Bateaux Mouches review: Seine river cruise, dinner cruise and tickets

Written with a capital letter and a ®, it is a brand. Written in lower case in French, "bateau-mouche" is a dictionary word for any sightseeing boat. In English, keep it simple: Bateaux Mouches is one company, and this page is about that company. For all the others, see our Seine cruise companies page.

A company that became a common noun

The official story starts in 1949: Jean Bruel launches non-stop narrated cruises, out and back from a home port, with a single steam boat that had survived a Paris world's fair. On 1 April 1953 he has the French transport minister unveil a bust of one "Jean-Sébastien Mouche", supposedly the inventor of the bateaux-mouches. The man never existed: it was an April Fool's publicity stunt, and one of the boats in the fleet still carries his name.

The word itself comes from elsewhere. According to Wikipedia, it goes back to La Mouche, a district of Lyon where a shipyard built boats called Mouche; some thirty of them were brought to Paris for the 1867 world's fair. The term became the generic French word for a sightseeing boat, in Paris and beyond, which is why the company puts a ® on it everywhere.

What this means for you: when a French friend says "we took a bateau-mouche at the Eiffel Tower", they almost certainly mean Bateaux Parisiens or Vedettes de Paris. The Compagnie des Bateaux-Mouches has only one pier, at Pont de l'Alma. It claims about 2.5 million passengers a year.

What Bateaux Mouches sells: sightseeing, meals and holiday dates

The range is shorter than its big rival's, and easier to read.

• The sightseeing cruise, "approximately 1 hour" according to the company, non-stop, every day of the year.
• The Douce France lunch, on weekends and public holidays only, leaving at 12:30 pm.
• The 6 pm dinner, a short one (1h15), and the 8:30 pm dinner (about 2h15), with four menus.
• Holiday dates: Valentine's Day, the Bastille Day fireworks evening, Christmas lunch and New Year's Eve (see Christmas and New Year's Eve).
• Special packages: the "Paris pour un Oui" marriage proposal and a dinner followed by the Crazy Horse show.

There is also a Sunday brunch, but it is served at the quay, in the pontoon restaurant: it does not sail. On the booking platforms you will also find variants of the sightseeing cruise (with a crêpe, an ice cream or an audio guide) and Eiffel Tower combos, all boarding at Pont de l'Alma.

Sightseeing

TiqetsPont de l'Alma

Seine River: Cruise by BATEAUX-MOUCHES®

4.4 (10,072)

from €17Check dates

Sightseeing

GetYourGuidePont de l'Alma

Paris: Bateaux Mouches® Sightseeing Cruise on the Seine

4.4 (6,150)

from €17Check dates

Night

GetYourGuide70 minutes - 1.5 hoursPont de l'Alma

Paris: Evening Lights Cruise with Legendary Bateaux-Mouches®

4.3 (6,316)

from €17Check dates

Dinner

GetYourGuide2.5 hoursPont de l'Alma

Paris: Bateaux Mouches® Dinner Cruise on the Seine River

4.5 (4,745)

from €114Check dates

Sightseeing

HeadoutPont de l'Alma

Bateaux Mouches® Seine River 1-Hour Sightseeing Cruise with Live Commentary

4.4 (4,606)

from €17Check dates

Dinner

HeadoutPont de l'Alma

Bateaux Mouches® Seine River Dinner Cruise with Live Music & French Menu

4.4 (964)

from €135Check dates

Bateaux Mouches on GetYourGuide →Bateaux Mouches on Tiqets →Bateaux Mouches on Headout →Prices checked on October 17, 2026

The route from Alma: Notre-Dame up close

The boat heads upstream, between the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay, then runs along Notre-Dame through the bras de la Monnaie, the narrow channel between Île de la Cité and the left bank, which gives you the closest view of the cathedral. That channel is open to boats heading upstream only, so this is on the way out. The boat turns near the Institut du Monde Arabe, comes back down the other side of the islands and the main arm, which runs on an alternating one-way system, past the Hôtel de Ville and the Conciergerie, then on to the Assemblée nationale and the Eiffel Tower before returning to Alma. You pass under about 20 bridges.

Two things to know. The captain can change the route depending on the river level; when the Seine floods, cruises are sometimes suspended for a few days. And the Statue of Liberty on Île aux Cygnes is not part of the published route, so do not count on it. On summer evenings, though, you can see the Olympic cauldron rising above the Tuileries from the top deck.

Leaving from Alma has a quiet advantage: the Eiffel Tower comes at the end, straight ahead on the way back, instead of behind you as you set off. Our monument-by-monument notes are on the what you see from the Seine page.

