Guide · Lunch on the river

A Seine river lunch cruise, with daylight views and a 3-course menu

A Seine river lunch cruise shows the stonework and the bridges in full daylight while lunch is served at the window. Here are the boats, the timings, the menus and who it suits.

Check availabilityfrom $91 · free cancellation possible

Editorial team, champagnecruiseparis.comUpdated October 26, 2026Read time: 6 min18 sources

Bookable here: the tour Paris: Lunch Cruise with 3-course menu from the Eiffel Tower 4.8 (5,268 reviews) 2 hours from$91per person Check availabilityFree cancellation up to 24 hrs before

Quick answer, for a midday table

01Most booked: 2 hours with a 3-course menu from the Eiffel Tower, from $91.
02Timings: Check-in 12:15 pm, departure 12:45 pm, back at 2:45 pm.
03Shorter option: 1.5 hours with 3 courses from Port de Solférino, from $80.
04Weekends only: One fleet runs its lunch cruise on Saturdays and Sundays.¹
05Champagne: Some lunch menus start with a glass of champagne.²

Why lunch on the Seine

A Seine river lunch cruise is the daylight twin of the dinner cruise, and in some ways the better one. At midday you see the carving on the bridges, the color of the stone, the gardens along the quays and the people on the banks, details that disappear into floodlight after dark. You also see the city as Parisians live it, with the riverside walks of the Parc Rives de Seine, pedestrian since 2018, in full use.³

Lunch boats are also calmer. They sail at a fixed hour around midday, the light is easier for photos, and the experience fits neatly into a sightseeing day: museum in the morning, two hours on the water, a walk in the afternoon. If you are traveling with children or older relatives, a lunch sailing avoids the late nights of the dinner boats.

The price is close to a dinner cruise, so choose lunch for what it shows, not to save money. The most booked Paris lunch cruise starts from $91, and the shortest dinner cruise starts from $75. What you buy at midday is the view in sunlight and an afternoon still free.

The Eiffel Tower lunch

How the midday sailing runs

12:15 pm

Check-in

At Port de la Bourdonnais, pontoon 5 or 7.
12:45 pm

Departure

The glass-roofed boat leaves the quay.
First course

Aperitif and starter

With wine and mineral water on the table.
Midway

Notre-Dame and the islands

The boat turns in the historic center.
2:45 pm

Back at the quay

The afternoon is still yours.

The most booked lunch cruise, minute by minute

The lunch cruise with the most reviews on GetYourGuide leaves from Port de la Bourdonnais at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, pontoon 5 or 7, on a boat with a glass roof. Check-in is at 12:15 pm, the boat sails at 12:45 pm and it is back at the quay at 2:45 pm, so you get 2 hours on the water.

The route takes in Les Invalides, the Musée d'Orsay, the Île de la Cité, Notre-Dame, the Hôtel de Ville, the Louvre, the Place de la Concorde, the Grand Palais and the Eiffel Tower. The menu is 3 courses à la carte, and the listing names an aperitif, wine, mineral water and coffee or tea.

It holds 4.75 from 5,268 reviews and starts from $91, and you can cancel it for nothing until a day before, or hold it now and settle up later. If you only book one lunch cruise, it is the safe choice: central, punctual and well reviewed.

Side by side

Seine lunch cruises at a glance

Lunch	Length	Boards at	Days
3 courses à la carte	2 hrs	Eiffel Tower, pontoons 5/7	No day limit stated
3 courses, separate entrance	1.5 hrs	Port de Solférino	No day limit stated
Menu tiers, kir or Champagne	2 hrs	Port de la Bourdonnais	Tourist office listing
Weekend lunch	12:30 to 2:15 pm	Pont de l'Alma	Saturday & Sunday

As each listing or the Paris tourist office states it; menus, drinks and prices vary by tier.⁴ ² ¹ ⁵

Three ways to spend midday on the river

A long lunch, a shorter lunch or a sightseeing hour

Rated 4.75

Lunch at the tower

Glass-roofed boat

Length: 2 hrs
Sails: 12:45 pm
Price: from $91

Check dates

Paris: 3-Course Lunch Cruise on the River Seine

Shorter

Lunch from Solférino

Separate entrance

Length: 1.5 hrs
Menu: 3 courses
Price: from $80

Check dates

Paris: 1-Hour Seine Cruise departing from the Eiffel Tower

Cheapest

Sightseeing hour

Eat ashore after

Length: 1 hr
Audio: 14 languages
Price: from $21

Check dates

Decision helper

Which midday cruise suits you?

Pick the line that matches your day.

I want the full lunch experience I want lunch but a shorter sail I want Champagne with lunch We are in Paris at the weekend I mainly want the views

The Eiffel Tower lunch

2 hours, 3 courses à la carte.

The Solférino lunch

1.5 hours with 3 courses.

A higher menu tier

A glass of champagne as the aperitif on some options.²

The Alma lunch is possible

It sails on Saturdays and Sundays.¹

A sightseeing hour

1 hour from the Eiffel Tower, then lunch ashore.

