Private Boat Ride on the Seine in Paris

Sep 26

I love a boat… Maybe it’s the beach/Florida girl in me, but I am my happiest self on a boat. Paris offers hundreds of boat options along the Seine… dinner cruise, champagne cruise, wine cruise, history cruise, houseboats, and river cruises to name a few…

I wanted to go on a boat, but didn’t want the impersonal touch of the giant cruises on the Seine so I researched some private boat options. I reached out to half a dozen boat operators and they quoted me around $800-1100 for 3 people for an hour and a half, which was way out of my budget.

Then I came across Boat in Paris. For us 3, they quoted $450 for a 2-hour history boat ride that included Rose wine and macarons, and we were welcomed to bring our own food and drinks on-board as well. I immediately booked it!

For comparison, a regular sightseeing cruise with maybe hundreds of people range anywhere from $17-220 per person. To have a personalized, private boat for $150 per person seemed like an ideal situation for me.

We went to Le Grand Epicerie before our departure and grabbed:

bread
lots of cheese
a charcuterie plate
chips
strawberries
caviar
creme fraiche
butter
2 bottles of wine
2 bottles of water

From Le Grand Epicerie, it was about a 15-minute taxi to the boat dock in Suresnes, the business center outside of Paris. We had the option of being dropped within Paris city center or back at the dock afterward, and we chose the dock after so we could spend as much time on the boat.

Our captain was Louise and she was amazing! She took our white wine to chill it for us and brought us out our first bottle of rose that was included in our ticket.

The boat is small, but it was the perfect size for us 3. I think 4-5 would be the max, but they have another option for more people. The boat had a table at the front and a wrap-around booth. It was extremely comfortable and roomy for us!

The first 10 minutes of the ride are through a fast wake area, then we got into the Paris city center. The first sight you see is the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower. Throughout the cruise, we also saw Notre Dame, the Louvre, Musee d’Orsay, the Notre Dame drove under the Pont Alexandre, she pointed out where Princess Diana passed, where Marie Antoinette was beheaded, and various other historical sights.

The weather was beautiful, and with the breeze from the river, it was a perfect night.

This will be added into my rotation of things I absolutely have to do whenever I go to Paris, and I highly recommend you do it as well!