure.
Price:
23 euros from age 16 (2023 prices).
8 euros: children aged 3 to 15 and free for under-3s (2023 prices).
The best is the 2-day pass for 27 euros .
Nearby monuments :
Eiffel Tower, Invalides, Musée d'Orsay, Saint Germain des Prés, Marais and Hôtel de Ville de Paris, Notre Dame, Jardin des Plantes, Louvres, Champs-Elysées.
The website :
Official timetables and prices can be found here .
Why "bateaux-mouches"?
Their name comes from Lyon
La mouche is in Lyon. It's an area in the south of the city where shipyards once stood, and where flat-bottomed boats began to be manufactured in 1860. These "Mouche" boats were used to transport goods. In December 1862, bâteaux-mouches began carrying passengers around Lyon.
1867 the first "bâteaux-mouches" in Paris
The August 15, 1867 celebration was the highlight of the 1867 Universal Exhibition, which drew 6,800,000 visitors to Paris.
It was in 1867, for the Paris Universal Exhibition, that the Bateaux-mouche made their debut in the capital. 30 boats arrived from Lyon on the Saône, Canal de Bourgogne, Yonne and Seine rivers. Success was immediate: by 1867, bateaux-mouches were already carrying 2,500,000 passengers. They became an icon of Paris. That said, their sole purpose was transportation.
a bateau mouche in the early 20th century. Photo chosen by monsieurdefrance.com: Eugène TRUTAT source: BNF / Gallica.fr
1950 they become cruise ships.
It was in 1950 that the bâteaux-mouche became what we still know today: cruise boats that let you discover Paris from the Seine. The idea was the brainchild of Jean BRUEL, who founded the Compagnie des Bâteaux-Mouche and registered the name.
