Exclusive Travel Feature: Across the river from the Eiffel Tower, hundreds of tourists pack into the Bateaux Mouches every day to take hourly sails across the Seine, while a guide narrates the monuments and history of the city of lights. 

The main waterway is the heart and soul of the city as neighborhoods from the first to the twentieth coil around its center.   From east to west, people line the riverbanks every summer to share a bottle of wine or some music played on a six-string guitar.  Although few tourists miss the chance to take a selfie with the Seine, not many visitors know that you can actually get a room right on the water, or how inexpensive it is.

Flat rental sites like Airbnb or Paris Attitude have become a traveler's best friend for providing less expensive and more local alternatives to hotels.  The sites are regularly used to book apartments in the Hausmanian buildings, but among the landlocked-loaner pads there are also houseboats and yachts in the Seine included in the offerings.  

They range from couple's cabins to family sized vessels and are docked all along the river, giving you the option of staying on the upscale waters by Passy or downstream by the floating nightclubs Concrete and Wanderlust.

Besides being beautiful, the location is also practical for a flat rental.  The French may be stylish, cultured and well wined, but they are notoriously liberal with noise complaints. 

Even moderate noise on a tourist-schedule is likely to disturb a Parisian. Things like loud music and vibrant conversations among friends after 10pm could get you an unpleasant knock on the door in an apartment, but are fine on the water.

Renting a houseboat is best in the summertime when the Seine becomes its own neighborhood.   Anything that you want to do in Paris, you can do on-deck.  Off of the Quai Saint-Bernard, there are salsa lessons aboard the River King, next to Alma Bridge float a string of gardens, and across from Bercy Park the Josephine Baker swimming pool sticks out over the water. 

Many Parisian boats have also been converted into traditional café's where you can sip café crèmes and taste the steak tartar while looking up at the city.  For dinner, there are restaurants tethered to the banks as well as three-course sunset cruises.

August is an especially good month live on the Seine as many locals evacuate Paris and focus shifts inward towards the river.  The city shuts down the roads along the riverbank and transforms them into a large park. 

In one section there are track and field activities, while in another they actually create a beach by bringing in sand and lounge chairs. Trendy food trucks offer casual fusion cuisine like foie gras burgers and empanadas.

Although the boats don't come with a concierge or a breakfast buffets, they include basic necessities such as Wi-Fi and TV.  It is definitely an accommodation for the independent traveler, who values scenic views over room service.

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Angela Waters is a correspondent based in Berlin, Germany. She studied at the American University of Paris and is now working with journalists across the globe as part of international journalism organization, Associated Reporters Abroad (ARA). Since the age of four, she has been collecting stamps in her passport and finds herself torn between flying to her favorite places and taking a train headed for somewhere new.