Guide · Your own boat

A private Seine river cruise: just your party and the Champagne

A private Seine river cruise gives you a boat and a skipper for 90 minutes, no strangers, and original French Champagne poured on board. Here is how the boats, the route and the booking work.

Check availabilityfrom $457 · free cancellation possible

Editorial team, champagnecruiseparis.comUpdated October 26, 2026Read time: 6 min15 sources

Bookable here: the tour Private Champagne cruise on the Seine 5.0 (1,838 reviews) 1.5 hoursPriced per boat, up to 8Champagne included from$457 Check availabilityFree cancellation up to 24 hrs before

Quick answer, for your own boat

01Price logic: Priced per boat, not per person: from $457 for the standard boat of up to 4; larger boats take 8.
02Length: 1.5 hours from Port de Javel Haut and back.
03Included: Original French Champagne, bottled water, fees and taxes.
04Boat size: The standard boat takes 4; the larger boats take 8.
05Score: 4.98 from 1,838 ratings on Viator.

What you get on a private boat

A private Seine river cruise is the opposite of the big sightseeing boats. Instead of a seat on a big shared boat, you have a small open boat, a skipper and only your own party on board for 1.5 hours. The cruise this site books is run by Visite Paris En Bateau and includes original French Champagne, bottled water and all fees and taxes. Pets are welcome, and infants sit on an adult's lap.

Because the boat is yours, the hour and a half becomes whatever you want it to be: a quiet anniversary, a birthday with friends, a family outing with the children leaning over the side, a proposal under a bridge. On a romantic Seine river cruise of this kind there is no commentary to talk over and no table of strangers beside you, only the river, your glasses and Paris going by.

The trade-off is cost per head for small groups and the open air. These are small boats with a canopy, not glassed salons, so a cold or wet evening is felt on board. Poor weather is grounds for the skipper's company to cancel, and your own change of plan a day or more ahead is repaid in full. It is a cruise for people who want intimacy more than shelter.

Your 90 minutes

What you pass on the private cruise

Start

Port de Javel Haut

Board opposite the Liberty statue on the Île aux Cygnes.
First minutes

Eiffel Tower

The tower rises above the Champ de Mars.
Midway

Pont Alexandre III

Gilded Pegasus statues on its pylons.¹
The center

Louvre and Pont Neuf

The oldest bridge in Paris despite its name.²
Turning point

Notre-Dame

Building began in 1163.³
Back

Port de Javel Haut

1.5 hours after you left.

Priced per boat: how the options work

This private boat tour in Paris is priced per boat, not per person: one price covers the whole boat, from $457 for the standard boat of up to 4, with larger boats for up to 8. The booking options are a private boat tour and boats for 6, 7 or 8 people. Whether you are 2 or 8, you pay for the boat, not the seats, so the per-head cost falls the more friends you bring.

There are two kinds of boat. The standard boat takes at most 4 passengers and 280 kg in total, and it has no table. The larger boats take 8 and are booked by selecting at least 5 people, however many of you there really are. If you are a couple who wants a table for the Champagne and more space, the larger boat is the one to choose, and the higher option buys it.

Bookings close 2 hours before the start, confirmation is instant, and a mobile or paper ticket works, one per booking. The same operator also sells this private Champagne cruise on GetYourGuide, where it holds 4.98 from 370 reviews, from $460. Compare the two the day you book; the boat and the route are the same idea.

Ratings

How guests rate the private Champagne cruise

ratings

All 1,838 star ratings the private cruise carries on Viator, averaging 4.98.

The boats

Standard boat or larger boat

Boat	Passengers	Table	How to book
Standard boat	Up to 4, 280 kg in total	No	Private boat tour option
Larger boat	Up to 8	Yes	Select at least 5 people

As the listing describes the boats; both options are private and priced per boat.

Three ways to toast on the Seine

Your own boat, a shared glass or a tasting

Top Private Cruises in Paris with French Champagne and surprises

Priced per boat

Private boat

Champagne included

Length: 1.5 hrs
Guests: Up to 8
Price: from $457

Check dates

Paris: Seine River Cruise with Champagne from Eiffel Tower

Per guest

Shared Champagne hour

A glass at the bar

Length: 1 hr
Guide: Live, French & English
Price: from $37

Check dates

Wine guide

Champagne tasting

Three Champagnes

Length: 1 hr
Styles: Brut, Extra-Brut, Rosé
Price: from $91

Check dates

Decision helper

Is a private boat right for you?

Pick the line closest to your plan.

We are a couple and want a table We are 4 friends on a budget We are a group of 8 We only want a glass on the river It is a proposal

The larger boat

Select at least 5 people to book it.

