Dinner Cruise
New Year's Eve in Paris 2026

Going on a cruise to celebrate New Year's Eve along the Seine is an excellent idea and the offers are numerous even if they are not for all budgets. For New Year, the price of a cruise with dinner in Paris followed by a dancing evening at the quay is from 245 euros on the barge Le Grand Bleu and can go up to up to 499 euros on certain luxury restaurant boats such as those of the company Yachts de Paris.

Depending on the year, more than ten river cruise companies offer their New Year's Eve party on the Seine. Our advice is to consult all the New Year's offers in Paris in order to make an informed choice. Several criteria are to be taken into account in addition to the prices: check the boarding address, the timetables, the menu (with or without drinks, choice of vegetarian dishes), the cancellation conditions (often very rigid). If you plan to celebrate on the Seine with your family, some companies offer reduced rates for children. However, these festive cruises are so in demand that companies are often reluctant to offer an inexpensive children's menu. If you are a smoker or simply need to get some fresh air, make sure that the boat you choose has a terrace. And if none of these offers ultimately suit you, also check out the evenings of December 31 in a Parisian cabaret or the dinners of New Year's Eve in a restaurant in Paris.

Festive cruises with festive meals and dancing evenings are highly recommended for children. Beware, however, of young children and babies: if they are accepted, they will often have to pay the price of an adult; also remember that it is a sailing new year and you will have to wait at least 3 hours before returning to the dock in case of unforeseen circumstances. The dance evenings are then animated by DJs and the sound is often too high for infants.

Although all the restaurant boats are not alike, the evenings offered by the various river cruise companies in Paris are generally based on the same principle on the evening of December 31: a gala dinner generously washed down during a cruise on the Seine followed by a dance party hosted by a DJ or a live orchestra back at the dock until around 2am.

On the night of December 31 2025, all the restaurant boats sailing on the Seine will aim to take you dreaming between the most beautiful monuments in Paris: the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, the Conciergerie, the Îles de la Cité and Saint-Louis, Notre-Dame Cathedral and of course the Eiffel Tower to name but a few. The illuminated bridges on the way will obviously have their wow effect. Please note, however, that no company can guarantee a route because it depends on hazards beyond its control such as a sudden rise in water or an administrative decision by the river police.

Boarding times depend on the festive dinner cruise you have chosen. Most houseboats welcome their guests more than an hour before departure time. We advise you anyway to plan to arrive at least 45 minutes before the indicated departure time so as not to have the disappointment of your life. On New Year's Eve, the Paris boats are required to respect very strict sailing times and will leave at the exact time without being able to wait for latecomers.

Take into account that streets or even entire districts of Paris will be cordoned off due to the planned street parties but also to ensure everyone's safety. The Champs-Élysées are returned to the crowd, the Eiffel Tower secured. This leaves little room for the car option even if some ports are conducive to it: to the west of Paris near the Ports of Grenelle and Javel where free parking at the foot of the boats is available to passengers; to the east, Port Henri IV and at the gates of Paris, the port of Ivry-sur-Seine are also possible options for cars. For all the ports located in the heart of Paris, we recommend taxis but also and above all the metro and the RER.

If you plan to return by taxi or VTC after a New Year's Eve on the Seine in Paris, plan to book it in advance because finding a free vehicle on New Year's Eve 2026 will be complicated. Applications like Uber or that of G7 allow you to make a reservation in advance several days before your evening. Consult the time of return to the platform and the end time of the dance evening and order your taxi according to your desires. Otherwise, many metro and RER lines are open all night to allow revelers to return home safely.

If we had to choose the 5 best options for a cruise with festive dinner and dancing on the Seine, we would suggest: 1 the Réveillon des Bateaux-Parisiens for boarding at the foot of the Eiffel Tower and ultra-modern, fully glazed restaurant boats; 2 the Bateaux-Mouches New Year's Eve for their boats with huge terraces that allow you to toast in the open air at the stroke of midnight; 3 the Yachts de Paris New Year's Eve dinner cruise for luxury embodied; 4 the New Year's Eve party aboard Capitaine Fracasse for the conviviality and generosity of the meal; 5 the dinner sailing on December 31 at Le Diamant Bleu for the modernity of the boat and the boarding in Ivry-sur-Seine far from the festive tumults of the center of Paris but very accessible at the same time.