Seine River Direct Access Guided Cruise

Highlights

Inclusions

Itinerary

1. The Eiffel Tower was built by French engineer Gustave Eiffel, for the 1889 Universal Exhibition in Paris. This magnificent technical feat was achieved in a mere two years, two months and five days. It stands 324 metres tall, and the metal structure weighs 7,300 tonnes. Parisians were scandalised by its metallic look and height. It was built to last 20 years. A radio antenna was added to the top in 1903, saving the tower from demolition. It has now become the monument symbolic of Paris.

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2. The American Church in Paris with its green clock-tower was the first American Church built outside the US, in 1931. The stained-glass windows by Louis Comfort Tiffany have been listed as a historic monument.

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3. With its golden dome over the royal chapel, the Hotel des Invalides was built to the orders of Louis XIV as a military hospital for injured soldiers and officers. Today, the royal chapel houses the tomb of France’s first Emperor, Napoleon I.

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4. Alexandre III bridge was built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition and to seal the Franco-Russian Alliance. Its central feature is the Paris coat of arms covered in gold leaf and two nymphs symbolising the river Seine. On the other side of the bridge, you’ll see the arms of Saint Petersburg, and two nymphs symbolising the river Neva.

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5. Pont de la Concorde was built using stones from the former Bastille prison after it was famously stormed during the French Revolution in 1789. It leads to the Palais Bourbon on your right, seat of the National Assembly, and to your left to the Place de la Concorde.

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6. The former Orsay railway station, built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition in Paris, which had a railway line leading to the south-west of France, was turned into a museum in the 1980s to house 19th-century art, including works by the greatest Impressionists and Post-Impressionists such as Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh.

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7. The Institut de France, former Collège des Quatre Nations, was built using funds bequeathed by cardinal Mazarin in 1661. It houses five academies, the most famous being the Académie Française. Its members’ job is to contribute to the French language, updating and modifying the official French dictionary.

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8. The Pont Neuf, or New Bridge, which is actually the oldest bridge in Paris was the first Parisian bridge to be built in stone with pavements rather than houses lining it. It features 381 grimacing stone masks, all individually decorated and unique.

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9. Pont Saint-Michel, built at the request of Napoleon III, hence the two imperial Ns on its pillars. To the right, it leads to the Latin Quarter, so called because students at the University of Paris there spoke Latin until the 19th century.

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10. Ile de la Cité is the presumed birthplace of Paris. The Parisii tribe first settled here 300 years before the Common Era, calling the island Lutetia.

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11. Paris’s Gothic masterpiece, Notre-Dame Cathedral. Its construction started in 1163 and was completed nearly two centuries later, in 1345. The cathedral features a host of gargoyles and sculptures. The south rose window, called the Rose du Midi, is dedicated to the New Testament and was a gift from the French king, Saint Louis.

12. The Tournelle Bridge, and on its right, a statue of Saint Genevieve, patron saint of Paris, with her back to us. It was sculpted by Paul Landowski, who later sculpted the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.

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Cancellation

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.

Reviews

Ratings come from 224 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.

Know before you go

How it compares in Paris

• Its from-price is 88% below the median of the 4664 experiences we list in Paris.
• It is shorter than most of them.
• By number of reviews it ranks 286 of 4664.
• The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About Paris

Paris pairs grand boulevards and riverside monuments with café terraces, art collections of global stature and neighbourhoods that feel like villages.

The Seine runs through the heart of the city, past the Île de la Cité with Notre-Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle, the long façade of the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay in its former railway station. Downriver, the Eiffel Tower rises over the Champ de Mars, and the Arc de Triomphe crowns the Champs-Élysées.

Top-ranked sights in Paris: Louvre Museum, Eiffel Tower, 4th Arrondissement.

See all 4664 experiences in Paris