The standard boat

Up to 4 passengers, no table.

The private boat

One price per boat for up to 8.

A shared Champagne hour

From $37 per guest.

The private boat

No other passengers for 1.5 hours.

The recommended serving temperature for Champagne is between 8 and 10°C.

Comité ChampagneSource 4

The route: from the Liberty statue to Notre-Dame

The cruise starts and ends at Port de Javel Haut, 2 Port de Javel Haut in the 15th arrondissement, at Escales Beaugrenelle, opposite the Statue of Liberty replica on the Île aux Cygnes. That is the western, quieter end of the river, away from the crowded piers below the Eiffel Tower, and the statue is the first sight as you pull away.

From there the listing names, seen from the boat without stopping, the Eiffel Tower, the Pont Alexandre III, the Louvre, the Pont Neuf, Notre-Dame and the Paris Plages beach, and its description adds the Musée d'Orsay. Its sister listing on GetYourGuide also names the Conciergerie, the Île de la Cité and the Place de la Concorde along the way. The boat then turns and brings you back to Port de Javel Haut.

Much of the route lies inside the stretch of riverbank that UNESCO listed in 1991, between the Pont d'Iéna and the Pont de Sully, which holds 23 of the 37 bridges of Paris.⁵ On the way you pass under the Pont de Bir-Hakeim, the two-level bridge that carries the metro on its upper deck, and the Pont Neuf, whose first stone was laid on 31 May 1578.⁶ ⁷

Checklist

Before your private cruise

Book

The right boat: standard for 4, larger for up to 8
At least 2 hours ahead
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before

On the day

Arrive 15 minutes early
A phone with maps to find the boat
A warm layer: the boat is open
Flat shoes to step down from the bank

Video

What a private boat on the Seine is really like

The player loads on your tap, not before.

The Champagne on board

The listing names original French Champagne among its inclusions, and the word matters: only wine from the Champagne appellation may carry the name. Champagne is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, recognised on 29 June 1936 and protected in more than 130 countries, and it comes from a region about 150 km north-east of Paris.⁸ ⁹ ¹⁰ ¹¹ A drink called Champagne has to come from there.

The Comité Champagne, the trade body of the growers and houses, recommends serving it between 8 and 10 °C, and a standard 75 cl bottle fills about six 12.5 cl flutes.⁴ ¹² About 90% of Champagne is Brut, the dry style that suits an evening aperitif.¹³ The record does not say how many bottles come with each boat, so ask the operator if you are a large group.

Treat the Champagne as part of the moment rather than the point of it. A glass as you pass the Eiffel Tower, another under the arches of the Pont Neuf, a toast in front of Notre-Dame: that rhythm is what people remember. Bring your own snacks only if the operator agrees, and keep an eye on children around the open sides of a small boat.

Timing, meeting point and the rules

Arrive 15 minutes early at 2 Port de Javel Haut, and give yourself a few minutes to spot your boat among those moored along the bank. On the private cruise latecomers are waited for up to 60 minutes, but the delay comes out of your 90 minutes, and a no-show gets no refund. Traffic in Paris can be slow, so allow time for the trip to the 15th.

Choose your hour by the light. In June Paris has about 16.1 hours of daylight at mid-month, so an evening boat sails in long golden light; in December it has about 8.3 hours, and a late afternoon boat is already sailing under the lights.¹⁴ After dusk the Eiffel Tower sparkles for 5 minutes at the start of each hour, a moment worth timing your return around.¹⁵

The listing calls it suitable for any fitness level, while advising against it for anyone with a spinal injury or difficulty walking. Public transport is nearby. Dress for an open boat: a warm layer even in summer, and flat shoes for the quay.

Private boat or a shared Champagne cruise?

A shared Champagne cruise is the budget alternative. One electric boat from the Eiffel Tower pours a glass of Champagne at the bar for 1 hour with a live guide, from $37 per guest. A sommelier-led tasting pours three Champagnes in a private area of a shared boat for 1 hour, from $91. Both give you the river and the drink, with other people around you.

For a couple, the shared options cost far less. For a group of 6 to 8, the private boat's single price spread across the group narrows the gap a great deal, and you gain the space, the privacy and an extra half hour on the water. For a celebration where the moment matters more than the money, the private boat is the clear choice.

The private cruise also has the stronger record. It carries 1,838 ratings averaging 4.98, with 1,818 of them five-star, against 4.34 from 433 reviews for the shared Champagne hour from the Eiffel Tower. Scores are not everything, but on a night you want to get right, they are a fair guide.

Your own boat