We'll be in Paris on our own for three days before joining a tour, mid-April. Staying near the Eiffel Tower (numerous reasons, & not our first time in Paree) & just doing walks & a few destinations on these days, like the Orsay & Rodin museums.
Is the Batobus a good way to go for transit? One of us likes its water&views aspect, like an aquatic Hop-On-Hop-Off, the other leans Metro.
Merci for your input!
We enjoy the batobus every time we go to Paris, but it is a relatively slow way to go for transit. You can spend quite a bit of time waiting for it to arrive and it's not a very fast boat. We use it to relax and just enjoy the view, but not as a means to get from point A to point B.
We also enjoyed the Batobus Pass in Paris. We used it during the day to HOHO. It is a wonderful way to see Paris from the Seine. We were last there in 2013 and have photos of Notre Dame. Sigh. On our last night we loved seeing Paris in all it’s glory. The city of lights are magical. The Eiffel Tower’s sparkling lights are spectacular. Many photo opportunities that we continue to treasure! Enjoy.
We got a Batobus pass for our last day (of 12) in Paris years ago, and spent most of the day plying the river back and forth, getting off for walks and revisits to places we'd liked. It was a nice way to end a long visit, but as Dean said it isn't fast and there can be long waits for the boats.
I'd definitely recommend a boat ride as part of your visit, if the tour doesn't include one. The narrated cruises (Vedettes du Pont Neuf, Bateaux-Mouches, etc.) tell you a lot about what you're seeing, while the Batobus is just a bus that floats. I'd suggest Metro or regular buses (you know, the ones that run on streets) for actual transportation. Metro is usually fastest, but the buses let you see a lot of the street scene, which in Paris can be fascinating. In case you were considering the hop-on-hop=off street buses, I'd suggest not using them because they're slow. If you know where you want to go, just go there. ;-)
With so little time in Paris, I would not want to spend it on a very slow boat. It is expensive for one day, cheaper for two but with 3 days, it is a huge time waster IMHO. The metro gets you there fast and gets you just where you want to go.
The Batobus is indeed slow and very expensive.
The métro is fast, cheap, and will take you anywhere in the city in under 30 minutes.
There is also the bus option, which for a few areas around the Eiffel Tower with poor métro connections, really fills in the gaps.
