Paris – canal cruise

Paris has so much to offer that most of the time you don’t get to see much more than the classic sights around the Louvre and the Champs Elysées. For those with a little more time, I recommend exploring the “Paris of Parisians”, the old districts and the canal system east of the Gare de l’Est. If your feet are already hurting from all the sights, you can, for example, change to a boat and let yourself be driven comfortably and comfortably through the canal system.

We tried such a canal cruise once last week. At the Bassin de la Villette (alternatively at the Port de l’Arsénal), the provider “Canauxrama” offers a 2.5-hour trip through the canal system for 16 euros (adults). Departures are twice a day at 09.45 am and 02.45 pm from Bassin de la Villette. Depending on the weather and season, you should buy tickets in advance.

From the Bassin de la Villette, take a leisurely ride under a lift bridge in the direction of the Cité des sciences et de l’industrie. From the ship, you can see the bright red “folies” in the Parc de la Villette and the Géode, created by Bernhard Tschumi. During the trip, a person will explain the various sights on the shore and the historical significance of the canal. At the end of the Cité des Sciences, the ship makes a U-turn and heads back to the Bassin de la Villette.

From there, the route continues through the Canal Saint-Martin, where four double locks must be passed. Here you realize why the trip takes so long, because it takes almost 15 minutes to pass through a lock. With the first one we found it all very interesting, but after a while it was almost a bit too boring in our opinion. Worth seeing on this section are the historic “Hôtel du Nord” and the Hôpital Saint-Louis.

After passing the locks, the trip takes you past two swing bridges under the vault of the Bastille. The underground section is almost 2 kilometres long, dates back to different construction eras and is really impressive. The trip ends at the marina of the Port de l’Arsénal, near the Bastille.

Our conclusion is a bit mixed. The great thing about the ride is that I discovered some parts of Paris that I wouldn’t have visited otherwise. In addition, my feet were able to recover a bit from the exertions. But since you spend most of the trip in the locks, you don’t see quite as much as I would have expected from such a long trip.