La Seine

About La Seine

La Seine runs right through the middle of Paris, splitting the city into its Left Bank and Right Bank and threading past most of the landmarks people come to see. The Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, Notre-Dame on the Ile de la Cite, and the Eiffel Tower all sit on or near its banks, which is why a river cruise is one of the simplest ways to get your bearings on a first visit. The central stretch, with its stone quays and dozens of bridges, has been listed by UNESCO since 1991, and some of those bridges, like the Pont Neuf and the ornate Pont Alexandre III, are sights in their own right.

Boat trips along the river are the main way visitors engage with it, and they come in a few forms. Standard sightseeing cruises loop past the big monuments with commentary, often paired with a museum visit such as the Louvre, where reserved-access tickets let you skip most of the ticket line and head straight for the collections, including the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and the Egyptian antiquities. Other options add lunch or dinner on board. Either way, you see a side of the city that is hard to appreciate from the pavement, since many of Paris's grand facades were built to face the water.

The riverbanks themselves are free to walk and make for an easy afternoon. The lower quays, closer to the water, are pedestrian in places and good for a stroll or a picnic, while the upper level keeps you near the cafes and bookstalls. Cruises run year-round, with more frequent departures and later evening sailings in the warmer months, when the bridges and monuments are lit after dark. Boarding points are scattered along the central section, so it's worth checking which pier your specific cruise leaves from before you set out.