climbing the tower in Notre Dame

There are about four hundred steps. For comparision, a house with eight-foot ceilings has thirteen. Call it walking all the way upstairs in a thirty story house.

I haven't gone up for YEARS, but i can report that when i walked by on Thursday there was a LONG line of people just waiting to pay for the climb

There was an extremely long line to ND Tower when my husband climbed it last year in May and it moved slowly. He said a young woman had a panic attack and had to go back down. Maybe it is a bit claustraphobic?

Per my recollection - there is a midpoint. So you don't have to go ALL the way up if you don't want. In fact, the day that we did the climb - the very top portion was closed to everyone so we only got to go up so far. I think we might have missed the last 80 steps or so because of that closed off part.

But I don't remember it being particularly hard to climb or closely packed.

The hardest part on the body may have been standing in the very slow moving line.

Thanks everyone for your help. The claustrophobic aspect might be what does me in. Don't like small enclosed places. Think I'll read and soak up the sun while my husband does the climb.

I remember it being a very narrow, long climb when I was 14 years old.

I still don't think it was as bad as the climb up the Duomo at the Vatican though. That one was really, really, really fun :)

It's a climb but there are places to rest along the way and the view is definitely worth it. I've been in lots of climbs in Europe and this one isn't as narrow as many I've been in. Yes, there is a line to get in so plan for first thing in the morning if possible.

We just returned and we were some of the first people up the tower in the morning and although narrow, there seemed to be small areas were the windows were that you could stop for a break. Because we were first, we did not have the closed in feeling at all. Coming down seemes much faster and had more windows. I found the climb up Sacre Coeur's dome more of a challenge than ND.

We have done many, many tower climbs and Notre Dame is nowhere near the worst as far as claustophobia-inducing.

The width, if not generous, is comfortable, and there are a few minor stopping points on the way to the top of the facade. There, you have plenty of room to breathe and look around unhurried, and see the gargoyles close-up (lots of fun). You can also duck-in to see the big bell in the tower. Then you can do the final climb to the top of the south tower (or not) for a great view over the city. It is worth it.

We climbed to the top of the Scott monument in Edinburgh a few years ago and the last bit of the spiral near the top was literally 16" wide (narrow shoulder width) and 5' tall. So you climb while ducking and turning a bit, and hope that no one is trying to come down at the same time. That, was tight!!