Seine River Cruise with Kids: Ages, Child Fares and Tips

With children, the question is less "which cruise?" than "what time, which pier, what age?". The Paris companies do not split age bands the same way, some tickets refund nothing, and a pontoon reached down two flights of stairs changes everything with a stroller. This page covers what matters for a family; if you only want our ranking, it is on the best Seine river cruise for families. For the details of the one-hour sightseeing cruises, see the one-hour cruise, and for every option, all Seine river cruises.

Age bands: each company counts differently

The classic trap is the 12-year-old. At Bateaux Parisiens and Vedettes de Paris, a 12-year-old already pays the full adult fare, because the child rate stops at 11. At Bateaux Mouches they still count as a child up to and including 12 (under 13), and the same goes for Vedettes du Pont Neuf (ages 4 to 12). Here are the fares published on the companies' websites, buying online:

At the counter, expect €2 to €3 more per adult ticket, and €1 to €2 more per child ticket. For a family of two adults and two children aged 4 to 11, our sums on the web fares come to about €44 at the Pont Neuf, €50 at Bateaux Mouches, €54 at Bateaux Parisiens and €56 at Vedettes de Paris (using the counter child fare, since no online child fare is published). With a third child you simply add another child fare: none of the big companies sells a family ticket. Current fares and the other sales channels are gathered on Seine river cruise tickets.

Free under 4, but not at the dinner table

On sightseeing cruises, under-4s ride free at Bateaux Parisiens, Bateaux Mouches, Vedettes de Paris and Vedettes du Pont Neuf. Still take a free ticket whenever the booking offers one: it counts toward the boat's capacity.

The rule changes as soon as a meal is involved. At Bateaux Parisiens the FAQ is explicit: lunch and dinner cruises are never free for children. The child price (ages 0–11, €40) exists only on the Étoile menu; on every other menu a child, babies included, pays the adult price. On holiday evenings (Christmas, New Year's Eve) there is no child price at all. The Bateaux Parisiens Notre-Dame & Champagne cruise has no meal but a dated child fare: €30 for ages 4 to 11, free under 4.

Two more exceptions to know. According to the listing, the Canards de Paris amphibious bus refuses children under 2, and the Vedettes de Paris New Year's Eve cruise is for ages 12 and up. In other words, with a baby, stick to a one-hour sightseeing cruise or the Batobus.

Sightseeing

TiqetsSuffren

Seine River: Electric Boat Guided Sightseeing Cruise by Vedettes de Paris

4.4 (1,095)

from €18Check dates

Batobus & bus

GetYourGuide1 - 2 daysEiffel Tower

Big Bus Hop-On Hop-Off Tour with Optional River Cruise

4.4 (16,259)

from €39Check dates

Family

Tiqets

Seine River: Tour of Paris by Amphibious Bus

4.8 (45)

from €41Check dates

Drinks & champagne

Tiqets

Paris: 1-Hr Seine River Cruise + Crepe Tasting

3.9 (16)

from €19Check dates

Canal

Tiqets

Canal Saint-Martin & Seine River: Guided Sightseeing Cruise

4.1 (9)

from €35Check dates

Drinks & champagne

GetYourGuide1 hourSuffren

Paris: Seine Cruise from the Eiffel Tower & Crepe Tasting

4.4 (12,803)

from €20Check dates

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

Quiz booklet or live guide: the Tiqets family cruise page

Tiqets sells a "Seine River: Family Cruise" page that is not a single product but a choice between two cruises, from two different companies, with two opposite cancellation rules. You can book it directly on Tiqets: the family cruise, quiz or live guide. Here is what each option contains, so you can choose with your eyes open.

Quiz option, Bateaux Parisiens. This is the one-hour cruise from the Port de la Bourdonnais, with Les Incollables' activity booklet "La Seine et ses secrets", in French only, handed out with children's tickets. Tiqets lists it for ages 5 to 11. Departures every 30 minutes from 10:30 am to 10 pm on weekdays; on weekends every 45 minutes until noon, then every 30 minutes. This ticket is neither refundable nor changeable. On the company's website the child ticket with the quiz is €12 online. The same quiz is also on GetYourGuide: cruise with the Incollables quiz.

