Independent guideseine.boats is an independent guide to Seine river cruises. We are not the official website of any boat company or booking platform. Booking links go straight to our partners.
EN

PracticalOne day, one cruise

Paris day trip from London or Le Havre, with a Seine cruise

On a day trip from London or a cruise-ship call at Le Havre, you get four to five hours in Paris. A one-hour cruise at the foot of the Eiffel Tower is the fastest way to see the city: here is how to fit it in without missing your ride back.

From London
organized day trips with a cruise, from about €300 per person
From Le Havre
train to Paris Saint-Lazare in about 2h10, roughly hourly
Time in Paris
4 to 5 hours on a cruise-ship shore excursion
Best cruise
1-hour sightseeing cruise on an open ticket, or the 12:45 pm lunch cruise
Piers
Port de la Bourdonnais and Port de Suffren, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower
Luggage
suitcases refused on board at Bateaux Parisiens, no left-luggage at the tower

Updated October 17, 2026Facts checked against official sourcesContains affiliate links

From London or Le Havre: what you can book

5 offers · Prices checked on October 17, 2026

Platform

See everything on GetYourGuide →See everything on Tiqets →See everything on Headout →

One day in Paris with a Seine cruise: the smart math

When you only have a day, the Seine saves you time. In one hour sitting on a boat you pass the Eiffel Tower, the Grand Palais, Les Invalides, the Musée d'Orsay, the Louvre, the Conciergerie and Notre-Dame, with no museum lines and no metro changes. For a visitor coming in from London or stepping off a cruise ship, it is the most efficient way to tick off the big landmarks before choosing where to stop.

The second argument is flexibility. Bateaux Parisiens and Bateaux Mouches sightseeing tickets are open-dated and valid for a year: no time slot to stick to, you just take the next boat. Departures run roughly every 30 to 45 minutes, from morning until evening. If your train or coach is half an hour late, you lose nothing. A lunch or dinner cruise, on the other hand, is dated and leaves at a fixed time: only book one if you are sure when you'll arrive.

Our advice: when the journey is long and the schedule tight, take a sightseeing cruise on an open ticket rather than a meal. The four one-hour companies are compared on our one-hour Seine cruise page.

Paris day trip from London: guided tours with a cruise

Several agencies sell the full day out of London, with a guide in Paris and a Seine cruise included. On GetYourGuide, the Paris day trip with a guided tour and a cruise is the most reviewed, with more than 200 reviews, for a little over €300 per person when we last checked. A pricier version pairs a hop-on hop-off bus tour with a lunch cruise, at around €470.

Tiqets offers three tours of the same kind. The luxury day trip with a Bateaux Parisiens lunch cruise, around €410, has you boarding at Port de la Bourdonnais for the 12:45 pm sitting, back at 2:45 pm: two hours at the table, with drinks included at this company. There is also a guided tour with lunch at the Eiffel Tower and a cruise, around €445, and a small-group tour with a cruise, around €380. All three are new and have no reviews yet.

Before you pay, read the listing line by line: what is included (train, guide, meal, monument entry), the meeting time in London and the return time. Prices can double depending on those items, not on the cruise, which is an hour or two on the Seine either way.

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

Doing it on your own: which cruise to fit into the day

If you are organizing the trip from London yourself, by Eurostar, the cruise is the easiest piece of the puzzle. Three options, depending on your plans.

The one-hour sightseeing cruise, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower (Bateaux Parisiens at Port de la Bourdonnais, Vedettes de Paris at Port de Suffren) or at Pont de l'Alma (Bateaux Mouches). RER C stops at Champ de Mars–Tour Eiffel and Pont de l'Alma. Buy your ticket online before you leave: you pay the web fare, around €17 to €18, and board whenever you get there.

The Batobus, if you want to get around rather than sightsee: nine stops from the Eiffel Tower to the Jardin des Plantes, including Orsay, Notre-Dame and the Louvre, a loop of about two hours and a 24-hour pass. No guided commentary. Details on Batobus.

A museum + cruise combo, if you have your heart set on a museum. Orsay is the most practical: a three-minute walk from Port de Solférino. Note that Orsay is closed on Mondays and the Louvre on Tuesdays. See museum + cruise combos.

For a lunch cruise, mind the dress code: Bateaux Parisiens turns away jeans, sneakers, flip-flops, shorts and caps on its meal cruises. Comfortable travel clothes can therefore be a problem. The lunchtime options are covered on lunch and brunch cruises.

