Paris Hop-On Hop-Off Bus and Seine Cruise Combos

A hop on hop off Paris bus with a Seine cruise puts two of the classic first-day activities into one booking: a bus pass for the landmarks on the road and a sightseeing boat for the ones on the river. These combos start at €53.75 for Tootbus with a Bateaux-Mouches cruise and €56 for Big Bus with the same company. The boat part is a standard one-hour Seine cruise, or longer if you pick a dinner or brunch version.

Every hop-on hop-off bus and Seine cruise combo

The "from" price is the combined price before the 5% bundle saving.

The Tootbus + Bateaux Parisiens combo carries the most reviews of the set, 4.3 from 497 at the time of writing. Tootbus also comes with a Canal Saint-Martin cruise from €61.75, a brunch cruise from €93.75 and dinner cruises from €91.75.

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How to fit the bus and the Seine cruise into one day

The two tickets do not have to be used on the same day, but most people do it that way. This order works:

1. 09:30 to 12:00 - one full bus loop with the commentary on. Note where the boat leaves from as you pass the river.
2. 12:00 to 15:00 - lunch and one sight on foot near a stop.
3. 16:00 to 18:00 - the cruise. Late afternoon light on the stone bridges is the best of the day.
4. After the boat - back on the bus if the pass is still running, or walk. Both companies stop the last full loop by early evening.

💡 Pro Tip

Do the boat last, not first

People tend to start with the cruise because it feels like an easy warm-up. Flip it. The bus gives you the map of the city in your head, and an hour later on the water you recognise every bridge and dome you passed. The cruise becomes twice as interesting.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

Bus + cruise combo

Fixed one-hour boat trip with commentary, a single departure you choose. Right if you want a proper cruise with a guide or recorded narration.

Bus pass + Batobus

A river shuttle you can get off at nine piers. No commentary listed, but unlimited rides. See the Batobus page.

Is a bus and boat combo better than two separate tickets

On price it is roughly the same: the bundle takes 5% off the combined figure. The real gain is one booking, one email and one set of cancellation rules to check. Read them on the product page: each part keeps its own deadline.

Skip the combo if you already hold a Paris Pass or a cruise from your hotel. Then a plain bus ticket is the cleaner buy.

💡 Pro Tip

Pick the evening cruise with Big Bus

The Big Bus combo with the Vedettes evening cruise costs a few euros more than the daytime boats and it is the one I would choose. You ride the bus by day and see the same monuments lit up from the water at night, two different cities for one booking.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

Dinner, brunch and canal cruises with a hop-on hop-off pass

The choice does not stop at the one-hour sightseeing boat. With a Tootbus pass you can also book:

• A three-course French dinner cruise with Paris en Scène, from €91.75 with the bus
• A three-course gourmet dinner cruise, from €123.75 with the bus
• A brunch cruise on Le Capitaine Fracasse, from €93.75 with the bus
• A Canal Saint-Martin cruise from the Parc de la Villette to the Musée d'Orsay, from €61.75 with the bus

The canal one is the odd one out and the one we like most: locks, iron footbridges and a side of Paris no bus route touches. It takes a good part of a day, so give it a day of its own and use the bus pass on another.

Bateaux-Mouches, Bateaux Parisiens or Vedettes de Paris

The bus part of the combo is the same whichever boat you choose. What changes is the boat company, where it boards and the feel of the cruise.

Both of the boats that leave from the Eiffel Tower are a few minutes on foot from the bus stops at the tower, which makes them the easiest to link with a loop. Bateaux-Mouches at the Alma bridge is a short walk from the Champs-Élysées end of the route.

What you see from the water on a one-hour cruise

• The Eiffel Tower from below, and again on the way back
• The Grand Palais and the gilded statues of the Pont Alexandre III
• The Musée d'Orsay and its clock windows on one bank, the Louvre on the other
• The Pont Neuf, the oldest standing bridge in Paris, and the tip of the Île de la Cité
• The Conciergerie and the back of Notre-Dame from the river
• The quiet stone quays of the Île Saint-Louis before the boat turns

Many of these are the same landmarks the bus passes. Seen from the water they look different: lower, closer, framed by the arches of the bridges.

Best time of day for the Seine cruise

The hour before sunset is the one to aim for. The stone of the quays turns gold and the bridges stand out against the light. In June that means a cruise around 21:00, in October around 18:00, and in winter from about 16:30.

Midday is the quietest time on board and the easiest for children. After dark the monuments are lit and the Eiffel Tower sparkles on the hour, which is the reason the evening boats sell first.

💡 Pro Tip

Board early and take the outer deck

The outer deck at the back fills first. I arrive fifteen minutes before departure, walk past the inside seats and stand at the rail. On the way back I move inside if it is cold; by then I have the photos.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

Linking the bus stop and the boat

The neatest link is at the Eiffel Tower. Big Bus stop 8 and the Tootbus Tour Eiffel stop both sit by the river, a few minutes from the Bateaux Parisiens and Vedettes de Paris piers. Get off, walk along the quay, board.

For Bateaux-Mouches, get off at the Champs-Élysées end of the route and walk down avenue George V or avenue Montaigne to the Pont de l'Alma, about fifteen minutes. Leave yourself half an hour of slack: missing a timed boat because the bus sat in traffic is the classic mistake on this combo.

💡 Pro Tip

Keep the cruise ticket on a different screen

The bus and the boat come with separate vouchers. I keep the boat one as a separate screenshot, so I am not scrolling through the bus pass at the pier with a queue behind me.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

Bus and cruise with children

The one-hour boat is a good fit for children: room to stand at the rail, bridges coming one after another, and a length that matches small attention spans. The trick is the order and the time of day.

• Bus first, boat second. The loop tires legs; the boat lets everyone sit or stand without walking.
• Midday or afternoon departures. Late evening boats run past bedtime and get crowded on the outer deck.
• Child prices on both parts. The bus pass and the boat each have their own child rate, shown at checkout.
• Travel light. A stroller folds on board most sightseeing boats, but some piers have a few steps down to the quay.
• Snacks and a layer. The outer deck is breezy even on a warm day.

Give each child a job on the boat: one counts the bridges, one spots the Eiffel Tower first on the way back. An hour with a mission goes by very fast.

Cruise first or bus first when it rains

On a wet morning, swap the order of the day. Both tickets are valid within their own window, so you decide on the morning itself, once you have seen the sky.

The river looks moody in the rain and the cabins stay dry, so a wet boat ride is far better than a wet top deck.

Prices are "from" prices in euros and vary by date and option; the price at checkout is the one that applies. Independent guide, not affiliated with Big Bus, Tootbus, Batobus or Bustronome.