Paris Hop On Hop Off busses.

I prefer and have used L'Open Tour twice ( over two yearly visits) .. the reason I prefer them is they have more routes and more stops.. and their two day pass is only a few euros more then the one day pass.

However I do not recommend the Batobus component.. its not a real tour .. its a bus ride on the water.. sometimes the boat was full and by passed us! No where to sit outside. Crowded. Plus the boat with the bus pass does not run at night.. and I think a night cruise is by far the nicest.. seeing the bridges and monuments along the river lit up.

I recommend taking a night boat cruise.. they run 11-14 euros depending on company.. they are about an hour long.. and it really is nice to do them at sunset or after dark. You do not need to prepurchase.. but some companies give you a slight discount if you pre book online. I am leery of saving the 2 or 3 euros because if its rainy I would opt not to take the cruise.

I agree about L'Open Tour; however, while it is a nice way to get an overview of Paris, it is not a substitute for public transportation. HOHO buses do get stuck in traffic and you can spend a lot of time waiting for the next bus to arrive. Public transportation is a much better way to get around the city. There is no advantage to pre-booking tickets for the HOHO tours or for the Seine River cruises. You can buy bus tour tickets directly from the driver at any stop and cruise tickets before boarding.

Pat is right on. We spent 5 days in Paris in June, bought a 3 day pass for L'Open Tour and it was great. Went everywhere we needed to go and was a great way to familiarize yourself to the city. And I DO think that it replaces almost all of your public transportation needs. What better way to get stuck in traffic than atop a 2 tier bus, if the weather is dry, soaking up the scenery of one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I never got tired of looking around and saw something new each time we made a circuit. We never minded the pace when it backed up a little and never waited for more than a few minutes for one to come along. Better than sitting in the same traffic in a taxi with the meter running or a regular jammed bus, or being crammed into a metro car looking at nothing. Only time we used the Metro was when we needed to cross the city quickly to get somewhere which was once. Enjoy the view!! Buy the Seine pass separately. We enjoyed the one hour boat cruise that left from the Eiffel Tower dock at night. So cool all lit up.