Le Havre: from the cruise-ship terminal to Paris

Cruise ships dock at the Pointe de Floride cruise terminal, on quai Roger-Meunier. Le Havre station is about 2.4 km (1.5 miles) away, roughly ten minutes by taxi. From there, a train runs to Paris Saint-Lazare in about 2h10, more or less every hour. By road, allow about 200 km (125 miles), 2 to 2h30 by car, 2h30 to 3 hours by coach.

The Paris shore excursions sold by the cruise lines usually take 10 to 11 hours door to door, for 4 to 5 hours in the city. That is short: one hour on a boat, a quick lunch and one monument, no more. If you go it alone by train, head back toward Le Havre three to four hours before the all-aboard time, to absorb a canceled train or a taxi you can't find.

In our view, there are two cases where Paris isn't worth the trip: when the ship docks late in the morning, and when it sails before about 7 pm. In that case, stay in Normandy, where Honfleur is about thirty minutes from the port.

The organized Le Havre to Paris shore excursion

The advantage of an organized excursion is handing the logistics to someone else: transport, the order of visits and the cruise are all lined up for you. On GetYourGuide, the luxury Paris tour from Le Havre, with a cruise and a packed lunch, is very well rated, around 4.9 out of 5, for about €170 per person when we last checked.

Check three things before booking an excursion that isn't run by your ship: the pickup time at the terminal, the guaranteed return time, and what happens if there is traffic on the way back. Only the listing itself counts: read it again before you pay, and keep the provider's phone number handy on the day. Cancellation terms depend on the offer and are shown before you pay.

A sample schedule for a port call with 4 to 5 hours in Paris:

A typical port day, Le Havre – Paris – Le Havre

  1. Coach or train from the terminal2 to 2h30 on the road

  2. Eiffel Tower, seen from the Champ-de-Marsphotos and a first look around

  3. One-hour cruisefrom Bourdonnais or Suffren, upstream to Notre-Dame and back

  4. Quick lunch or picnicon the quays or on board, depending on the package

  5. One monument of your choiceNotre-Dame, Orsay or the Louvre, depending on closing days

  6. Coach or train to Le Havrethree to four hours before the all-aboard time

Staying in Normandy: Honfleur, Rouen, river cruises

From the Le Havre terminal, Honfleur is about thirty minutes away, Rouen about an hour, Giverny 1h30 and the D-Day beaches around 1h45. For a short call, Honfleur is our pick: its sea trip on the Aventura lasts 1h30, passes under the Pont de Normandie and costs around €20 per adult, from April to November. Giverny is only open from April 1 to November 1. It is all on Rouen and Honfleur.

Le Havre is also an end point for multi-day river cruises from Paris: AmaWaterways, nicko cruises, A-ROSA and Tauck moor their ships there. If you like the idea of sailing the Seine to Paris over a week rather than taking a two-hour train, read river cruises to Normandy.

For the rest of your stay, the guide's home page sums up every cruise, and tickets and prices explains open tickets, dated tickets and child fares.

Frequently asked questions

Can you do a Paris day trip from London with a Seine cruise?

Yes. Organized day trips include a guide and a Seine cruise, from about €300 per person. On your own, buy an open-dated sightseeing ticket: departures are frequent and you have no fixed time to keep.

How long does it take to get from Le Havre to Paris?

About 2h10 by train to Saint-Lazare, roughly every hour, plus about ten minutes by taxi between the terminal and the station. By road, 2 to 3 hours depending on the vehicle and the traffic.

How much time will I have in Paris on a Le Havre port call?

Four to five hours on a 10- to 11-hour excursion. Enough for a one-hour cruise, lunch and one monument.

Which cruise should I pick when time is short?

The one-hour sightseeing cruise from the Eiffel Tower or Pont de l'Alma, with an open ticket valid for a year at Bateaux Parisiens or Bateaux Mouches. A meal cruise is dated and leaves at a fixed time: only book it if you are sure of your arrival.

Can I board with my suitcase?

Not at Bateaux Parisiens, which only accepts small bags, nor on the Batobus above 55 × 35 × 25 cm. There is no left-luggage at the Eiffel Tower.

Is it better to stay in Normandy on a Le Havre port call?

If the ship docks late or sails before about 7 pm, yes. Honfleur is about thirty minutes away and its sea trip passes under the Pont de Normandie.

Keep exploring

CruisesAll cruisesfrom €18 Cruises1-hour cruisefrom €17 CruisesParis boat toursfrom €17 Evening & nightNight cruisefrom €17 Evening & nightSunset cruisefrom €17 Evening & nightEiffel Tower sparklefrom €17 CruisesBatobus and bus + boatfrom €23 CruisesCanal Saint-Martinfrom €24