Every great city sits on a river. The best seat is on it.
Which Seine boat passes the tower and which one just circles. What four nights between Aswan and Luxor really costs. Whether the Amsterdam upgrade to unlimited drinks is worth it. Reviews of the river trips you can board this week.
1-Hour Seine Cruise departing from the Eiffel Tower★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · from $20
Bosphorus Dinner Cruise & Show with Private Table★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · from $28
Amsterdam Luxury Canal Cruise + Unlimited Drinks & Bites option★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · from $18
Westminster to Greenwich River Thames Cruise★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · from $22
Four rivers that decide a whole trip.
The boats people build the rest of the week around. What each one costs, how long it runs, and the kind of traveller it suits.
01The long one4-Days Nile Cruise From Aswan To Luxor including Abu Simbel and Hot Air BalloonFour days from Aswan down to Luxor with the temples written into the timetable. The only trip here that replaces your hotel as well as your transport.
02The city from belowChicago Architecture River CruiseChicago has the best skyline in America and the river cuts straight through the middle of it. Ninety minutes, guided from the deck, no queue for the view.
03The valley dayComplete Douro Valley Wine Tour with Lunch, Wine Tastings and River CruiseUp the Douro by road and back down it by boat, terraces going past at walking speed, lunch and the tastings in the middle of the day.
04The back canalsBangkok Canal Tour: 2-Hour Longtail Boat RideBangkok from a longtail in the klongs behind Thonburi, where the houses stand on stilts and the only traffic is other boats.
The Seine runs past all of it. Pick the boat that fits the evening.
One river, three completely different outings: an hour past the monuments with the commentary on, a table with dinner served as the bridges come alight, or a pass that lets you step off at the Orsay and pick the next boat up.
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 1-Hour Seine Cruise departing from the Eiffel Tower
The hour-long runPast the Louvre, Notre-Dame and the tower, then back. Commentary optional.
Dinner as the lights come onThree courses aboard while the quays turn gold outside the window.
Get off, get back onA day pass with piers at the Orsay, the tower and the Hôtel de Ville.
All 74 Paris river trips →
Six rivers worth building a trip around.
The Seine and the Bosphorus, the Amsterdam rings, the Nile between Aswan and Luxor, the Douro at Porto and the Thames running east. Where each one boards, and the hour of day it is best on.
A canal boat is a different animal to a river boat.
Amsterdam has more canal than Venice and the good boats are the small ones built to clear the bridges. Bruges, Giethoorn, the Bangkok klongs and the Birmingham cuts all work the same way: slow, low and close enough to read the doorbells.
The river trips more people take than any others.
Every river cruise we have reviewed →Eight boats with a booking history nothing else on the site matches, and what puts each one there.
1
1-Hour Seine Cruise departing from the Eiffel Tower
Board a modern Bateaux Parisiens boat at Pontoon 3 beneath the Eiffel Tower for a one-hour round trip past Notre Dame, the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, and more. Use the onboard web app or audio guide in multiple languages, then head upstairs for open-air photos. Indoor seating helps on cold or rainy days.
From · $20
Read our review →2
Bosphorus Dinner Cruise & Show with Private Table
from $28
3
Amsterdam Luxury Canal Cruise + Unlimited Drinks & Bites option
from $18
4
Westminster to Greenwich River Thames Cruise
from $22
5
Evening River Cruise with Music
from $27
6
Heated Canal Cruise with Unlimited Drinks & Bite
from $18
7
75 Minute City Canal Cruise with Audio Guide
from $18
8
City Centre Canal Cruise including Audioguide
from $17
What an hour on a river actually costs.
Every boat here grouped by price. A good stretch of water usually comes in under the museum ticket standing next to the pier.
Sightseeing hours, canal loops, hop-on passes and the local ferries that double as a tour.
Dinner with a window table, sunset sailings, and the full valley days with lunch served aboard.
Private charters, the multi-night Nile boats, and the long Douro runs with the wine included.
On the Nile the boat is also the hotel.
