Siene River Tour..to do or not to do..

I am not a fan of viewing Paris from down in the ditch. Others love it. If you do it, the night tours are a lot more beautiful IMHO when the city is lit up. I personally prefer walking along the Seine at night and around Notre Dame to taking the boat tour. There are no tourist requirements; you should do what appeals to you. If you 'love the idea of seeing the sights of Paris at night from the river' you have answered your own question. The vendors are all pretty much the same. Take the one convenient to where you are when you want to go.

Actually I'm not committed to seeing the sights on the river, just looking for somewhere at night where I can see the beauty of Paris. I actually really like the idea of walking on my own time rather than being on a tour. I'm traveling alone, what neighborhood do you suggest I stay to be able to do that at night alone? Any suggestions for a night walk in Paris?

We started our visit to Paris with the Seine night cruise first thing upon arrival. We used Vedettes de Pont Neuf and did the one hour cruise. In September it wasn't at all crowded and we got seats on the outside rail up top. You can buy tix ahead online and save a bit but aren't locked into a certain day. We really enjoyed it. You can see all the famous buildings lit up and I did not feel like we were "down in a ditch" at all. Seeing the Eiffel Tower sparkle for the first time was pretty magical. Take a jacket.

For the short amount of time you're going to be in Paris - I wouldn't opt to do a Seine River cruise. There are many other way to see Paris at night that are far more enjoyable.

We did a tour our first evening when we were there last November and enjoyed it. Had walked a lot all day, so was nice to sit and relax for an hour or so but still see things. Was a good way to orient to the layout of the city as many of the major sights are on the river. As we were in November we had plenty of night so walking and doing a tour are not mutually exclusive. Either way is good.

Taking a walk along the river and taking a river cruise at night aren't mutually exclusive. You can do both. We used a couple of different cruises and thought Vedettes de Pont Neuf was by far the better one.

Where do you all recommend I stay to do a walk/cruise at night? Definitely want to be near the river, any arrondissement suggestions? Just want to be safe to walk around at night

That really depends on your budget. Staying on Ile St. Louis is pretty ideal. Or the St. Germain de Pres area.

"Where do you all recommend I stay to do a walk/cruise at night? Definitely want to be near the river, any arrondissement suggestions? Just want to be safe to walk around at night"

If you look at a map of Paris you'll see how the arrondissements are arranged. The 1st, 4th, and 5th, 6th, and 7th are all bordering the Seine. We like the 4th and 5th - the Marais and the Left Bank. But you don't have to be staying right there to walk along the river at night or take a cruuse. Paris is a pretty safe city as far as physical safety is concerned. Just practice common sense. Stick to well lit, well trafficked streets ( and that would be most of the areas of primary interest to tourists. ) Paris at night is full of people out for a stroll. And the metros are busy until late at night if your hotel is further away.

We've enjoyed walking at night in all kinds of neighborhoods, but our favorite roughly coincides with Rick's Historic Paris walk around Ile de la Cite and the Left Bank.

Our favorite Seine cruise company is Vedettes de Pont Neuf. The fact that Pont Neuf is handy to our hotel this time is just a bonus. The other cruise companies - Bateaux Parisiens and Bateaux Mouches are up near the Eiffel Tower. They all follow the same route.

There are many great night walks. My two favorite are the one I already mentioned i.e. walk around Notre Dame at night. This May we joined friends at a bar near Les Halles (Place St Opportune) which is at the exit 10 of the Chatelet metro. A pretty little square with an old classic metro exit and lovely buildings and lots of bars. We walked from there past the Hotel DeVille which is stunning at night and then across the Seine to Notre Dame and sat for awhile in front of the Cathedral illuminated and then we proceeded across the Seine to the left bank and turned left walked around the back of the Cathedral which IMHO has the most beautiful view night or day. We then walked on back across the bridges to the right bank and the metro Pont Marie which we took back to our friend's apartment in the 13th. Hard to beat the views at night from the various bridges around Notre Dame and the Hotel DeVille. I have beautiful pictures for our holiday card of us with the back of ND at night.

