How do others feel about a Seine river Cruise in Paris? Worth it or not? Any recommended names? Day or night, and with a meal?

We will be there for 6 nights in May. Is a trip to Versailles too much to do within that time frame? I have been before, but my travel partner has not.

The Seine cruises are definitely worth it, but skip the ones with meals. We liked the night-time cruise, with most of the buildings along the river illuminated. It's a comfortable way to enjoy Paris's architecture.

To me, it is almost mandatory to do it at least once (I've gone 3 times). I would also say to only go at night. Paris lights up its buildings and bridges at night, so it is quite magical. Unless you like the romanticism and not the culinarism (not a word!) I'd not tend to go on a dinner cruise.

There are several choices,. Bateaux Parisiens and Bateaum Mouches leave from near Eiffel tower, Vedettes du Pont Neuf from Ile de la Cite (Notre Dame). I've tended to like the last one, location is good, boats are small.

Also been to Versailles, by tour bus and by RER train (solo). You have spent some time in Paris? You can easily fill all your days in Paris, but if Versailles draws you..Parisvision and Cityrama have tours leaving from Louvre area. One of the interesting things to visit is the gardens there. Not sure you will have much time on a bus tour to do so. Expect that you would get back mid to late afternoon, so it would eat up good chunk of one day.

Are there long waits for the Vendettes du pont neuf?

For the time frame we are spending, Versailles may not be an option then?

http://www.vedettesdupontneuf.com/

Not when I was there. Some of the other ones have deals with the tour bus companies so you get them arriving for certain departures.

The web site also has a discount ticket

The other good thing with VdPN, you can eat at a nice restaurant on Left Bank than walk over to catch boat.

sounds awesome! Thanks

The Seine Cruises are great. Forget the meals. Eat in a better place for less money.

To Versailles is very easy to go on your own.
Get The Forfait Loisirs Château
de Versailles is a low price
pass that offers:
- one return rail ticket (+ metro
from Paris),
- one coupon for admission to
the Château via the Pavillon
Dufour, with access to:
- the King’s and Queen’s State
Apartments,
- the Dauphin’s Apartments,
the heir to the throne,
- the 17th century
galleries and the History of
France Galleries,
- Marie-Antoinette's Estate
- Grand and Petit Trianon,
- at weekends, the
Mesdames’ Apartments,
- the concerned days, at the
Grandes Eaux Musicales show.
Have a great time.

Will have to decide once we get there about Versailles... may not be enought time?

Hi Brandonmd, I guess there is never enough time to enjoy Paris, so I will be totally up to you both.
Versailles though is an unique experience is not that far from Paris, and you can enjoy the visit, have a good lunch in town, and may be ride bicycles in the Park, or have some kind of a picnic in the park and think of Louis,Le Notre and other friends.

We did the Vedettes cruise and loved it. If you go to their website, you can either print out a coupon for 2 euro off, or you can prepurchase your ticket for 4 euro off. We did the prepurchase option which worked great for us. There is no preset date or time for those, so you just use it whenever you want. We took our printout and were able to show it and bypass the regular line. We went down to the boat and lined up down there. We will be going again this June and plan on prepurchasing again.

It's well worth it. We went at sunset, it was almost dark when we boarded. It was beautiful and so relaxing. It's a really nice interlude from all the running around one does when in Paris, and especially with a fairly short amount of time there.

I think a trip to Versailles is always worthwhile, but with so much to see and do, and you still won't be able to do it all, if Versailles is important to you, by all means, go.

Hi brandonmd
We loved our Seine cruise. We went in the evening after dinner at Rotisserie du Beaujolais, in the 5th- 19, quai de la Tournelle. The website is www.tourdargent.com.

Very easy and beautiful walk from the restaurant to the boats. Be careful of the cobblestone though! I wasn't watching where I was going and fell and twisted my ankle. It couldn't have been the wine- really. The restaurant and walk to the boat were a suggestion from another poster whom I never thanked. Don't remember who but THANKS!

We also went on the Vedettes du Pont Neuf. I bought our tickets online before we left. We did not wait when we arrived at the boat but we also didn't see the Eiffel Tower sparkle! There is a correct time to take your cruise in order to see the sparkling- maybe another poster will know.

Have fun!

I could not find la rotisserie du beaujolais on the website you mentioned.

Select:
-English
-Map

Looked for a website for it, but not found.

They used to have more info there (like a menu) but now it's much more limited. When I went I passed by at lunch and made a reservation for dinner. It's a fairly small place, not too 'fussy'. Chicken and garlic mash were the specialties when I was there last.

http://exclusive-restaurants.com/res...ujolais-en.htm

Do u recommend this restaurant and to make on line reservations?

I liked RdB. If I were you, I would walk by and see if it striked your fancy, You will be in the neighbourhood if you are planning to visit Ile St Louis

I checked on Chowhound.com, the reviews look good

Still looking for some french reviews by locals...

http://chowhound.chow.com/search?sea...amp;Search.y=8

My theory is that for high end restaurants, you must make a reservations. For others, I show up at dinner when the resto opens, if busy, I know to book then for next night.

I find I sometimes want the flexibility of eating where I am at the moment..not having to rush back to get to a restaurant.

And, yes, every trip to Paris my meals are an important part of thr trip

Your hotel could help if you feel more comfortable having things locked down