Live-guide option, Vedettes de Paris. Departs from the Port de Suffren, for ages 6 to 13: a guide tells the story of Paris in French and English, the children solve riddles about the monuments and leave with a captain's diploma, collected from the onboard shop. The boat is electric. This option can be cancelled or moved free of charge until 11:59 pm the day before. The company runs it once or twice a day depending on the season, from €21 per adult and €10 per child.

In our view, for children who do not read French well, the Vedettes de Paris option is the safer bet: the guide also speaks English and you can still cancel. For the same company's regular guided cruise, here is the Tiqets ticket: guided cruise on an electric boat.

The Batobus with kids: detective kit and a folded stroller

The Batobus is not a guided cruise but a hop-on hop-off river shuttle with 9 stops, from the Eiffel Tower to the Jardin des Plantes, that you can get on and off as often as you like for 24 or 48 hours. With children that is a real plus: you get off when attention flags and catch the next boat after a snack. The full loop takes a little under two hours.

To keep ages 6 and up busy, the company sells an "Enquêtes à bord" (onboard investigations) kit for €11: a detective booklet, a cotton tote bag and a plantable pencil, in French only. You can do it in three hours or over a whole day, at your own pace. It is sold online or at the Tour Eiffel, Notre-Dame, Hôtel de Ville and Musée d'Orsay ticket desks.

Three constraints to know before boarding. Strollers are accepted folded, handed to the crew at the front of the boat. There is no restroom on board, so use one in a museum before you get on. Finally, the FAQ warns that many steps lead down to the quays and sometimes onto the boats, and only the Tour Eiffel stop is wheelchair accessible. Suitcases larger than 55 × 35 × 25 cm (about 22 × 14 × 10 in) are refused. Hours and stops are on our Batobus page.

Marcel, the amphibious bus that splashes in at Sèvres

For kids who are mad about vehicles, the platforms sell a tour on Marcel, the Canards de Paris amphibious bus. According to the listing, it leaves from Place Jacques-Rueff on the Champ-de-Mars for a tour of about 1h45. The road section follows the main avenues of the Right Bank; the river section lasts about twenty minutes and takes place at Sèvres, around the Île de Monsieur, opposite La Seine Musicale and the Parc de Saint-Cloud. So you will not see Notre-Dame or the Louvre from the water: the splash into the Seine is the show.

The stated conditions are strict: no children under 2, no wheelchairs, no restroom. When we checked, an adult ticket was €39 and a child aged 2 to 11 €25; from 12 it is the full fare. Commentary was listed in French and English, with a closure of about two weeks in January and refunds only more than 72 hours ahead. We could not confirm that the company still runs the tour: check the dates and terms on the listing before you book. For a family of four the budget goes over €120, more than twice a one-hour cruise.

Crêpes, ice cream and a snack on the water

Several listings pair the one-hour cruise with a treat, which settles the afternoon-snack question. At Bateaux Parisiens the crêpe option exists as both adult and child tickets, and can be combined with the Incollables quiz. At the Pont de l'Alma, GetYourGuide sells a Bateaux Mouches cruise with a pistachio crêpe and a cruise with ice cream or a sweet treat. At the Port de Suffren, a cruise with a crêpe tasting has thousands of reviews.

One detail to watch: Vedettes de Paris does not sell a crêpe, ice-cream or waffle cruise itself. The ice-cream and waffle listings from Suffren are put together by resellers; on board, the company offers its "pause gourmande" (a crêpe or cookie and a drink) for about €6 extra.

The real snack cruise is the one from Vedettes du Pont Neuf: one hour from the Square du Vert-Galant, a basket with mini doughnuts and a muffin, a hot drink or juice, and a guide who tells stories, from €20 online. In December a Christmas version takes Santa on board.

In late October, Bateaux Parisiens also runs a Halloween game cruise for ages 8 to 13, "La Croisière Maudite" (the cursed cruise), lasting about 1h15, at around €30.

Seine river dinner cruise with kids: what it really costs

Dinner on the water with children is doable, as long as you read the child fare line by line. At Bateaux Parisiens the €40 child price exists only on the Étoile menu, at 6:15 pm as at 8:30 pm; pick another menu and your child pays the adult price. The 6:15 pm service lasts 1h15 and returns at 7:30 pm, the most sensible format with little ones. The 8:30 pm service gets back at 11 pm. The dress code bans jeans, sneakers, flip-flops, Bermuda shorts and caps, children included.

