Eiffel Tower Questions

Hi Shelley. We've always just bought our ticket on the spot and climbed stairs. That way you can go at your convenience. There's no time limit; you can take as long as you want on the stairs, and on each level. Elevator ride down is free, or you can take stairs down. Enjoy your trip!

When you buy tickets online, you can get tickets just to the second level or all the way to the top (at 2 different prices). If you only buy to level 2 then once you get there that you want to go all the way up, you can buy an additional ticket to take you the rest of the way. We opted for 2nd level tickets in case the weather is not good. If it is cloudy and we can't see much, we don't waste money on a not very good view. If it is nice, we can still buy another ticket to go all the way up (essentially an extension of the original ticket).

You can buy a ticket either to the top or to the mid-level. If you buy only a ticket to the mid-llevel, you may buy a ticket the rest of the way up while you're there. Stairs go only to the mid-level. The stais to the top were removed in the seventies. Thers is no time limit anywhere. Regardless of how you do it, you will have no priority in the line going from the mid-level to the top. There will also be lines for the elevator/s to come back down. You will have no priority in them either. Buying any ticket ahead of time is a crap shoot due to weather. There's not much in the way of lines a couple hours before closing. The view is more impressive at night. The view from mid-level isn't much better than the ones from the top of the cathedral or the top of the department store whose name escapes me. The view from the top of the Montparnasse Tower is the best high view in town. If anybody else has clumped all the way to the top (obviously before the stairs were torn out) on the night before Christmas Eve because they were broke and couldn't afford an elevator, please raise your hand.

Okay, Ya the weather is a concern but we don't want to wait in line for hours either. Do you think there will be huge lines the very end of Sept? Got an idea from previous years.
Also, I wondered what time the light show begins. i know it's on the hour and for how long. Thanks everyone.

I went in mid October 2011, about an hour before sunset. I waited about a half hour in line. While I was waiting the tower lights went on, and while I was up there, the light show went on. This is not as exciting as you would think. The light show is better from the ground. I liked being up at night, though. I'd been before during full daylight hours.

Hi Shelley, We went to Paris last year in June, and I purchased our on-line tickets months before. We had reservations for 9:15pm, and it saved us from standing in an extremely long line. It was light when we went up to the 2nd level, and we stayed up there for at least an hour to enjoy and also take evening photos after sunset. The lights twinkle on the hour, beginning at 10pm. So, we saw the lights twinkle while up in the tower and also after we came back down shortly before 11pm. Magical & romantic!

We were in Paris two weeks ago. I was unable to get an advance ticket, so we got to the Eiffel tower around 8:45 am on a Thursday morning. The line had at most 150 people in it; it grew to about 2-3 times that before Tower opened at 9:30. Because we were early, after we got to the 2nd floor there was no wait at all to get to the top. We went straight up and by 9:45 we were at the top. There was also no wait to get an elevator down when we left about 30 minutes later. So my experience is, get there early and you won't have to wait that much even without an advance ticket. Then you can adapt to the weather. It worked out well for us, since we only had two sunny days in Paris (out of NINE, ugh!) and I was able to plan the Eiffel Tower for one of them.

I have two days that we could do the Eiffel tower. I'd like to do it at Sunset though and i really don't want to wait in line forever. Have to talk to Hubby and decide. He had said the same thing a while ago...what about the weather.. Thanks everyone.

Having gone up the tower a couple of times, my advice would be to use your precious time more wisely by enjoying the Champs de Mars and area around the base of the tower, but view the city and the tower from Sacre Cour or Montparnasse tower instead. Unless you're absolutely determined to go up the tower during the light show, you'll get a much better view of the light show from the Trocadero, where you will actually see the entire tower sparkling and be greatly entertained by the activities in the area.

Even if it's a cloudy day you can still see quite a bit of the surrounding area. Maybe the view is better from the Arc or Notre Dame or the Montparnasse tower. But the Eiffel Tower is unique. It's not just the view, it's the tower itself that is worth the trip. No time limit once you're up-no one makes you leave.

I didn't plan to be up on the tower for the light show. I want to go up in daylight but be close to sunset. And be nearby for the light show. It will get dark earlier in late Sept early Oct so the light show will likely be earlier too.