Eiffel Tower Advance Online Tickets...Helpful?

Thanks Steve, I've been there more times than I can count because my son loves it, but advance tickets is new and I was wondering if it made a significant difference.

On the other hand, what if you'd already paid for the tickets and the weather is so bad you can't see your hand in front of your face?

Skip sunset, the smog hasn't burned off yet, especially in the summer it's about as bad as it can get. Go after it's been dark for a couple of hours. Hardly any lines by then.

Besides, if you go at sunset, it doesn't get dark for another hour or so, thus the lights of the city are insignificant.

Besides, if you go at sunset, you can't see the sun setting over Paris anyway, since, if you're looking east at the city and the sun is setting......

We had the advance tickets for our February trip. We paid for the full ascent to the top but due to weather they closed the top level down. With the number of tourists around and our limited French we decided it wasn't worth trying to see about a refund.

I was there on a Saturday night a few weeks ago. Advance tickets definitely would have been a time-saver. It doesn't help you on that line to get from the 2nd level to the very top, which is also significant. Or the line to get down, also significant.

It's obvious where to go when you get there - don't get in the giant line, go to the security guy who is standing alone and breeze on through!

Thank you all for your posts. You've all been very helpful!