In fairness, at even the busiest times you can occasionally find shorter lines, especially late at night close to closing time – but you can’t count on it, even on those chilly, rainy Paris afternoons when you might think no one else would be crazy enough to be there (but they are!).
Eiffel Tower Tickets: 7 Easy Ways to Get Them & Avoid Long Lines
The Eiffel Tower – Le Tour Eiffel – symbolizes the city of Paris to the world. The 7+ million visitors who visit each year prove its enduring popularity!
If you are planning to be among them during your trip to Paris, you’ve probably heard horror stories about long waits in the ticket lines – up to 4 hours and even longer during the busiest (and often the hottest) times.
Unfortunately, these stories are true.
Especially if you visit during the summer or on a sunny weekend without a reservation that lets you skip the ticket line, you’ll swear at least half of those 7 million visitors are waiting to buy tickets on the same day you are.
Book Your Eiffel Tower Tickets Now
- Eiffel Tower Summit or Second Floor Access – Skip the ticket line
- Eiffel Tower Stairs Tickets – Skip the ticket line and the elevator lines (unless you select the option to take the stairs to the Summit at the top
But don’t worry – this is where our list of seven easy ways to see the Eiffel Tower comes in.
Once you know all the ways to avoid waiting in line for tickets, you can choose the best strategy for your visit, and spend your time enjoying the views as you create priceless memories.
Because after all, there’s nothing else quite like the thrill of experiencing the Eiffel Tower!
Book your Eiffel Tower tickets now:
Top photo: The Eiffel Tower, seen from Trocadero Gardens, (c) Paris Discovery Guide
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Eiffel Tower Ticket Requirements: A Quick Overview
Let’s start with a quick refresher of what you can experience inside the Eiffel Tower, how to get to each of the three floors above ground level, and available ticket types.
As you may already know, the Eiffel Tower has three platforms, or floors, above ground level for you to visit, and each offers unique amenities and of course, its spectacular 360 degree views.
You can reach the 1st and 2nd Levels by either stairs or elevators. Going up, elevators stop only at the 2nd Level, but do stop at the 1st Level on the way down. A ticket is required to access the 1st and 2nd Levels. Several types of tickets are offered, based on whether you want to take the elevator and/or stairs.
You can go up to the Summit (3rd and highest) Level by elevator only – but it is a different elevator than those going from the Ground Level to the 2nd Level, so to go to the top, you always have to change elevators and must have a separate ticket.
If you visited in the past, you may remember how you could buy Eiffel Tower Summit tickets from yellow ticket machines on the 2nd Level – but they have been removed.
Now, if you want to visit the 3rd Level, you must purchase a Summit ticket in advance.
Eiffel Ticket Types
You must have Eiffel Tower reservations such as a ticket (or a tour voucher, or Eiffel Tower restaurant reservation confirmation) to enter the Eiffel Tower. Four types of tickets are available based on which floors you want to explore, and whether you want to ride or climb.
Here are your ticket choices:
1. Ticket to 2nd Level by elevator (elevator stops at the 1st Level on the way down)
2. Ticket to the Summit (Top) Level by elevator (elevator goes to the 2nd Level; you change to another elevator to go to the top; on the way down, you get off the elevator on the 2nd Level and change to another that stops at the 1st Level on the way down)
3. Ticket to the 1st and 2nd Level by stairs
4. Ticket to the 1st and 2nd Levels by stairs, and to the Summit (Top) Level by elevator; coming down, you get off the elevator at Level 2 and take the stairs down to the Ground Level (and no, you can’t sneak onto the other elevator).
So how do our 7 easy ways to avoid the Eiffel Tower ticket lines help you? Well . . . there are lots of different ways to get your ticket without standing in long lines.
We’ll show you the pros and cons of each option – plus a couple of ways to experience the Eiffel Tower without tickets.
Option 1: Buy Your Eiffel Tower Entrance Tickets in Advance
You can choose from 2 ways to buy your tickets in advance online:
Buy Your Tickets on the Eiffel Tower Website
Go to the Eiffel Tower’s website and make your Eiffel Tower reservations by buying your tickets online for a specific date and time, and print it on your home printer.
You’ll pay the same price as you would at the Eiffel Tower’s ticket window.
When you arrive at the Eiffel Tower, you skip the ticket line, although you’ll still need to go through a couple of security checks and perhaps wait for the elevator to the 2nd Level.
Sounds good, right? It is – but be aware of these 3 “catches”:
Catch #1: Only a limited number of tickets are offered online. They become available about 2 months in advance and usually sell out quickly, so to get the best (or any) date/time reservation choice, you need to start looking for tickets as soon as they are available. If you can’t get them for the date/time you want, sometimes a few become available later – but they also sell out quickly.
Catch #2: These tickets are non-refundable and cannot be exchanged for another date or time slot. If your plans change for any reason including bad weather, illness, delayed flights, a transportation strike, or anything else – or even if you arrive more than half an hour late for your time slot for reasons beyond your control such as an unexpected delay on the metro – you forfeit the cost of your tickets.
Catch #3: The Summit occasionally closes due to strong winds or other dicy weather conditions. Less frequently, the entire Eiffel Tower closes due to labor strikes or security precautions. Occasionally, a celebrity will buy out the whole place and host a wedding there. If you have already purchased tickets, getting a refund may be difficult or impossible, as the Eiffel Tower website does not appear to provide a way to do this.
Buy “Skip-the-Line” Eiffel Tower Tickets through a Tour Company
Tour companies are much more likely to have skip-the-line Tour Eiffel reservation tickets available until almost the last moment, long after the last time slots get snapped up on the Eiffel Tower’s website.
Do “skip-the-line” tickets really let you skip the long lines?
Yes. and no. You do get to skip the very long lines of people waiting to buy tickets on site. You do NOT get to skip the security lines, but those lines are much shorter and typically move more quickly.
Skip-the-line tickets bought through tour companies usually include the services of a “host” or “greeter” who will escort you and your group through the “groups” security line, which is almost always faster (and usually a LOT faster) than the non-group entry. A host or greeter does not provide a tour, but will expedite your entry.
You can choose skip-the-line tickets to the 2nd Level or 2nd Level plus Summit – just like the options offered on the Eiffel Tower’s website.
Tour companies also offer stairs-only tickets. You can usually select a “Summit” options, which means that after you’ve climbed the 704 steps to the Tower’s 2nd floor, you will take an elevator to the top.
Some skip-the-line tickets through a tour company may even be refundable up until 24 hours before your visit (read the details very carefully when booking to make sure).
Tickets booked through tour companies typically cost more. However, because you usually can buy them much closer to your preferred date and you may be able to cancel or change them if your plans change (or if you want to avoid a rainy day), you have a much better chance of getting tickets for the date/time you want, and you reduce the risk of not being able to use them.
How to Draw the Eiffel Tower Real Easy
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Learn how to draw a picture that features the Eiffel Tower. This step-by-step tutorial makes it easy for students to successfully complete their drawings.
Media Details
Runtime: 4 minutes 38 seconds
- Topic: Arts, Education
- Subtopic: Art Education, Arts, General Education, Hobbies
- Grade/Interest Level: 4 – 8
- Standards: Meets 177 total
- Release Year: 2013
- Producer/Distributor: Draw Stuff Real Easy
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