New Year's Eve and Christmas Cruises on the Seine in Paris

New Year's Eve and Christmas on the water: three formats, three budgets

Holiday evenings on the Seine fall into three groups, and it pays to tell them apart before comparing prices.

The first is the big New Year's Eve dinner: three hours or more on board, a festive menu, a band or singers, champagne with the apéritif and with dessert, and a party that runs well past midnight. It is the most expensive product of the year; the Paris tourist office puts it at €250 to €550 per person, and the big companies go above the top of that range for their best seats.

The second is the New Year's Eve champagne cruise: one hour to an hour and three quarters on the water, a glass or a gift box, some music, for anywhere from a few dozen euros to around a hundred. You get the lit-up Seine on a party night without committing the whole evening; you give up the meal, and sometimes the stroke of midnight on the water.

The third covers Christmas meals: Christmas Eve dinner on the 24th, lunch and dinner on the 25th. Prices are gentler than on the 31st, the evening is calmer, and you get home at a reasonable hour.

All our other evening options outside the holidays are on our Seine river cruises page, and the year-round dinner comparison on our Seine dinner cruise page.

No fireworks on the Seine on New Year's Eve

This is the most common misunderstanding. Paris does not set off fireworks over the Seine at New Year. The official show takes place on the Champs-Élysées; at the last edition there was a projection on the Arc de Triomphe from 11:50 pm, a countdown, about ten minutes of fireworks at midnight and an end around 12:20 am, free to attend. Bateaux Parisiens even states it in black and white on its New Year's Eve sightseeing cruise: no fireworks that night.

What you do see from the boat is the city lit up, the golden Eiffel Tower and its hourly sparkle, which runs as on any other evening (see our Eiffel Tower sparkle page). There are fireworks on the Seine, but they are the Bastille Day ones in July, fired from the Eiffel Tower.

The other thing to check before booking is where you will be at midnight. The options differ a lot.

• Bateaux Parisiens leaves at 9 pm for 3h30, so midnight happens on the water.
• Bateaux Mouches docks around 11:15 pm and celebrates midnight moored at the Pont de l'Alma, with a party until 2 am.
• Vedettes de Paris has its passengers back ashore before midnight.
• Vedettes du Pont Neuf sells a 1h30 midnight cruise with a toast facing the Eiffel Tower.

At recent editions, public transport across the Paris region was free from 5 pm on December 31 to noon on January 1, and several metro lines ran all night: check that year's arrangements before you rely on them to get back.

Paris New Year's Eve dinner cruise: the official prices

Here are the December 31 dinners as listed on the companies' websites. Prices are per person and change from one edition to the next; treat them as ballpark figures.

At Bateaux Parisiens, a window seat is guaranteed only in Privilège and Premier Baie Vitrée, and children aged 0 to 11 pay the adult price. The tourist office also lists New Year's Eve dinners at Paris Seine – La Marina de Paris (Port de Solférino), at Le Théo's Trattoria en Seine (6:30 pm and 9:15 pm) and on Le Diamant Bleu (6 pm and 9:45 pm), both at Port de Passy. Paris en Scène and Le Capitaine Fracasse, at Port de Javel Haut, drop their usual dinners on the 31st and sell a separate New Year's Eve evening instead: around €320 at Paris en Scène and from €365 at Le Capitaine Fracasse on their own sites.

For tableware and service, the New Year's Eve dinner is in the same league as the year's high-end dinners: see our luxury dinner cruise page.

New Year's Eve champagne cruise on the Seine: one hour on the water

To celebrate the 31st on the Seine without spending the whole evening there, the sightseeing companies offer short cruises, as listed on their websites:

• Vedettes du Pont Neuf, Square du Vert-Galant: a one-hour champagne cruise at €39, on four departure times; a midnight cruise at €69, 1h30, with a toast facing the Eiffel Tower.
• Vedettes de Paris, Port de Suffren: one hour on an electric boat, departures at 10:30 pm and 10:45 pm, a glass of Duval-Leroy (or a soft drink), music instead of commentary, €70, sold online only, ages 12 and up. You are back at the quay before midnight.
• Bateaux Parisiens, Port de la Bourdonnais: a 1h45 New Year's Eve sightseeing cruise with a gift box per person (smoked-salmon roll, foie gras bun, a 20 cl Pommery Pop, macarons), €95, the same price for adults and children aged 4 to 11.

