Yikes - Eiffel Tower sold out!

Debra, if you do a search for Eiffel Tower Tickets in the search section (and limit it to 'forums') it will bring up about 20 threads on this subject. I'm sure you'll find some appropriate answers.

All that sold out where the advance sales. Walk up and buy a ticket. The shortest lines are going to be a couple of hours before closing and looking around is more interesting at night, anyway.

No yikes.. relax.. as said you can buy tickets anytime by walking up..
I suggest taking the stairs.. tickets are a bit cheaper.. but more importantly lines are shorter and move faster for them.. The stair line is at base of the Sud Pilar. ( south foot)
You can walk up to second level and if you feel you really must go to the top ( overated experience in my books) then you can get in a line on second level to purchase a ticket to the top. Line there is going to take between 10-25 , 30 minutes.. faster then waiting at bottom .. where in summer lines can be 2 hours or more long depending on weather and time of day.

And if you strike out with the ET, the Tour Montparnasse has comparable views that include the ET (and don't include the unattractive TM).

You can search and search (as I have) and you won't find better advice than what you've already got here.

Thanks, all. I'm going to try to relax on this one. Actually, walking up the first level sounds nice.

Actually walking up gives you an interesting perspective, the views walking through the legs is great.

The Eiffel Tower literally sells out in the first 5 minutes the tickets go on line -- so don't kick yourself. Unless you were hunched over the machine at 2 am the day the tickets went on sale, chances are you would have missed anyway.

The walk up is a good idea if you have the legs; more fun, cool views and shorter lines.

there's an old saying, the best view of the Eiffel Tower is from the Tour Montparnasse. Plus that way, you don't have to see the Tour Montparnasse!

It's nice to go up the ET, but not as necessary as you might think. Every time you look up from almost anywhere in Paris you'll see it.

If your hotel has a concierge, ask them how to get tickets. If you're willing to pay. Or try the American Express office.

The ticket to take the stairs - is that timebound, i.e., you buy the ticket and immediately start climbing or can you buy the ticket in the morning and pretty much climb up any time (once, not multiple times) later that same day?

Thanks!

Debra:

Yesterday, I got tickets for the elevator for our trip in the near future. Funny thing is that:

a) tickets were unavailable two months ago when I first planned the trip to Paris and had been consistently unavailable (I was checking off and on) until yesterday

b) there is no cancellation permitted on tickets purchased online

So, I don't understand how tickets came available. The only reason I can think of is that the powers of be guessed that visitor-level is lower than normal, so more online tickets can be sold.

Bottom line: Keep checking ... especially closer to your departure date. Something might open up!!

Hope this helps,
Porcupyn

Yup same thing happened to us. First time I checked, no tickets. Next couple of times, no tickets. But finally I was able to score my tickets. So keep trying!

Debra went to Paris in July, she's probably back by now...

Donna:

Whoops! Hopefully someone else can get some hope based on my experience :-)

I believe it is a 90 day advanced purchase, so I think you are ok. I just looked and there are tickets available for Feb. 21. I stayed up until midnight to get our tickets (with the time change, that was when they first went on sale for the date we wanted). I purchased them in March for our date in June. Check again and see if you can find the pattern of when they open up. I believe it is 90 days.

3 months prior to last April's tour we had the same problem. Rick Steves' Paris 2014 book listed alternatives, one being a guided tour through Fat Tire Bike Tours (but no bike on this one). We booked in advance, met at a cafe a couple blocks away, walked to the tower and avoided the lines. It was a bit more expensive but we had a very knowledgeable and pleasant guide who gave us a far more informative history than being by ourselves. I think these advance Eiffel Tower tickets sell out early, because tour groups like Fat Tire buy up large blocks for themselves.

I have to reply once more - if you are going off-peak (like we were), you might be better off standing in the line for the ticket purchase as opposed to reserving in advance. Here's why:

a) you are locked into the time and your day will revolve around the reserved time;

b) you cannot change your time if the weather is not too good and you would've been better off going up the Tower earlier or later, and

c) the lines are not going to be that long anyway.

For us, when we went, the lines were not too long. We reached 90 minutes before our time slot. The time was too short for us to go do anything meaningful anywhere else; the weather cleared up 60 minutes before our time slot and went back to cloudier when we did go up. We could've stood in the line and gone to the Tower much earlier than when we ended up going.

I had purchased tickets for 2:30 pm thinking that we would be up there until the sun sets; however, we did not have good prospects for a great sunset, so ended up returning after about an hour or so.

Porcupyn