Bateaux Vedettes du Pont-Neuf
 

Does anyone recommend/nor recommend this? DH and son are considering it for their Paris trip.

I usually take a boat ride with them every time I go to Paris. It's a great way to rest your feet after most of the day sightseeing! If you go to their website, you can print a coupon for a decent discount. They also give their schedule on the website. But be sure to get there in plenty of time if you want a seat up top in the open, as these fill up first.

I hardly ever miss an opportunity to do a Seine cruise if the weather is nice. I agree it's the perfect thing to do after a long day of trekking around.

Is it a one hour river cruise? If so it is about the same with Bateaux Parisiens and Bateaux Mouches. I would choose by location and convenience either to where you are staying or a site you are visiting. You can usually walk up and purchase tickets without much of a wait with any of the companies.

I have been on both vedettes du pont neuf and bateaux parisiens and far preferred the vedettes du pont.

Wonderful - and thanks! Two of the reasons they were leaning towards this company was that their hotel is closer to where it is based (as opposed to Bateaux Mouches) and they liked the idea of a smaller boat.

Another good thing about them is that you can have a leisurly dinner at 7:30 on Left Bank and still have time to walk over to their late evening cruise...and I would rcommend a night cruise

We did a night tour end of September and it was lovely with all the buildings illuminated.

We also went on line and got a discount voucher and arrived early to get a seat up top. IMO the best seats on the boat to get that full all round panorarma.

I do recommend the Vedettes-du-Pont-Neuf over the Bateaux Mouches and have taken their boats several times. I prefer the night cruise to see the buildings all lit up.

I agree with aussie_10 about sitting on the top. Bring a jacket as it is often cold.

We have done the Vedettes du Pont Neuf several times and so obviously enjoy it:) If you go to their website, there are 2 days to get a discount. One is simply a coupon for a discount for when you purchase your ticket. The other is a prepurchase which is even more of a discount. This is what we do. Buy online, take the prinout with you, bypass the regular ticket window and just show your printout to the other window and go on down to get in line on the boat. When you prepurchase, it is not for a certain date or time, so you can still be very flexible.

Last three times in Paris we bought the discounted ticket online for Vedettes du Pont Neuf. It was the only one that allowed you to purchase an open ticket at a discount, to be used at any time...very useful if the weather changes (and it always does in Paris) and you want to do the boat ride on a different day. The others required a day and time commitment.

They still have it:

http://www.vedettesdupontneuf.com/billet_en.php

Just purchase, print out, and present it at the ticket booth to get your "official" ticket.

SS

Vedettes du Pont Neuf. We go every time we're in Paris, day or night. Our sons, 24 & 26 enjoyed it as well.

Another vote for Vedettes du Pont Neuf. Definitely buy the discount ticket on line and definitely take the trip at night. I think the last trip is about 10. Seeing Paris lit up at night is always one of the highlights of my trips to PARIS.

I will go on-line to get the pre-paid ticket vouchers now. Thanks for the tip!

Can't help with the boat company but if you can make it just before sun down, you'll get some fabulous shots of the bridges bathed in the sweet light.

Thanks all - they bought the tickets on-line with the discount, started out at dusk as lights were coming on, and had a great time!

Glad to hear it went well. Thanks for reporting back. Did you/they do a trip report by any chance?

Glad you enjoyed the boat trip was a highlight for us. We went at full night, dusk would have benn nice too.

No-no trip report. They aren't the type - they just ask me to find out things for them. They did have a good time - Paris, St Malo, Mont St-Michel, and the Normandy landing beaches.

In August, how far in advnace should one arrive at the dock in order to get onto boat. We plan to pre purchase and I see that allows one to by pass purchase line, but assume many others know to do that too..