At Bateaux Mouches the child fare (ages 4–12) applies to every menu, around €45, and the 6 pm dinner also lasts 1h15. Paris en Scène lists a child fare (under 12) from €39, Le Théo €49 and Le Diamant Bleu €59. By contrast, Don Juan II has neither high chairs nor a children's menu.

A small comfort that matters: baby bottles are warmed on board the meal cruises at Bateaux Parisiens and Bateaux Mouches, but not on the one-hour sightseeing cruises. All our dinners are compared on the Seine dinner cruise page, and the midday options, often easier with children, on lunch and brunch cruises.

Strollers, stairs and restrooms at the pier

None of the four big sightseeing companies publishes a stroller policy. Count on a small folding stroller, to be confirmed when you board, and know where the steps are:

• Vedettes de Paris (Port de Suffren): from the Pont d'Iéna there are only stairs; from the Pont de Bir-Hakeim, a ramp leads down to the quay. Bir-Hakeim Métro (line 6) and RER C Champ de Mars have elevators; Trocadéro does not.
• Bateaux Parisiens (Port de la Bourdonnais): a ramp leads to the boat, according to the tourist office, and accessible restrooms are on the pontoon.
• Bateaux Mouches (Pont de l'Alma): a removable ramp between quay and boat according to the tourist office, and free parking during the cruise if you come by car.
• Vedettes du Pont Neuf (Vert-Galant): a staircase about two floors high leads down from the Pont Neuf; the alternative is the ramp at 36 Quai des Orfèvres and then the cobbled quays.

As for restrooms, they are on every Bateaux Parisiens boat and on the Vedettes de Paris and Vedettes du Pont Neuf boats; the Batobus has none, and neither, according to the listing, does the amphibious bus. No company mentions a changing table. Every quay, its access and its Métro stations are in our Seine piers guide.

Our picks for a family outing

1

A cruise designed for children

The Tiqets family page: Les Incollables quiz with Bateaux Parisiens (ages 5–11, non-refundable) or a live guide with Vedettes de Paris (ages 6–13, cancellable until the day before).

Family

Tiqets

Seine River: Family Cruise

3.7 (247)

from €18Check dates

2

A real guide and a flexible ticket

Vedettes de Paris: live guide in French and English, ramp from Bir-Hakeim, web ticket whose time can be changed up to 24 hours ahead.

Sightseeing

TiqetsSuffren

Seine River: Electric Boat Guided Sightseeing Cruise by Vedettes de Paris

4.4 (1,095)

from €18Check dates

3

Frequent departures and restrooms

Bateaux Parisiens: a departure roughly every 30 minutes in the warmer months, restrooms on every boat, ticket valid for a year.

Sightseeing

TiqetsEiffel Tower

Seine River: Cruise by Bateaux Parisiens

4.3 (9,984)

from €18Check dates

4

For kids up to 12

Bateaux Mouches: child fare up to and including 12, a big open deck, free parking at Alma.

Sightseeing

TiqetsPont de l'Alma

Seine River: Cruise by BATEAUX-MOUCHES®

4.4 (10,072)

from €17Check dates

5

For the smallest budget

Vedettes du Pont Neuf: the lowest child fare and a live guide, but a staircase down to the quay.

Sightseeing

GetYourGuide1 hourPont Neuf

Seine River Sightseeing Guided Cruise Vedettes du Pont Neuf

4.6 (424)

from €17Check dates

6

For a day between museums

Batobus: 9 stops, folded strollers accepted, a detective kit for ages 6 and up.

Batobus & bus

TiqetsEiffel Tower

Batobus Paris: Hop-on Hop-off Riverboat

4.4 (1,119)

from €23Check dates

7

For vehicle fans

The Marcel amphibious bus: the road, then the splash into the Seine at Sèvres, from age 2 according to the listing.

Family

GetYourGuide105 minutes

Paris: City and River Seine Tour on an Amphibious Bus

4.6 (1,261)

from €39Check dates