Tuileries Garden, Orangerie and obelisk: what the Seine reveals between Concorde and the Louvre

We have already written articles about the Louvre seen from the water, the most beautiful bridges and the monuments of the Seine as a whole. Here, we change scale: a single stretch of about one kilometre, between the Place de la Concorde and the Carrousel. It is a complementary angle, designed for those who want to know what to look at, what to talk about and at what time.

This stretch has one particular feature: the Tuileries Garden, the Orangerie and the obelisk look different from the river than they do to someone strolling along the quay. The perspectives open up, the façades answer one another and the evening light runs right through them.

The Pont de la Concorde: a gateway steeped in history

Your stretch begins under the Pont de la Concorde, which links the square of the same name to the Palais Bourbon. The story is well known to guides, but it still goes down well on board: stones from the dismantled Bastille are said to have been used in its construction, at the end of the 18th century. Guests enjoy passing, quite literally, beneath a piece of the Revolution.

From the water, the Place de la Concorde is more hinted at than shown. You catch sight of its railings, its tall trees and the top of the obelisk rising above the parapet. This is the moment to look up: the monument is visible for just a few moments before the quays hide it from view.

The Luxor Obelisk: three millennia above the Seine

The obelisk comes from the Luxor Temple in Egypt. It was given to France in the 19th century and erected on the Place de la Concorde in 1836, under Louis-Philippe. It stands about twenty metres tall and is more than three thousand years old, which is dizzying when you picture it facing today's traffic.

Here are two details to share with your guests:

• the spot was for a long time the site of the scaffold where Louis XVI was guillotined in 1793, when the square went by another name;
• the gilded top of the monument, the pyramidion, was restored in the late 1990s: it is the first part to catch the rays of the setting sun.

The Tuileries Garden and the Orangerie: the great terrace on the water

Heading east, the right bank is lined with a long strip of greenery: the Tuileries Garden. It dates back to Catherine de' Medici in the 16th century and owes its current layout to André Le Nôtre, who redesigned it in the 17th century. From the boat, you mainly see the terrace along the Seine, the chestnut trees and, in the distance, the long vista running towards the Louvre.

At the western end of the garden, on the Concorde side, stand two twin buildings: the Jeu de Paume and the Orangerie. The latter was built in the mid-19th century to shelter the garden's orange trees over the winter. It is now famous for Claude Monet's Water Lilies, whose large panels were installed in the 1920s. It makes a lovely image to share: a garden of ponds painted by an artist, just metres from the real river.

Another story that stays with people: the Tuileries Palace itself has disappeared. Burnt down during the Commune in 1871, it once closed off the garden on the Louvre side. That is why the perspective now opens onto the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel rather than a palace.

The footbridges and bridges up to the Louvre

Between Concorde and the Louvre, several structures punctuate the journey. You pass in particular under the Passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor, a pedestrian bridge linked to the Musée d'Orsay, then under the Pont Royal, one of the oldest in Paris, and finally under the Pont du Carrousel, facing the Louvre Palace.

On the left bank, the long façade of the Musée d'Orsay, a former railway station, echoes that of the Tuileries. If your guests love art history, you can invite them to compare: Monet at the Orangerie on one side, the Impressionists at Orsay on the other, separated only by the width of the river. To prepare this angle better, our article on boarding near the Musée d'Orsay details access on the 7th arrondissement side.

Making the most of golden hour on this stretch

The low evening light is the great asset of this area. A few practical pointers:

• The direction of travel matters. Heading towards the Louvre, you have the setting sun behind you: the pale stone façades turn golden and your photos are not backlit. Conversely, heading back towards Concorde offers beautiful silhouettes but means working with the sun in your face.
• The timing changes with the season. The sun sets very late in June and much earlier in December. We recommend checking the exact sunset time on the day of your outing, then planning to pass under the Pont de la Concorde about three quarters of an hour beforehand. Our article on sunset on a boat in Paris helps you fine-tune the timing.
• Plan a pause. Slowing down or stopping in front of the Louvre lets everyone enjoy the scene without rushing. For this highlight, our guide to seeing the Louvre from the Seine offers further pointers.
• Set the mood. A drink in hand, some discreet music: the view is often enough. Keep a short moment of silence when the sun touches the top of the obelisk or the glass roof.

A few ideas for telling the story of this stretch on board

There is no need to turn your outing into a lecture. Three or four well-placed anecdotes are enough: the Bastille stones beneath the Pont de la Concorde, the obelisk erected almost two centuries ago, the orange trees that became Water Lilies, the vanished palace behind the Carrousel. Each takes a minute to tell, just as the monument comes into view.

If you would rather have the crew or a willing guest slip them in, prepare them with us beforehand. We can also help you choose the right boat for your group, from a yacht for a few people to a barge for a large reception, and time the boarding so that this stretch falls at golden hour.