Kir au blanc de blancs or a glass of champagne as an aperitif (depending on the option chosen)

Paris je t'aime - Office de Tourisme de ParisSource 2

Other midday boats

A shorter alternative sails from Port de Solférino, on the Promenade Édouard Glissant, near the Musée d'Orsay: 1.5 hours with a 3-course lunch and a separate entrance for boarding, from $80, with 1,567 reviews. Half an hour less on the water suits travelers who want lunch on the river without giving up a whole afternoon.

The Paris tourist office lists the Bateaux Parisiens lunch as a two-hour cruise that starts and finishes at Port de la Bourdonnais, with a choice of menu tiers.⁴ Depending on the option, the aperitif is a kir made with blanc de blancs or a glass of champagne, and guests are asked to arrive 30 minutes before.² ⁶

Bateaux Mouches runs its lunch cruise only on Saturdays and Sundays, from the Pont de l'Alma, departing at 12:30 pm with boarding from 12:00 pm and return to the quay at 2:15 pm.¹ ⁵ If your Paris days fall midweek, that option is out, and the boats at the Eiffel Tower are your choice.

Checklist

Before your lunch on the river

Book

The day: one lunch boat sails only at weekends
The menu tier if you want Champagne
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before

On the day

Arrive 30 minutes before departure⁶
Sunglasses and a light layer for the deck
Smart, comfortable clothes

Price check

What lunch on the river costs your table

Choose a lunch cruise and the number of guests.

Lunch at the tower2 hrsfrom $91 Lunch, Solférino1.5 hrsfrom $80 Sightseeing hour1 hrfrom $21

People 2

Total from$182

per traveler from $91

Check availabilityfree cancellation

Totals take each cruise's lowest starting fare on GetYourGuide or Viator times your head count, turned into your currency with the ECB daily rate; a boat priced per boat costs the same however many sail, so trust its checkout.

Video

A midday lunch cruise on the Seine

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Which is the best lunch cruise on the Seine?

The best lunch cruise on the Seine depends on how long you want to sit. For the full experience, 2 hours from the Eiffel Tower with a 3-course à la carte menu and the highest score among the lunch boats, 4.75, is hard to beat. For a shorter lunch with an easier start near the Musée d'Orsay, the 1.5-hour cruise from Port de Solférino is the alternative.

If Champagne matters to you, look at the menu tiers rather than the boat. On the Bateaux Parisiens lunch the higher option replaces the kir with a glass of champagne as the aperitif.² Champagne is a protected designation from a region about 150 km north-east of Paris, so a menu that names it is pouring the real thing.⁷ ⁸

If the food is secondary and you mostly want the river in daylight, skip lunch and take a 1-hour sightseeing cruise instead, from $21, then eat in a bistro on the Île Saint-Louis or in the Marais. It costs far less, and the view from the open deck is better than through the glass of a dining room.

Season, weather and what to wear

Lunch cruises sail through the year, and the weather shapes the experience more than the menu. Average daytime highs run from 7.6 °C in January to 25.7 °C in July.⁹ In winter the glass-roofed boats are the cozy place to be; in summer, the same glass can make the dining room warm on a bright day, and stepping out on deck between courses is part of the pleasure.

Rain is never far away in Paris, with between 7 and 11 days a month of at least 1 mm.⁹ A glassed lunch boat is one of the best ways to enjoy a wet day in the city: you stay dry, the river looks moody and silver, and the monuments are still there outside the window.

Dress as you would for a good restaurant at lunchtime: smart but comfortable. Flat shoes help on the gangway and the ramps to the quays. Bring a light layer for the deck, sunglasses in summer and a little patience for the boarding line, which forms before every departure.

What daylight shows you from the water

Midday is the time to look closely at the bridges. The Pont Neuf, the oldest in Paris despite its name, carries 384 carved masks along its cornices, and from a passing boat you can pick them out one by one.¹⁰ ¹¹ On the Pont Alexandre III, the gilded bronze Pegasus statues on the pylons blaze in the sun.¹²

The islands look their best in daylight too. Building on Notre-Dame began in 1163, and the boats on the lunch route turn in the historic center around the Île de la Cité, where the stone of the cathedral and the Conciergerie shows every detail.¹³ Downstream, the Pont de Bir-Hakeim carries the elevated metro on its upper deck, a scene you will recognize from films.¹⁴ ¹⁵

Finally, the river itself. In normal times the river's gauge in Paris reads only 1 to 2 metres, and the Seine narrows to 30 metres at the quai Montebello by Notre-Dame against 200 metres at the Pont de Grenelle.¹⁶ ¹⁷ By day you feel those changes in width as the boat threads the narrow arm past the islands.

Lunch, dinner or a private boat?

Lunch and dinner on the Seine are the same idea in different light. Dinner adds the floodlit monuments and, after dusk, the Eiffel Tower's sparkle for 5 minutes at the start of each hour.¹⁸ Lunch adds clarity: you read the facades, spot the details and take photos without a single reflection from the cabin lights.

A private boat is a third way. It serves no lunch, but original French Champagne is included, it lasts 1.5 hours and it is priced per boat, from $457 for the standard boat of up to 4, with larger boats for 8. Have lunch ashore, then take the boat for a glass on the river in the afternoon light.

Whatever you pick, book ahead for weekends, check where the boat boards and the arrival time on your ticket, and keep the 24-hour free cancellation in mind if the forecast changes.

Your own boat