Canal St Martin

Not recently, but several times - - the last ones because somebody else wanted to and I'm ocassionally polite. Boring, a waste of time and money. If the flow hasn't flushed the system, it can get really smelly in the tunnel. Ride the batobus instead, especially at night if it's running that late when you're there. You could walk back, it's maybe a bit more than two miles, but not really interesting. The basin at the north end of the canal is surrounded by metro stations. Diagrams all over the place are easy to figure out. If you caught Metro 2 eastbound at Stalingrad (or whatever the next stop to the east is) you could switch to Metro 11 southbound at Belleville and hop off at Hotel de Ville which should put you pretty close to home.

I liked it. It begins with a ride up the Seine where you see as much the same sites as the Bateaux Mouches. It turns into the Canal St. Martin and begins in the aforementioned tunnel. It transits a series of locks through leafy neighborhoods you wouldn't otherwise see and then takes you near the Cites des Sciences. It's slow, no question about it. But the guide is frequently funny and points out in English interesting sites along the way. As Ed said, catch the Metro back.

I took the trip a year and a half ago. I was underwhelmed. Going through the locks seemed to be one of the main attractions. With hindsight, I would have enjoyed strolling along the canal at least as much as being on it. Our guide was interesting but nothing to write home about. For different, take the Paris Walks chocolate tour. Great guide, interesting stories and marvelous chocolate. If you haven't been, the Pere LaChaise cemetery is different and fascinating.

We went in the fall of 2009, so not terribly recent but we (DH and I and his parents) really enjoyed it. It was in October so the weather wasn't overly warm so we didn't notice any smell at all. The captain / guide was hilarious in both languages, and he also played a clarinet while the boat was in the covered section of the lockseerily beautiful. If it is remotely warm enough I would recommend sitting on the upper level. We walked around the Parc de la Villette afterwards. We went inside the lobby of the science museum but did not visit it; I would consider it with the right age kids. The various "folies" or little playgrounds scattered through the park are cute and interesting. I suspect the park is a great place to be on a nice day. Depending on how hardy you are, the Buttes des Chaumont and the "village" of the Mouzaia area are both walking distance from the east side of the Parc de la Villette. Mouzaia in particular is very different to the "typical" Parisian street everyone imagines. You can take the Metro back from there or from Villette if you don't want to wander.

My friend and I went on the canal ride on a sunny day in late November and really enjoyed it for several reasons: it gave us a view of Paris we had not seen before, we were able to sit for a few hours after several days of endless touring and walking, and we got to talk to others on the boat - most of whom were not Americans. The Metro or a cab will take you back "home."

We made it a point to see Canal St Martin on our trip to Paris last spring. Did not do the boat cruise and the locks looked like a slow process. The area where we walked was seedy, canal had debris floating in it, and there were many urban campers under the bridges. I would not waste time with this. With all the wonderful charm in Paris, there was none around the canal.