GetYourGuide vs Tiqets vs Headout for a Seine river cruise

Three platforms, the same boats

GetYourGuide, Tiqets and Headout don't own a single boat. They are middlemen: they sell a company's ticket, take the payment and send you a voucher or a mobile ticket. On the day, you board at the same pontoon and on the same boat as the passenger who bought at the ticket window. A Bateaux Parisiens cruise is still a Bateaux Parisiens cruise, whichever platform you use.

These are our three partners: when you book through a link on this site, the platform pays us a commission, at no extra cost to you. That is why we compare these three and not others. GetYourGuide accounts for most of our links because it has the widest range on the Seine, not because it is always the best choice.

On the big one-hour sightseeing cruises, the price is the same everywhere. The table below compares the most booked cruise in Paris, the Bateaux Parisiens one at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, on the three platforms and on the company's own site.

The upshot is simple: for the Seine, you don't pick a platform on price, but on its terms, its range and its app. The detailed fare tables are on tickets and prices.

GetYourGuide review: the platform and what it sells on the Seine

GetYourGuide was founded in Zurich in 2009 and is headquartered in Berlin. It claims more than 150,000 experiences in 12,000 cities and multilingual customer support around the clock. On the Seine, it has by far the largest range: the Bateaux Parisiens one-hour cruise has around 92,000 reviews there, the most reviewed product in our whole catalog.

Where it is strongest: private boats with a skipper (about twenty offers), holiday evenings (Christmas, New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day), the Canal Saint-Martin with Paris Canal and Canauxrama, the Big Bus and Tootbus bus + boat packages, and day trips from London or Le Havre. You will also find offers from almost every sightseeing and dinner company, some with the company's name in the title, such as Bateaux Mouches® or Paris en Scène.

Cancellation. According to its help center, most activities can be canceled for free up to 24 hours before the start, with a full refund. Every offer is tagged (fully refundable, partially refundable or non-refundable) in its description and on the voucher. A paid flexible-cancellation upgrade is offered at checkout.

Reserve now, pay later. Available only on activities with free cancellation and instant confirmation, booked at least 72 hours ahead: your card is charged automatically 72 hours before.

Ticket. Most providers accept the voucher on your phone; an icon flags the ones that require a printout. For some activities, the voucher is only sent 24 or 48 hours before.

Tiqets review: tickets in the operators' own names

Tiqets is an Amsterdam company founded in 2014 that specializes in museum and attraction tickets; it is now owned by a major US travel group. Its site comes in 17 languages. On the Seine its range is shorter but very easy to read: products carry the supplier's name and address. One listing shows, for example, "Bateaux Parisiens - SEVPTE, Port de la Bourdonnais", another "Vedettes de Paris, 2 Port de Suffren", and the sightseeing cruise is titled "Croisière en BATEAUX-MOUCHES®".

Where it is strongest: the official tickets of the four sightseeing companies and the Batobus, the Capitaine Fracasse brunch, the Paris-Seine Pass (Musée d'Orsay, the Vedettes de Paris evening music cruise, Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie), an amphibious bus (as listed — check the offer), and family outings, including the Bateaux Parisiens Incollables® quiz.

Cancellation. Tiqets offers a version with free cancellation: if you choose it, you can cancel until 11:59 pm Paris time on the day before your visit. You can't cancel just part of an order, and the refund goes back to the original card within 5 to 10 business days. Without that version, you can only cancel if the product description allows it. Watch out for listings with two options: on the same family-cruise page, the Bateaux Parisiens option is non-refundable while the Vedettes de Paris option can be canceled for free.

Ticket. Smartphone ticket, viewable offline in the app; printouts are always accepted. We found no pay-later option.

Sightseeing

TiqetsPont de l'Alma

Seine River: Cruise by BATEAUX-MOUCHES®

4.4 (10,072)

from €17Check dates

Sightseeing

TiqetsEiffel Tower

Seine River: Cruise by Bateaux Parisiens

4.3 (9,984)

from €18Check dates

Night

TiqetsSuffren

Seine River: Evening Cruise with Music Onboard by Vedettes de Paris

4.3 (2,556)

from €22Check dates

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

Headout: museum + cruise combos and smaller companies

Headout lists an address in New York, describes itself as a company "built from India" and has nine offices, one of them in Paris. Its site is in 14 languages, its help center in 9, and it accepts about sixty currencies. It advertises round-the-clock support by email and phone.

