The boat sounds like a fun way to get to a lot of the items I want to see.
My concern is I've recently injured my knee (but am going anyway) and am concerned there may be lots of steps up and down from the boat stops.
Are any of you familiar with this? I'd hate to get to a stop and find 30-50 stairs looking me in the eye!
Thank you,
Virginia
Unfortunately there are flights of starts on all the stops I used, Effel Tower, Champs Elysess, Dorsay but maybe around 15 to 20. I've got a bad knee as well but there were rails and I just took my time. The Batobus is a nice leisurely was to go and you see great views of Notre Dame that you don't get on the ground.
It is a wonderful way to get around. The locals use it for daily transportation. I agree with the previous post. There are some stairs. Just take your time. You can stay on for as long as you want. After a long day of walking and sightseeing this great city, I stayed on for two round trips, ate a bag of lunch and enjoyed the sights from the water. My wife and I even took a little snooze.
The Batobus is a great way to go from point to point. We used it to go from the Eiffel Tower to the Louvre where our hotel was located. Note:Beware of beggers while you wait near the Eiffel Tower. You can buy a combination Batobus & Hop On/Hop Off bus ticket as well. The bus has earphones that plug in and you can choose your language. It gives you a tour along the route and you can get off and on anywhere. Just remember that they are only good for the day you buy them.
Linda, I don't understand the batobus vs the hop on hop off bus. I thought the batobus was the hop on hop off. Is one a bus and another the boat? If not, what is the difference/advantage of each?
Thank you
It is one of the same
Sorry but they are not the same. The Batobus travels the Seine and has 8 different stops. No headphones on the batobus. The bus does a land route. It called L'OpenTour and does 4 tour routes and 50 stops. You can combine it with the Batobus and get a 2 day ticket for about 37 euro. A 3 day ticket would be about 40 euro. A one day ticket for just the bus will cost 26 euro...2 day bus only is about 29 euro. Check it out at www.pariscityrama.com
I maybe incorect. The Batobus, when I was there last month, was a hop on hop off mode of transportation. Granted it did not have a audio guide. But then again, I never said they had one. Sorry if I mislead anyone.
The Batobus is a boat on the river. There is no commentary,, and locals do not use it for daily transportation. Every time an english speaking person hears someone speaking french they figure they must be a " local", nope, French citizens like to visit their capital city as tourists just as much as Americans like to visit their own.
The hop on and off bus is called L'Open Tour,, in fact there are two companies that do this, the other one is called "Rouge Cars".
I think L'Open Tour buses have more routes , we tried them two years ago and enjoyed them . They have two decks,, and sitting on the top deck is the fun way to get a great view. There is a narrow stairway, but not so many steps.
To take the boats you must go up and down fairly long strips of steps , each time you embark or debark as the Seine is of course not street level.
The Batobus will not take you to some areas obviously,, so in my opinion the L'Open tour bus is a better all around choice for sightseeing.
What I do recommend is taking another companys boat tour,, one with nice open decks ,, and importantly, a commentary. We did this one evening and enjoyed it very much,, they point out the main sights, and tell you to look for certain things, like Napoleons intials on a bridge, or carvings representing certain things,, loads of fun .
The Batobus travels in one direction only , so you could waste a fair amount of time going around in a circle too.
I think that Rick writes that the batobus is like a greenhouse with the glass walls/windows, so you might want to keep this in mind if you will be using it in the summer.
Oh that does remind me, there is almost do deck space on the Batobus,, so you see alot of it through plexiglass windows, and yes, in the summer is WAS hot and muggy in there!
Other boats had more deck space.
I do not recommend the Paris L'Opentour double decker bus tour.
Firstly, the sound system was horrible and we couldn't understand the commentary for so much static.
Worse, the driver overcharged me for my child. I noticed this during the tour and waited until he stopped at the office to point it out. He would not make the price correction. The nice young lady in the office said only the driver could make the correction. Seeing as it was only the child and me in our party, his attitude was inexcusable.
Use a competitor, but NOT L'Opentour!
I'm not sure about the stairs, sorry. But, I wanted to make another suggestion about which company to use. If you are interested in just the river cruise part, and don't mind if it doesn't make stops, Vedettes du pont neuf looks like a good company, and you can print coupons before you leave. Or, if you know you're for sure going to do it, you can pay online a get a bigger discount (but you can still decide later what day you want to do it). It seems like the cheapest option anyway, and they have night cruises, which the batobus doesn't (at least in the fall; not sure about summer).
Remember, too, there are lots of stairs in the metro. You might want to familiarize yourself with the bus map if stairs will be a problem for you. Good luck with your knee!
we just returned last week from Paris and used l"open tours hop on/hop off tours, both boat and bus. I was not impressed with either, the bus got stuck in afternoon traffic and it took us 90 minutes to travel 3 miles. The boat tour was rushed and somewhat boring. I know you mentioned knee concerns, but you will have steps everywhere. We found the metro the most efficient and easy to use to get from place to place. We also felt very safe on the metro.
