Eiffel tower when to book

Karen ,, have you even noted if there are any tickets left for the two days you are in Paris.. I booked my tickets about 3 weeks ago for July and the time slot I wanted was already sold out. I think you need to go on the Eiffel Tower website right now and see what is even available. Otherwise you will have three choices. 1) wait in long long lines 2) take the stairs, its not all that bad, and lines are shorter and move faster.
3) see if there is any room for a lunch or dinner reservation and book that ...

Does anyone know if advance reservations are needed if you plan to use the stairs? Thanks

I'll be astounded if there are any tickets left. I had trouble getting July tickets over a week ago and had to settle for tickets to the second platform only as tickets to the top were sold out. The trouble is that two of the three elevators are being repaired. As to reservations for the stairs, unless something has changed in the last week, there is no such thing. I suspect given the lack a elevators there will be longer lines than usual for the stairs.

For what it's worth, I like the 2nd level better than the top. It's a much larger area therefore less crowded and I can see more detail of Paris.

A fourth option is to book a tour. I did through Fat tire tours (RS reommended). Pricey, 50 euro, but gets you to the top. Once in a lifetime things, so worth it to me.

I booked ours about 2 months ago. So glad I did.

Frist,,there is not advance buy option for the stairs,, they do not reserve them ever. Secondly,, the stairs are always faster then a long line for elevator, I did them about 5 years ago when all the elevators were working fine, but line was over 1.5 hrs long for them,, waited 20 minutes for stairs, middle of summer.

Thanks for everyone's input. I did get a reservation for the day I wanted, but the time was not ideal. So what I will do is try the stairs at the time I wanted and if the line up is too long I will use my reservation. To reserve to the second level isn't very expensive.

I realize that you only have two days to do the ET, but if others book ahead and do get a reservation and then they have a thunder storm on that day, oh, well. I have gone to the top twice and both times we just stood in line on a nice day to ensure we had good views once we got up there. One of those two times the top was "sold out" (meaning full?) so we went up to the second level and took turns waiting by the ticket window and when it finally opened, we purchase tickets up to the top. The total wait each time was not enough to make me give up on the whole process as I do have a low tolerance for waiting.

Charlie, but this was perhaps before one of the elevators was broken? Also, I have relatively young children, which makes standing in a line that much more tortuous! And we are from Vancouver - whats a little rain?? Plus it is so expensive to stay in Paris, I want to get my money's worth and see as much as I can!

Karen,, the rain in Paris in the summer can be astounding,, nothing like we have here.. its so weird, literally the skys open up ,, the streets will run with water, then like an hour later its sunny and hot again! The problem with rain and ET though is that the view from the very top gets too hazy to see much,, even from the second level a rainy days views can be a bit impacted, but, I agree, I would still go ,, if only to the second level( I agree with other poster who said view from 2nd level is pretty darn amazing anyways)

Thanks! Everyone has been very helpful.

Thanks! Everyone has been very helpful.