Hi Fodorites,

I am a little confused about the Pont du Neuf boat rides (Vedettes) and would like to know:

1) Does the boat ride leave from the 1st arrondissement and drop you off at the same location one hour later?

2) Does it pick you up in the 1st arr. and you decide to get off at any point that you choose?

Please clarify.

A million thanks,
Betty

Pont du Neuf is an hour or hour & a half cruise of the Seine. It departs and returns from the same location. I highly recommend the sunset cruise. Their website shows times of departure, and you can download a 2 Euro coupon.

There is another line that is somewhat of a "taxi" service hop on/hop off up/down the river.

Betty-

Les Vedettes du Pont-Neuf leaves from the West end of Ile de la Cite (at Pont Neuf). The ride is about 1 hour and drops you off at same spot. There are no "stops" during the trip.

For a jump-on/jump-off river service, see

<b>http://www.batobus.com</b>

They offer an all-day ticket for &euro;11 (&euro;7 if you have an RATP pass).

None of those Seine cruises stop to allow people to get on and off, they are river boat cruises to see things, just a boat ride. They don't make stops.

YOu are confusing it with Batobus of the city, as others said, I am sure.

1)yes, from the middle of point neuf
2) no

the vedettes guide was very good.i did the 10:00 pm ride.i paid &euro;9 each.

unless you have a LOT of time to spend in paris i personally wouldnt opt for boat as a form of transport. you would be seeing the same (nice)scenery over and over but its slow compared to metro.in addition you have to wait a while for the next boat to show up.i would prefer walking.

Thanks to you all for your quick replies!

Budman and ChevyChasen: In early June, should I expect the sunset cruise to be about 9:30pm, or is the 10pm ride closer? (I'm going to try to reserve online before we arrive in Paris.)

Go to <b>sunrisesunset.com</b> and put in Paris and your dates.

Sunset June 1 is 21:45, June 30 is 21:58.

I'd take the 21:30 departure.

Robespierre,

You the best, Man!

Robespierre is da man!!

This is a BYOB cruise. If you're going to take the 9:30 cruise, I'm assuming you will have already had dinner. Bring a bottle of wine, cork screw, and a couple of glasses for the cruise. They sell it on the pier at an higher price, but I recommend bringing your own.

Here's a list of what I have saved for boat rides:
www.bateaux-mouches.fr,
www.canauxrama.com,
www.vedettesdeparis.com
www.pontneuf.com,
www.yachtsdeparis.com

I've always just grabbed the ones near the Eiffel Tower and rode along.

Another small advantage of the Vedettes over the one at Place D'Alma is that they are smaller boats than the Bateaux Mouches. Also, I found the location at Pont Neuf to be much more convenient and central (I've always stayed in that area) Have a bite to eat in St. Germain/Latin Quarter, walk to the boat.
I've been a couple of times for night cruise, never had trouble getting tickets. You could walk by, purchase tickets, go for dinner, and come back.
End of ride...hangout around Seine and Notre Dame...sigh

If you look at their website, Betty, you can print out a coupon and save yourself a euro or two. The website also will give you more details about what the vedette passes. Don't forget to bring a bottle of wine to toast the sunset (that's what we did!).

Thanks, Everybody! We will enjoy taking as many boat rides along the Seine as we can while we are there.

i was planning on booking a dinner cruise for bastille day - now i'm not sure that's the best idea - it's my daughter's 25th birthday and i thought it might be a memorable experience cruising down the seine with the fireworks - any suggestions?

The Bateaux-Mouches are the only boats that go past the Statue of Liberty, last time I tried them. The Bateaux Parisiens have an alternate boarding location near Notre-Dame, but I'm not sure of the details.

I didn't see the website listed above so here it is:

www.vedettesdupontneuf.com

I think a dinner cruise for the fireworks on Bastille Day is a great idea! Mainly because you will get to view the fireworks, have the dinner cruise, and avoid all of the crowds and other problems (eg, firecrackers, rowdiness, some crime, etc) in the regular places people gather and mill around on that night.

I don't think all of the companies do this on Bastille Day night (only found two who said they did), and it is not their regular price, of course. The only two who list it are Bateaux Parisiens (at 125 euro minimum per person), see dinner section on their website, and a company I've never actually heard of, maybe it's new -- Quai 55, 90 euro only for the fireworks cruise, no dinner
http://www.quai55.com/index.htm

I went on the 9:30PM Pont Neuf Vedette cruise last week. It was lovely, not crowded at all. BYOB. ALso when the boat turns around at the Eiffel Tower if gets very brisk up on top, this is when people fled topside for the enclosed bottom (lots of room down there.)