Where it is strongest: museum + cruise combos, with Orsay, the Musée Picasso, Les Invalides, the Musée du quai Branly, the Panthéon, the Petit Palais, Carnavalet, the Aquarium, the Paradis Latin or the Catacombs. It is also the platform for smaller companies: La Marina de Paris, Le Diamant Bleu, Le Théo, Maxim's sur Seine, and Green River Cruises, whose private boat is sold only there. The big names are there too, led by Bateaux Parisiens and Bateaux Mouches.

Cancellation. It depends on each experience and is shown on the listing. A concrete example: the Green River private cruise sold on Headout can be neither canceled nor rescheduled.

"Now, Pay Later". Launched recently, this option lets you book without paying anything upfront and settle closer to the date, on cancellable experiences.

Ticket. The help center has a section on mobile and printed tickets; the exact arrangements (whether a voucher has to be exchanged or not) are given on each offer. The combos are detailed on museum + cruise combos.

Sightseeing

HeadoutEiffel Tower

Seine River 1-Hour Sightseeing Cruise from the Eiffel Tower

4.7 (12,744)

from €18Check dates

Batobus & bus

HeadoutEiffel Tower

Batobus: Seine River Hop-on Hop-off Boat Tour

4.6 (5,098)

from €23Check dates

Batobus & bus

HeadoutEiffel Tower

Big Bus: Paris Hop-on Hop-off Bus Tour with Optional Seine River Cruise

4.6 (4,674)

from €36Check dates

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

Cancellation, mobile tickets, languages: side by side

The key takeaway: cancellation depends on the offer, not just on the platform. The same cruise can be refundable on one platform and not on another, and a single platform sells very different offers. The terms are shown before you pay; read them at that point. For a leisure service on a fixed date, the EU's 14-day right of withdrawal does not apply.

Prices: compare the same cruise, not the same title

On the Bateaux Parisiens or Bateaux Mouches one-hour cruise, all three platforms show the company's own online fare (€18 and €17), which is €2 to €3 less than at the ticket window. There are exceptions both ways. Vedettes du Pont Neuf sells its sightseeing cruise for €15 on its own site, less than the platforms show. And some offers only look cheaper because they are not the same service.

The Bateaux Parisiens dinner is the best example. In the table below, Tiqets shows a lower price than GetYourGuide and Headout: it is for a different sitting from the 8:30 pm one — check the time on the offer.

So before comparing two prices, compare the departure time, the length and the package (drinks, a seat by the window). The evening sittings are explained on Seine dinner cruise. The comparison tables on our pages always put the same product side by side.

Reading and leaving reviews: what a rating is worth

All three platforms publish reviews, but not under the same rules. On GetYourGuide, the link to leave a rating arrives through the app or by email as soon as the activity starts; the review must be about the activity, not the platform, and can't be edited once sent. On Tiqets, only registered customers who bought a ticket for the experience can leave a review, by invitation a few days after the visit. Headout talks about "verified reviews" from travelers, but we were not able to read the details of its rules.

For a Seine cruise, a 4.3 or a 4.7 doesn't tell you much: across tens of thousands of reviews, all the big sightseeing cruises are close. Read the recent reviews instead, and check that they are about the right product, because an "evening cruise" listing can bundle very different departures. Comments on the wait at the pontoon, the quality of the commentary and seating on board are the most useful. Our own ratings are on the company pages.

Our honest verdict: which one to pick

For a one-hour sightseeing cruise, use the platform where you already have an account: the boat and the price are the same. If you want flexibility, GetYourGuide is the clearest (24 hours on most offers) and Tiqets the most precise (until 11:59 pm the day before, as long as you pick that version).

For a private boat, a New Year's Eve evening, the canal or a bus + boat package, GetYourGuide has the most choice: see private Seine cruise, Christmas and New Year's Eve and Canal Saint-Martin cruise. For a ticket in the company's own name, a family outing or the Paris-Seine Pass, go with Tiqets; see Seine cruise with kids. For a museum with a cruise, or dinner with a smaller company such as Le Théo or Le Diamant Bleu, go with Headout; see smaller companies.

And sometimes, none of the three: Le Calife, Ducasse sur Seine, the Don Juan II and the multi-day river cruises are booked directly. The register below shows, company by company, where each one is sold.

Frequently asked questions