The Eiffel tower - tickets and practical information (2024)

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►Youare here: France›Paris Parisattractions› The Eiffel

Tower

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EiffelTower story

Practicalvisitor information

Buyingtickets

Parisguide

TheEiffel Tower

Factsand practical information

Location:Paris,
Region:Ile de France.
Height:324 metres (1,063 ft)
Firstopened: 1889
Nearbyattractions and othermonuments: Musée des Invalides (Militarymuseum), Muséed'Orsay (for the Impressionists), Musée d'Art Moderne(modern art),Seine river cruises

Planyour visit in advance

Theofficial Eiffel Towerwebsite sells tickets online, at the officialrates, for between 1 month and 4 months ahead.For example onJanuary 1st, you can buy tickets for days from Feb 1st to April 30th.But be warned; for Spring and Summer months, these tickets sell outvery fast.
If you're too late for tickets on theofficial site, or there are none left, you'll either have to riskstanding in a long line (in the hope that there are places available onthe day), or else buy a last minute ticket which may come at a highlyinflated price. Continue reading for our "best buy" tips, and to avoidgetting ripped off.

Lastminute tickets for the Eiffel Tower

Unfortunately,these days large volumes of tickets for the Eiffel Tower get bought upby tour operators and onlineresellers, as soon as they go on sale: so independent travellers willàoften find it hard to get tickets from the official site, other thanby climbing the stairs . And even then not last-minute. Toavoid the risk of disappointment, or of having to stand in a long longline, visitors need to look at the offers from online resellers.

Don'tget ripped off.

Manyonline resellers, specially those advertising heavily on the Internet,resell the Eiffel tower tickets they have bought at a large markup– sometimes more than three times the official price.

Warning: Buyingticketsfor the Eiffel Tower

Tickets on the officialEiffel Tower website(in English or other languages) are frequently sold out within minutesof coming on sale. The official site may well have no tickets availablefor the next three months, specially in busy tourist periods.
If, however, they do still have some available, they can bebought on line in English,and printed out in yourown home. It couldn't be easier.

Note that The Eiffel Tower is notincluded as standardin any of the Paris visitor passes.Passes may offer the option to buy an Eiffrel Tower tour, for an extrafee.

Donotbuy tickets online from othersourcesunless you want Eiffel tower access that is includedas part of a bigger package - see "Practical"below. Resellers cannot offer faster "skip the line" tickets than theofficial site, whatever they say ; and all resellers,includingthe Paris tourist office, charge more for Eiffel tower tickets than theofficial site - in some cases a lotmore.Be warned ! Even if you are unlikely to be able to get skip-the-linetickets from the official site, given how fast they sell out, check official ticket pricesbelow as a matter of interest !
Nomore tickets available foryour date? Try EiffelTower combined tours, which may sell outmore slowly.
Alternatively, buy tickets at the entrance ..... but be prepared for along queue ... or to find that everything is already sold out !

For 41 years, from its inauguration in 1889 until 1930, the EiffelTower was the world's tallest man-made structure.
That was just one of the many recordsit has held, or still holds. Others include the most visitedpaid-entrance tourist attraction in the world; and also one of the mostrecognised - if not the most recognised - structure in the world. As asymbol of Paris, it is known the world over.
The Eiffel tower was designed by one of France'sgreatest 19th century engineers, Gustave Eiffel, as a gateway to theParis Universal Exhibition, marking the centenary of the FrenchRevolution (1789).
It was originally put up on a 20-yearlease, and should have been dismantled in 1909; but by then it hadbecome such a landmark, and so popular, that the Paris city halldecided to keep it open – a decision that it has surely neverregretted.
The tower is built of 7300 tons of pigiron - remarkably little considering the height of the structure. Whendesigning it, Eiffel - who was creating a structure like none otherbefore -was particularly attentive to wind forces; scepticsthought that the tower was too high, and would be blown over in thefirst gale. Eiffel proved them wrong, and his design was so successfulthat even in the strongest wind, the top of the tower only moves byabout 7 centimetres. This is less than it moves under the effect ofstrong summer sunshine which causes the metal on the south side toexpand more than on the north.
The Tower has three levels, and thereare restaurants on the first and the second. Most visitors use theelevators (lifts) to the first and second levels, though there arestairs for the very energetic. Access to the top is by elevator only.Though elevators were part of the original structure, those in usetoday are modern replacements, and fully compliant with twenty-firstcentury safety standards.
The Eiffel Tower stands on the leftbank of the Seine (the south bank) in a garden known as the Champ deMars - or field of Mars, between the Seine and the Ecole Militaire.Obviously, on account of its height, the Eiffel Tower can be seen fromplaces all over Paris, and notably from the heights of Montmartre orfrom the top of Notre Dame or from the Arc de Triomphe; but one of thebest places to view it from a distance is just across the Seine, fromthe Esplanade of the Trocadero, right opposite.