Another great night walk is to metro to Concord, then walk from there up the Champs Elysees towards the Arc de Triomphe taking a detour at the Grand Palais across Pont Alexandre, the very ornate bridge featured in Midnight in Paris. Time it for the top of the hour and you see the Eiffel Tower sparkle (great place for that holiday card shot too -- some passerby will be glad to take your pictures). The view ahead is to Invalides in its shiny gold splendor and to the rear, the illuminated glass roofs of the Grand and Petit Palais. The view upriver is not quite as spectacular but still nice. You can then proceed and walk on up the river to St. Germain or on to the Cathedral, or retrace your steps and go on up to the Arc de Triomphe. If you get there before it closes, the view to the la Defense Arch and down the Champs back to the center are very nice at night.

there are other great places to walk but these would be my two with the most payoff to do first.

Wow.. Thank you all so much! These sound amazing! I think I'm going to start a new topic for night walks to hear everyone's experiences and find the best place for me. Just want to be close to my hotel while walking. 🙂

You'll hear it a lot on this forum and I agree, the two suggestions most often seen are for neighborhoods in either in the 4-5-6th as close to the river as possible, or on Ile St Louis. There are lots of lovely places to walk at night - the Notre Dame area and the neighborhood behind it are nice at night, lots of restaurants and people enjoying the evening. A walk along the Seine is always a good bet. I loved the nighttime boat ride on the Seine to see the buildings all lit up - did it twice, once on each visit. I walked just about everywhere I wanted to in Paris after dark alone and never felt unsafe or uncomfortable so really no problem there. If you'd rather be with a group, I think Paris Walks has a couple of evening walks but I'm not sure what they have in October.

EDIT: this is in answer to this question and to your other post which is similar. You could edit this post to include your questions about places to walk and where to stay, and then delete your other post. As a poster I always found it more helpful for me to have all the answers to my questions on one thread rather than multiple ones. Avoids a lot of duplication. Just a suggestion.

The "ditch" reference in a post here deserves explanation for those who do not know Paris. The Seine flows through central Paris in a steeply banked route so from the boat you will be looking up at the buildings. Okay at nights since some carry floodlights.

The buildings are beautifully lit at night. I've taken different boats many times and will do it again.

Or, you can just walk along the Seine and look at the bridges and lights. Just follow the river and the sidewalks around them, you'll be perfectly safe.
Sunset during the summer is around 10:30.

If you want to be able to walk around at night then I second staying on Ile St. Louis. We stayed there and felt totally safe walking around at night (sometimes pretty late!). It was really beautiful and there were always lots of people around so I never felt scared. And you're near Notre Dame, which as several have said is beautiful. I walked there several times at night to take in its beauty. Also, I'll note that although there always seems to be lots of activity in and around Ile St. Louis, our apartment was really quiet so we didn't have any issues with street noise while trying to sleep.

I love night walks, but with traveling alone, please be careful.
We did a Citroen motor tour (google it) and they picked us up at the hotel and brought us back to the hotel. It was where ever we wanted to go and we saw parts of Paris that we didn't get to (did this on our last night) but will go back to see next visit. 1 hour is very reasonable and so much fun!

I'd do the boat ride on the Seine, it only takes an hour, isn't too expensive, and you can do it after things are closed - so you don't have to skip other sights to do it.

The two best places to stay IMO are the Marais and the 6th. They are both centrally located and you can walk to most of the sights. I'd avoid down by the Eiffel Tower, because almost all sights will be a long walk or a metro/taxi ride. I'm staying in a small studio Airbnb on the left bank of the Seine, across from Isle St. Louis for one of my stops in Paris September/October. It's ideal for me but the owner sent a warning that it's on the 7th floor and there's no elevator. I don't mind, I like exercise and pack really light. The other stay, at the start of my trip, will be at an Ibis near Gare de Lyon because I'm only there two nights then off to Lyon.

When will you be there? The 7th will be Nuit Blanche and there are ephemeral (one night) art exhibits up all over the city. It's nice but security can make it difficult to get to certain areas. Many are set up on the Seine or bridges over it, so the cruise is a good way to see quite a bit without the long walk, then you can walk to see others.

I will be there from October 12th to the 14th. Unfortunately I will be missing White Night, but I have heard it is awesome! I've also been hearing a lot of people say that staying near the Siene is one of the best spots in Paris. Any suggestions?