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Where do the Seine boats depart from?
This is the most common question, and rightly so: Seine cruises do not all leave from the same place. There are four main piers, spread between the Eiffel Tower and the Île de la Cité, and picking the one nearest you saves half an hour on the metro.
The exact boarding point for your cruise is stated on the ticket you receive when booking. Check it before you set off: the piers are more than twenty minutes' walk apart.
Port de la Bourdonnais, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower
The best known and the handiest if you are visiting the tower the same day: it sits right below it, on the right bank. Metro Bir-Hakeim (line 6) or Trocadéro (lines 6 and 9), or RER C to Champ de Mars - Tour Eiffel. The obvious plus is that the boat sets off with the tower overhead; the downside is that it is the busiest stretch of the whole river.
Port de Suffren
About five minutes' walk from the previous one, also beside the tower but at the other end of the Bir-Hakeim bridge. It tends to be a little less crowded and access is the same: metro Bir-Hakeim.
Pont de l'Alma
On the right bank, by the Alma bridge. This is the historic pier of the bateaux mouches, the open-topped boats whose name became shorthand for all the rest. Metro Alma - Marceau (line 9) or RER C to Pont de l'Alma. It is a ten-minute walk from the Champs-Élysées, which makes it the handiest if you are combining the cruise with the Arc de Triomphe.
Square du Vert-Galant, on the Île de la Cité
At the western tip of the Île de la Cité, down some steps from the Pont Neuf. It is the most central and the best placed if you are staying in the Marais, the Latin Quarter or Saint-Germain, and the one that lets you start the trip in the historic heart rather than at the tower. Metro Pont Neuf (line 7) or Cité (line 4).
Departure times
Boats leave every 45 minutes between 10:15 and 21:30, and every 30 minutes from four in the afternoon. During school holidays an extra 22:00 sailing is usually added. The trip takes about one hour.
Your ticket has no set time
That is this cruise's advantage over others: your ticket is valid for any departure on the day you chose, so you do not have to build the rest of your day around a fixed time. Just turn up at the pier and board the next boat.
Which one suits me?
If your day includes the Eiffel Tower, leave from La Bourdonnais or Suffren. If you are coming from the Arc de Triomphe or the Champs-Élysées, the Alma pier is a short walk away. And if you are staying in the historic centre, Vert-Galant saves you crossing half the city. Since your ticket has no assigned time, you can head to the pier whenever suits you and take the next boat.