Tour Eiffel Lines/Tickets

For a view that includes the Eiffel Tower, consider going to.the top of the Montparnasse Tower. It costs about 13 euros, but there isn't a long line - you may have to wait for two or three elevator loads. Then for close up viewa of the Eiffel Tower, you can either go to Troccadero or to the Champs du Mars. You'll avoid the crowds and scammers under the Eiffel Tower and still get a good view without having to look at the Montparnasse Tower itself. To see the Eiffel Tower sparkle take a cruise on the Seine after sunset.

This was my plan as I have already been to the top and don't feel the need to do so again. However, I am taking my wife for her first time in Paris and so I don't want her to miss out if she decides she wants to go to the top. So naturally I am looking for a way to hack the system. My thought is if the line for the tickets is what is longest, perhaps going to buy them right before closing for use the next day...or some variation of this. Any thoughts on if this would work or even save a little bit of time?

Also, is there much of a line if we just decide to take the stairs to the second level?

When were you going to be in Paris? I went last July and stood in line for about 45 minutes (in the height of tourist season!) for tickets to the top. I have also just climbed to the second level.....I think the best view is from there.....you can actually see more detail there. Not sure if you can buy tickets on one day and use them another day.

Will be there all day Friday-Monday of Labor day weekend.

What are the lines like if we got there early in the morning? Would also be willing to do that...but will want to come back later in the day to actually ascend.

Sorry.. there is only one line.. you will get in line and wait to get ticket.. at that point if you leave.. with ticket in hand thinking you can come back later to same point in line you will be very disappointed.. back to end of line you will go.

If remotely healthy ,, a great way to avoid long wait in line for elevator is to get in line for stairs. I did them and I am Not a fitness buff.

We climbed to second level.. and then lined up for a ticket to top for my son( I could care less about going back up to top again) .. the line for summit elevator tickets was about 20 minutes.. but then .. you still have to sort of line up for that elevator.. its only like another 10 or so minutes.

Personally.. if there was any way of skipping top I would.. its so crowded up there and frankly the view from second level is VERY satisfying.

Tickets cannot be purchased one day for use another day; you buy the ticket you head for the elevator right then. If you reserve you go to a special timed line and are admitted to the elevator with your time group.

If you don't want to reserve ahead then consider walking up.

"Saddening part about the view from atop La Tour Eiffel is that the view misses the tower itself"

Well, the view from Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe, and La Tour Montparnasse are all fairly spectacular. And then there's Galleries Lafayette. We've skipped climbing Eiffel, and seeing Versailles and the Catacombs twice now.

Try a Behind the Scenes tour. There's an option for a $20 or $30 ticket that includes an hour with a guide and then you skip the lines to the second floor. You have to get a separate ticket to go from the second floor to the third, but the line is much shorter. Once you're on the Tower, you're on your own (no time limits, you can stay as long as you want to). We've used Get Your Guide tours twice and it worked out fine.

If you really want to go to the top, do it. You can view the Tower from many locations, but it's not the same as being there.

We just returned from Paris last week. Two weeks before arrived, I booked a tour through Easy Pass for $59 each and my husband and I both found it well worth the price. The office is just a couple of blocks from the tower, you meet there with your small group and American/English speaking tour guide, and then proceed with your tour. It was so nice not to have to wait in the long ticket line! Our guide gave us a talk about the history of the tower and Mr. Eiffel, and continued with his talk (using whisper technology) through the tour up to the second level, and throughout the walk around that level, explaining what we were seeing and some Paris history. He then guided us to the elevator for our trip to the top, making sure others didn't try push ahead of our group waiting for the elevator (not a long wait). We were able to spend as much time as we wanted at the top. The views were great! Looking at the tower from afar is just not the same as actually being at the top. It is somewhat of an optical illusion from below as to just how tall the tower really is - doesn't look that big from below, but once you get to the top, you can see all of Paris. The tour guide was very informative, humorous, and answered any questions. I can't remember for sure, but I think the guided part was about 45 minutes to an hour. And we saved so much time not waiting in line! It gave us more time to see other Paris sites.

Very good to know and thank you for the update. Do you know if you would have been able to book closer to the day, or even day of with the tour? We are still on the fence so I was just going to play it by ear and try once or twice to see what the lines were and skip it if longer than we want to wait. But if we decide when we are there that it is a must do, this option might be perfect for us if it could be booked day of.

Thanks again for the info and update! Hope your Paris trip was a great one!

We also did the Easy Pass tour in May at sunset, but I booked it well in advance and their site does say that it can sell out. I think you just have to decide if it's worth the risk to see if it will sell out -- and then you have to decide what's the value of saving the time in line. I personally didn't think it was worth $59 euros each, but clearly the other poster did (there was no ticket line when we were there on a Sunday night). I think we were in line on the second level for about 45 minutes to go up to the summit, but we did bypass the initial ticket, security and elevator lines with the tour. Overall, I think our tour started at 8 p.m. and we were down at the bottom by 10 p.m. to see it glitter (spent about 20 min. at the summit).

We just got back from Paris. Did not have Eiffel tower tickets in advance. Went in the evening - waited in line for about 25 minutes and went up the elevator to the second floor. It was not crowded and I had anticipated it being terrible. We stopped by to see what the lines looked liked - they weren't bad so we waited. There are two different lines. Be willing to be flexible.

We were there three weeks ago, mid- or late afternoon on a warm, sunny Thursday. Ticket line was clearly marked for immediate entry only -- no buy-now-return-later. We had chosen not to try to buy advance tickets because we didn't want to lock in a schedule that might ultimately be inconvenient or run into bad weather. It was pretty crowded, but we waited no more than 40 minutes or so for tickets. I went to the second level, which was just fine as far as I was concerned. My wife and son went to the top and enjoyed it. Total investment of time on a beautiful day with pretty big crowds -- two hours and well worth it. Wonderful views and some lovely photos, one of which is now my Facebook cover pic. I'm sure the lines can be much longer at times, and if we had chosen not to wait for the lift tickets, I think we could have walked up in fairly short order.