Three or four nights between Aswan and Luxor, tied up at a different temple each morning: Kom Ombo before breakfast, Edfu by pony trap, Philae floodlit after dinner. Nothing else on this site takes your accommodation with it.
Every Nile sailing →
Three river days that exist nowhere else.
Skylines have a best angle and it is usually from midstream. Some places have no other way in at all. These three are worth planning around rather than slotting into a spare afternoon.
The Architecture Cruise
The Chicago River threads between the towers at street level, so the guides can point at a facade and tell you why the setbacks step the way they do. Docents from the architecture foundation work the older boats and the commentary is the product, not the scenery. Book the first sailing of the day in summer: the light is on the east faces and the bar queue has not started.
- 1Chicago Architecture River Cruise★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 15,756 reviews
- 2Chicago Architecture Center River Cruise aboard First Lady★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 5,536 reviews
- 3Architecture River Cruise Skip-the-Ticket Line★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 4,325 reviews
The Klongs of Thonburi
Across the Chao Phraya from the Grand Palace the city turns into water. Longtails run the narrow klongs past stilt houses, temple landings and a floating shop selling cold drinks off the bow. The engine is a truck motor on a pole and it is deafening, which is part of it. Mornings are calmer water and fewer wakes.
- 1Bangkok Canal Tour: 2-Hour Longtail Boat Ride★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 5,909 reviews
- 2White Orchid Chao Phraya Dinner Cruise free Beer★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 4,573 reviews
- 3Longtail Boat Canal Cruise★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 4,076 reviews
Terraces and Rabelo Boats
The Douro was walled into terraces by hand over three centuries and the valley above Pinhão is still the steepest working vineyard in Europe. Rabelo boats once carried the barrels down to Vila Nova de Gaia; now they carry passengers on the flat water behind the dams. September is harvest and the busiest month on the river.
- 1Complete Douro Valley Wine Tour with Lunch, Wine Tastings and River Cruise★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 12,920 reviews
- 26 Bridges Douro River Cruise★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 6,472 reviews
- 3Authentic Small Group Douro Wine Tour with Lunch & River Cruise★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 4,775 reviews
Four river bookings the calendar decides for you.
Most boats here will take a walk-up an hour before the ropes come off. These four run on sailing dates, licensed capacity and a season that closes, and the seats worth having go months out.
- 014-Days Nile Cruise From Aswan To Luxor including Abu Simbel and Hot Air BalloonMulti-night Nile boats leave on set days of the week from Aswan or Luxor. Miss the departure and the next one is several days off.
- 02Bosphorus Dinner Cruise & Show with Private TableA dinner sailing seats a fixed number and the window tables go first. Booking on the day usually means a seat well back from the glass.
- 03Istanbul Bosphorus Sunset Cruise on Luxury YachtSunset is one departure a day and the hour moves with the season. Midsummer in northern Europe puts it near nine at night; in winter it is barely five.
- 04Private tour in the Douro (1 to 4 people) on a boat just for youA private boat is one party at a time. A Saturday evening on the Tagus or the Seine is often gone a month ahead.
What a river ticket covers, and what it quietly does not.
The fare buys the seat and not much else. Commentary is sometimes a recorded track through earbuds and sometimes a guide standing at the rail. Drinks are sometimes unlimited and sometimes a bar tab at the end. An open top deck is the whole point in June and a mistake in November. Filter for the thing you actually want.
By city — where the pier is
Amsterdam to Budapest: the run most first-timers do by boat.
The Rhine
ViennaThe river trips reviewed most recently.
Further down the new list →
Night Cruise on Two Rivers & Four Lakes with Lights
Read our review →
Private Full-Day Li River Cruise and Liusanjie Show
Read our review →
Groningen: Informative city canal cruise + drinks & cookies
Read our review →
Guided Dolmabahce Palace Tour with Bosphorus Sunset Cruise
Read our review →
Groningen: City canal cruise (with unlimited drinks)
Read our review →
Gothenburg: Paddan Sightseeing Cruise on the River Säveån
Read our review →
