Paris Dinner Cruise with Live Music: Who Plays, Where and When

Who really plays on board: the short list

Plenty of listings promise "live music"; few companies confirm it on their own websites. Checking the official pages against each other, the list is short. Bateaux Parisiens includes live entertainment on its 8:30 pm dinner, and only that one. Bateaux Mouches announces a violinist and a pianist in the evening, with a dance floor open to diners. Maxim's sur Seine brings a pianist-singer aboard for a cabaret mood. Paris Seine keeps its singer for the "Festif" cruises. Le Diamant Bleu has a singer perform during dinner, then starts a DJ set at the quay. And Le Son de la Terre puts on jazz dinner-concerts facing Notre-Dame, but without leaving the quay.

Everything else is a dinner without musicians, or with recorded music in the background, like the Italian Le Théo. That's not a flaw: conversation comes more easily. More on that below.

The cards below gather the dinner cruises you can book with our partners; the prices and ratings shown are today's. For an overview of every floating restaurant, see our Paris dinner cruise guide.

Dinner

GetYourGuide2.5 hoursEiffel Tower

Paris: 3-Course-Dinner Cruise on the Seine with live music

4.7 (8,948)

from €115Check dates

Dinner

HeadoutOrsay · Solférino

Maxim's Seine River Dinner Cruise with Live Music and Bistro Menu

4.5 (140)

from €165Check dates

Dinner

GetYourGuide2.5 hours

Paris: Seine river Dinner Cruise with 3-Course Gourmet Menu

4.1 (12)

from €93Check dates

Dinner

GetYourGuide2.5 hoursNotre-Dame

Paris: Jazz Dinner Concert on the Seine facing Notre-Dame

5.0 (2)

from €119Check dates

Dinner

GetYourGuide2.5 hoursPont de l'Alma

Paris: Bateaux Mouches dinner cruise for the National Day

4.0 (1)

from €255Check dates

Dinner

GetYourGuide2.5 hours

Paris: Seine River Dinner Cruise with Live Music

No reviews yet

from €89Check dates

See everything on GetYourGuide →See everything on Tiqets →See everything on Headout →Prices checked on October 17, 2026

Bateaux Parisiens at 8:30 pm: live entertainment included

At the foot of the Eiffel Tower, at Port de la Bourdonnais (dinner check-in at pontoons 5 and 7), Bateaux Parisiens serves two dinners a night. The 6:15 pm one lasts 1h15 and has no music. The 8:30 pm one lasts 2h30, back at 11 pm, and it's the only one whose official listing mentions live entertainment; the standard 12:45 pm lunch has none either. The company publishes neither the performers' names nor the style: don't expect a specific concert, more background music in the dining room during the meal.

This dinner follows the company's longest route, from the Bibliothèque nationale de France to the Statue of Liberty replica on Île aux Cygnes. The Étoile menu starts around €115 on the company's website, drinks included (kir, wine), and goes up to Premier Baie Vitrée at around €245. Dress smartly: jeans, sneakers, flip-flops, Bermuda shorts and caps are not allowed.

If you're after a dinner cruise with a live band, aim for 31 December: Bateaux Parisiens then sails at 9 pm for 3h30 with a live band, from about €495 per person. We cover those evenings on the New Year's Eve and Christmas on the Seine page, and the company itself in our Bateaux Parisiens review.

Bateaux Mouches: violin, piano and a dance floor

At Port de la Conférence, by the Pont de l'Alma on the Right Bank, Bateaux Mouches is the company that leans into music the most. In the evening, a violinist and a pianist play during dinner, and the restaurant boats' dance floor is open to diners. At midday, the weekend lunch comes with an accordion (see our lunch and brunch on the Seine page).

The main dinner leaves at 8:30 pm and returns around 10:45 pm, about 2h15 in all. Three menus: Découverte around €99 (water only, no wine, window not guaranteed), Prestige around €135 (sparkling wine as an aperitif, wine at one bottle for two) and Excellence around €170 (champagne, priority for a seat by the glass). There's also a 6 pm service lasting 1h15; the company speaks of musicians "in the evening" without saying whether they play at that first sitting, so ask when you book.

A detail that matters for the music: during dinners, Bateaux Mouches replaces the commentary with a route map handed out at the table, "out of respect for the meal". So nothing drowns out the violin. On 31 December, two musicians play until midnight — celebrated at the quay, since the boat is back by 11:15 pm — and the party carries on aboard until 2 am.