The tourist office also mentions Canauxrama, with an early-evening champagne cruise and a midnight cruise at 11 pm. Finally, the platforms sell New Year's Eve champagne cruises without always naming the operator: read the listing before you pay.

In our view, the Vedettes du Pont Neuf midnight cruise is the best fit if you want to see the new year in on the water at a controlled price; the Bateaux Parisiens gift-box cruise suits families better. The year-round champagne options are on our champagne cruise page.

Christmas on the Seine: Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas Day meals

Among the big sightseeing companies, Bateaux Parisiens is the one serving Christmas Eve dinner on December 24, at 8:30 pm from Port de la Bourdonnais: €200 in Élégance, €240 in Privilège, €285 in Premier, €335 in Premier Baie Vitrée on the company's website. Christmas Day dinner keeps the same time at €170, €205, €245 and €295. A glass of Pommery is served with the apéritif and another with dessert, and there is no child rate. Christmas Day lunch costs €120 to €170 depending on the seat.

Bateaux Mouches only does a Christmas Day lunch cruise on December 25, from €125, at the Pont de l'Alma: champagne, foie gras, poultry and a Yule log. Paris Seine – La Marina de Paris also serves a Christmas lunch on the 25th, around €130, at Port de Solférino, below the Musée d'Orsay.

For children, Vedettes du Pont Neuf runs an afternoon-snack cruise with Father Christmas on board, and a two-hour Christmas cruise combining the Canal Saint-Martin and the Seine, with gingerbread; its prices are not published. Vedettes de Paris has no Christmas product and ends its December 24 departures in the late afternoon. Paris en Scène and Le Capitaine Fracasse drop their usual dinners on the 24th but sell separate Christmas evenings: Le Capitaine Fracasse lists a Christmas Eve cruise from €175 (and, around Christmas, a lunch from €99 and a dinner from €109), Paris en Scène a Christmas evening from €95.

On the platforms you will also find a Christmas Eve dinner at Le Bistro Parisien, the Bateaux Parisiens restaurant on the quay, paired with a cruise, and a Christmas lunch on Le Diamant Bleu at Port de Passy. The other midday options are on our lunch and brunch cruise page.

Booking holiday dates: payment, cancellation, dress code

Holiday dates follow stricter rules than the rest of the year. At Bateaux Parisiens, February 13 and 14, the July fireworks evening and December 24, 25 and 31 require full payment when you book, with no cancellation or refund. Bateaux Mouches, which normally refunds meal cruises cancelled in writing at least 72 hours ahead, gives nothing back on special dates. Vedettes du Pont Neuf neither refunds nor reschedules New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day or the Bastille Day fireworks evening. On the platforms, the terms depend on the listing and are shown before you pay.

When should you book? New Year's Eve prices go online in the fall: by mid-October, Bateaux Parisiens, Bateaux Mouches, Vedettes de Paris and Vedettes du Pont Neuf had already posted theirs. According to one reseller, the Bateaux Parisiens New Year's Eve dinner sells out fast. In our view, book the 31st as soon as your plans are set, and Christmas a few weeks ahead.

Dress matters more on these evenings. Bateaux Parisiens turns away jeans, sneakers, flip-flops, Bermuda shorts and caps on its meal cruises; Bateaux Mouches requires smart dress and refuses sportswear, flip-flops, Bermuda shorts and caps, without a refund. Plan for the cold too: December has more rainy days than any other month, and the open deck is good for a few minutes at most. Boarding at pontoons 5 and 7 at Bourdonnais and at the Pont de l'Alma is described on our Seine piers page.

Valentine's Day on the Seine, briefly

Valentine's Day is the other special date of the winter, with the same payment rules. Bateaux Mouches serves a dinner from €230, with its usual evening pianist and violinist. Bateaux Parisiens treats February 13 and 14 as special dates; its price was not displayed when we checked, and a reseller quoted around €175. As at Christmas, a window seat is only guaranteed in Privilège and Premier Baie Vitrée. Le Diamant Bleu, at Port de Passy, offers a romantic dinner sold on the platforms. Paris en Scène drops its usual dinners on February 14; Le Capitaine Fracasse replaces them with a Valentine's evening, from €139 on its site. For a proposal that evening, see our proposal on the Seine page.

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

CruisesAll cruisesfrom €18 At the tableDinner cruisefrom €59 At the tableChampagne and drinksfrom €17 Evening & nightNight cruisefrom €17