Eiffel tower tickets &practicalinformation

► NB: Accessto the Eiffel Tower is notincluded in any of the Parisvisitor passes, not even theParisCity Pass (best value among the various city passes) or theMuseum Pass. Tickets are sold for a given dateand timeonly. See below.

Toursincluding the Eiffel Tower
Check out the ParisCity Visionwebsite for Eiffel Tower tours, with or without a meal in therestaurant. The Eiffel Tower has three restaurants. Obviously, evenwhendiscounted, the price of tours, whether or not they include a meal inthe Eiffel Tower areconsiderably more than the cost of normal acces tickets. But like otheradvance purchase tickets, they doprovide fast-track skip-the-line access to the tower. 6.20 €uroslessif you take thestairsup to the second floor instead of the lift. Take care ! Not foreveryone ! There are 674 steps.... that'slike climbing up to the 32nd floor or thereabouts.

For lastminute tickets when other ordinary tickets have allsold out, the standard secondfloortour may still have places available. Guided tour tickets aremore than thestandardticket prices, but you get your ticket in advance, you don't have tostand in a line, you get a guided tour; and it's a lot cheaper thanpaying for a hurried meal in one of the restaurants.
At the end of your second floor tour, you can then,andsubject to availability, buy a ticket on the second floor, totake you to the top. There are often no queues at the ticketbooth on the second floor, and since you buy the ticket attheTower, you get it at the official price.

Official EiffelTower ticket prices - 2024

Buy onlinefrom the officialEiffel Tower website
► 1stand 2nd floor only - by lift / elevator:
Adult: € 18.80 Youth age 12-24 :€ 9.40,Child aged 4 to 11: € 4.70
Babies (under 4): free
► (cheapest) 1stand 2nd floor only - by thestairs (take your time and enoy the views!)
Adult: € 11.80 Youth age 12-24 :€ 5.90,Child aged 4 to 11: € 3.00
Babies (under 4): free
►Rightto the top - by lift / elevator:
Adult: € 29.40 Youth age 12-24 :€ 14.70,Child aged 4 to 11: € 7.40
Babies (under 4):free
Disabledand their helpers: same as child rate.
There are public toilets on the first and second levels, but not at thetop level.
Access:
Metro: Bir Hakeim (Line 6) or Ecole Militaire (Line8)
Bus for Eiffel tower: lines 42 69 72 8082 87

To save time and avoid queues forother Paris monuments, check out theParisCity Pass , the best value among the different Paris passes,providing access to most museums plus aSeine cruise and other attractions.

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CheapEiffel Tower tickets? Ha Ha ! Don't be fooled ! They don't exist.

There are a number of websites claiming tooffercheapor cut-price Eiffel Tower tickets. Don't be fooled. No onecan sell cheap Eiffel Tower tickets, as all tickets come in the firstplace from the official Eiffel Tower operator, the city of Paris, whodon't do discounts. They don't need to ! They get more thanenough visitors without discounting !
One website advertises heavily to sell tickets with a "bestprice guarantee" even though they resell them at more than three timesthe official price! And others aredoubtless selling them for even more.

So any one or any website claiming to offer cheap EiffelTower tickets or discounted Eiffel Tower tickets is either beingdeliberately dishonest or elseoffering a discount on some packagewhich includesa visit to the Tower.
These tours exist, but the tour – whatever the discount– will bydefinition cost more than the normal price of entry to the Eiffel Tower.
Still, this may be what you want: here are a couple of examples. Click

See Buying ticketsforfurther information

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Hotels near the Eiffel Tower

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TheEiffel tower in Paris, built in 1889, is probably the mostrecognisable landmark in the world.

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Textand All photos except historic view of Eiffel Tower copyrightAbout-France.com