Maxim's and Paris Seine Festive: piano, vocals and chanson

Maxim's sur Seine, a Paris Seine brand under license from Maxim's, boards at Port de Solférino, below the Musée d'Orsay. Two departures: 6 pm (1h15) and 8 pm (2h15). The advertised entertainment is a pianist-singer, in a "cabaret mood", in an Art Deco setting. The boats are small — Le Vert Galant seats 60, Le Bateau Ivre 40 — and that changes everything: in our view, this is the music that comes closest to you, more drawing room than banquet hall. Chef Olivier Dugue's three-course menu comes with a glass of champagne and amuse-bouches; expect from about €145 to €165 depending on which official page you look at. Our Maxim's sur Seine review covers the evening in detail.

On the same quay, Paris Seine only puts a singer on its Festif cruises: 6:45 pm (1h15, around €110) or 9:15 pm (2h, around €125), with a glass of champagne and a Belle Époque atmosphere. The Découverte and Saveurs dinners mention no music at all, and their drinks are extra. So check the exact name of the formula before you pay: it's the word "Festif" that brings the singer, not the departure time.

Le Diamant Bleu: a singer at dinner, then a DJ

Le Diamant Bleu boards at Port de Passy, 2 rue du Ranelagh, level with the Maison de la Radio — just follow the flags on the quay. It's a large barge with the look of a yacht, 400 seats, with a glass-walled lounge and 34 panoramic windows. Tuesday to Friday and on Sunday, it leaves at 8:15 pm and returns around 11 pm; on Saturday, two services, at 6 pm and 10 pm.

The company announces singers during dinner, then a DJ party at the quay after the cruise, except after the first Saturday service and on Sunday. It's the most festive option on this page: you come here to end the night dancing, not for a quiet evening for two. No dress code. The adult menu is listed at around €89 (from €79 on the homepage), but only half a bottle of water for two is included; everything else is ordered from the drinks list. Free cancellation up to 48h before. The Sunday brunch has its singer too.

Its neighbor at the quay, Le Théo, from the same company, serves a "trattoria en Seine" to recorded Italian music: pleasant, but not live. Both boats are covered in our Le Théo and Le Diamant Bleu review.

Jazz facing Notre-Dame: Le Son de la Terre stays at the quay

For jazz, the address is Le Son de la Terre, at 2 Port de Montebello in the 5th, facing Notre-Dame. It's a genuine music barge, open Wednesday to Sunday from 6 pm, but it doesn't sail: you dine moored, with the cathedral opposite, not on a cruise. According to resellers, the dinner-concert formula runs a glass of champagne, a three-course meal around 7:30 pm and the concert at 8 pm, for about 70 covers and a price around €70 before drinks; the barge's website points to its calendar for dates. The Sunday brunch (about €35, €10 more with the musicians) is the only formula priced on its website.

In our view, it's the best option for jazz lovers who don't mind staying put. For a dinner and show in the Paris sense, the clearest package is still Bateaux Mouches': the 8:30 pm dinner, then the revue at the Crazy Horse, a few steps from the Pont de l'Alma, around €192 on the company's website.

Volume, dancing and conversation: what to expect

No company publishes where the musicians stand or how loud they play; what follows is our reading of the formats. On the big restaurant boats of Bateaux Parisiens and Bateaux Mouches, the music goes along with the meal: you can talk without raising your voice, and enjoy the violin or piano between courses. At Maxim's, the room is so small that the pianist-singer is always close: it's intimate, but you'll hear them all evening. At Le Diamant Bleu, the mood builds as the night goes on, and the DJ party at the quay turns the end of dinner into a party.

For dancing, two documented options: the dance floor on the Bateaux Mouches restaurant boats, and the Diamant Bleu DJ party at the quay. Elsewhere, nothing is announced.

Think about what to wear, too. Bateaux Parisiens refuses jeans, sneakers, flip-flops, Bermuda shorts and caps. Bateaux Mouches requires smart dress in the evening and refuses sportswear, flip-flops, Bermuda shorts and caps, but jeans are not on its list. Le Diamant Bleu has no dress code. Being turned away at boarding is not refunded: better to check beforehand.

Dinners without music, and why that's not a flaw

Paris en Scène, Le Capitaine Fracasse (both at Port de Javel Haut), Le Calife, Ducasse sur Seine and the Don Juan II announce no musicians. Nor does the Bateaux Parisiens 6:15 pm service. If you're coming to talk, to propose, or just to watch the quays slide by, these dinners are often the better choice: the view is the show, and conversation doesn't have to compete with a microphone.

On a tight budget, Paris en Scène and Le Théo are covered on our cheap dinner cruise page; for the quiet fine-dining tables, Ducasse and the Don Juan II are on the luxury dinner cruise page. And if you can't decide between music and view, our ranking of the best Seine dinner cruise settles it category by category. The first sitting, without music and cheaper, has its own page: early dinner cruise at 6 pm.