Eiffel Tower Tour and Seine River Cruise

Ah, Paris!  The city of Love, good food, wine and of course, Disneyland!  It was the later of these that drew me to the city last month but we had enough time when we arrived from the Eurostar to take in some of the sights before we headed to the land of the mouse!  I’ve only ever visited the city itself for one day before so armed with a desire to retrace my steps and fit as much of the city into just a few hours as possible I decided to team up with City Wonders to see as much of the city as possible in just a few hours by taking part in the Eiffel Tower Tour and Seine River Cruise boat tour!

Now City Wonders have a whole host of tours available across multiple destinations and there’s loads of choice for Paris.  If we had just a few more hours in the day I’d have loved to have done the Best of Paris in a day tour and I really want to come back and do the Versailles tour as that is a part of Paris I would really love to see but with our limited time, we chose to see two of the things on the top of our Paris Bucket List and went with the Eiffel Tower Tour and Seine River Cruise package to catch the highlights of the city.

After heaving leaving our bags at the station we wandered the streets of Paris, taking in the atmosphere and checking out the spectacular Arch De Triumph before heading to our tour meeting location near the Architecture Museum.  We met our City Wonders guide here and were given headsets so we could hear our guide clearly as we wandered through the crowded Parisian streets.  We were greeted with some amazing views of the structure itself as we headed down the walkway from the Architecture museum towards the tower, the whole journey our guide Arron told us sumptuous amount of information about the history of the building, how it’s changed and what leads to it being the highlight of Paris which we see today.Due to some of the atrocities that have taken place in Paris in the recent years you can no longer walk under the Eiffel Tower freely like you once could, you now have to have a ticket to get close to the tower and you go through airport style security, so bare this in mind when you pack for the day.  Our tour included the queue jump tickets so we headed straight for an elevator at the base of the structure.  These elevators were originally built at the same time as the structure itself making them really unique at the time, and they still operate the same way today!  Originally the lift operators sat underneath the lifts as they travelled up and down the different levels but they now thankfully remain safely inside.

We got out on the third floor and our guide walked us around each side of the amazing outdoor viewing gallery, explaining what we could see from all sides and giving more history on the city itself.  He answered any questions we had, even our obscure one about the TV show Vikings!  After this it was time for our Eiffel Tower Tour  to end and our guide to leave us to explore on our own, we spent a long while here on the various viewing floors, taking pictures and admiring the stunning views before we opted to walk down to the second floor.  Here there is a large grass area for relaxing and we took this opportunity to grab a gelato from the snack stand and rest our feet a while before we headed back down.  We did brave the glass floor before we left though, it’s not for the faint-hearted!

With only a few hours remaining of our day in Paris we headed to our Seine River Cruise which is thankfully only a couple of minutes walk from the tower itself.  Trips run every half an hour so there wasn’t long to wait before we could hop on board.

Given that our time in Paris was so limited this hour-long cruise was the perfect way to cram in as much of the remaining Parisian sites as possible.  There is outdoor seating upstairs or inside seats if it’s too cold outside and even a walkway at the bottom if you prefer to stand.  Their boat includes a guided tour in three languages so you really get to know the sights you see around you and learn more of the history of the city.  The boat was actually really relaxing and during the trip we saw the Notre Dame, Louvre and the Conciergerie among many more.If you are looking for a way to take the stress out of visiting the main sites of Paris, or just have limited time and want to fit in as much as possible I really recommend looking at the City Wonders website for their range of tours.  The Eiffel Tower Tour and Seine River Cruise package starts from just £43.

Have you ever been to Paris?  Do you enjoy taking part in a guided tour?

Our tickets were complimentary in exchange for review.