The fleet: very big glass-sided boats

The company's own figures vary from page to page, so call it about a dozen boats. The sightseeing boats are the biggest on the Seine in Paris: up to roughly a thousand passengers, a large open top deck and a glassed-in lounge below. Among them are L'Espoir, Le Coche d'eau, La Galiote, L'Hirondelle, Le Mulet Coureau and La Flûte.

The restaurant boats, La Gabarre (the largest), La Patache, Le Jean-Bruel, Le Zouave de l'Alma and Le Jean-Sébastien Mouche, have wide panoramic windows, a dance floor and air conditioning. The upper deck stays open during meals when navigation and the water level allow.

The size has a downside: at peak times in summer, the sightseeing cruise can feel like a packed auditorium, and you need to get upstairs early to claim a spot at the rail. Out of season and on weekdays, there is plenty of room.

Bateaux Mouches tickets and prices: official site, counter and platforms

The fare grid is simple. At the ticket office: €20 per adult, €10 per child under 13. On the company's website: €17 and €8. Under 4s ride free. Watch the age bands: here a child is anyone up to 12, against 11 at Bateaux Parisiens.

On our three partner platforms we found the official online fare, €17. The ticket office only makes sense if you decide on the spot.

For the 8:30 pm dinner, the cheapest option on the official site is the Découverte menu at €99, water only, no wine and no guaranteed window. The platform offers are shown above: read what they include (wine, menu, time) before you compare them with that headline price.

The Douce France lunch costs €90 on the company's site (€45 for ages 4 to 12), the same as on the platform that sells it. Our wider comparisons are on the Seine river cruise tickets page.

Booking and boarding at Port de la Conférence

Sightseeing tickets are open-dated: valid for a year on any departure, with no time slot and no guaranteed seat, boarding subject to space. They are neither refundable nor exchangeable, but they are transferable: you can give them to someone else. If you buy at the ticket office, the company suggests arriving 15 to 20 minutes before departure.

Meal cruises are dated, with a more forgiving rule than most: for parties under 15, a written cancellation at least 72 hours ahead is refunded; between 72 and 24 hours, you get a new date; after that, nothing. Holiday dates are never refunded. On a platform, the conditions depend on the listing and are shown before you pay.

Getting there: Métro Alma-Marceau (line 9) or Franklin D. Roosevelt (line 1), RER C Pont de l'Alma. Parking is free while you cruise, and taxis can drive right down to the port. The pontoon is on the right bank, next to the Zouave statue of Pont de l'Alma. The other piers are in our Seine pier guide.

The experience, product by product

The sightseeing cruise, about an hour

From April to October, boats leave about every 30 minutes from 10 am to 10 pm (plus 10:30 pm on Saturdays in October); from November to March, about every 45 minutes, then every 30 minutes from 4 pm. Two official pages differ by a quarter of an hour, so check on the day. The company does not publish how many languages the commentary covers. The evening departures are the same cruise; the Eiffel Tower sparkles for five minutes at the start of every hour after dark, until at least 11 pm; on some evenings, especially in summer, it carries on later — check the tower's website for the day. See our one-hour Seine cruise page.

The Douce France lunch

Weekends and public holidays, boarding 12:00 pm–12:15 pm, departure 12:30 pm, back at 2:15 pm. Kir, starter, main course, cheese or dessert, coffee, and a bottle of wine for two. An accordion player performs and the dance floor is open; smart-casual dress is appreciated.

The 6 pm and 8:30 pm dinner cruises

In the evening a violinist and a pianist play. Children aged 4 to 12 pay €45 on every menu. Smart dress is required: sportswear, flip-flops, sandals, shorts, tank tops and caps are refused, with no refund; jeans are not on the list. A window table is never guaranteed, and even Excellence only gets priority. New Year's Eve costs €480 and the boat is back at the quay at 11:15 pm: midnight is celebrated moored. See our pages on dinner cruises with live music and proposing on the Seine.

Who Bateaux Mouches suits best

Budget travelers who book online. At €17 on its own site and on the platforms, it is one of the cheapest sightseeing cruises from the big companies, with a child fare that runs to age 12.

Anyone who wants Notre-Dame up close. On the way out, the bras de la Monnaie passes as near the cathedral as any boat gets.

Diners who want to dance. Musicians in the evening, a dance floor, an accordion at lunch: the mood is more dance hall than at Bateaux Parisiens.

Travelers who need to be able to cancel. Refunds up to 72 hours before a meal cruise, transferable sightseeing tickets: it is the more flexible of the two big companies.

Skip it if you need commentary in a specific language (the list is not published), if you use a wheelchair and cannot call ahead, if the Statue of Liberty matters to you, or if summer crowds wear you down: the small boats of the Vedettes du Pont Neuf are a better fit.

The verdict: strengths, weaknesses and our rating

Bateaux Mouches FAQ