Enough Time for Eiffel Tower?

We have been up the Eiffel Tower twice (2nd level). While it's fun to look down on Paris, we both enjoy looking UP at the ET much more. If your time is limited, I would use it for walking around and savoring Paris, not standing in a line waiting to go up the ET. Go over to the Trocadero and soak in the view. If the sparkles are still on after you finish your bike tour, go sit on the Champs and watch them (on the hour for five-ten minutes). Plenty of Parisians there too, not just tourists.

Well the FT bike tour meets at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, so you would be right there,, you just have to fit something in to eat before bike tour,, a crepe or a quick meal at a cafe nearby( or eat at the cafe upstairs at ET,, I don't recall it being good,, just a snack bar) I personally would do it as I found one only spends an hour or two on tower,, but, have you prebooked tickets,, that would eliminate having to factor in a long wait in line( mind you in November lines may not be too bad) . You can prebook online. P S you will like the tour,,

I'm with Cynthia. I like looking up at the tower, and the view from Trocadero is magnificent! That being said, if you pre-book and have a ticket, you won't have to waste time in line, and should be able to "squeeze" the trip up to the 2nd level in the window you have.

Hello Mary, I used the stairs to go to the 2nd floor last summer. the waiting line for them was only 15 minutes, we went a second time with the elevator but then we had to wait nearly 2hrs in line. Climbing the stairs was in my opinion much more fun,
however there are 704 of them... http://www.eiffel-tower.com/ Bon voyage !

If you do decide to go up the ET be sure to check out the length of the different ticket lines. The first time we went to the ET the ticket line closest to the water was VERY long while the other line was VERY short. I left my wife in the first line and went over to the shorter line and asked the employees there what was the difference between the two lines to which one employee answered that the long line was made up of "lemmings" while the second line was made up of people in a hurry. I immediately got in the shorter line and signaled to my wife who joined me.

You can book online the tix for the tower; Sept might be less crowded but spring/summer waits have been 2 hrs or so. You might be better going early another day or natively going up in the Montparnasse Tower, across the city, open 9:30-11 or so and from there you will get a great view of all the city including the Eiffel Tower. If you do get up, you'll probably only need 1/2 there. Enjoy & good luck!

Prebook your ticket online and for a certain time. Give yourself about 90 minutes to go up. I only went to the second level but would definitely go the third level next time. Best photos are from level 2. If you FT bike tour leaves from ET, arrange tickets for 4:oo or 4:30 , grab a bite to eat, and get on the bikes. Be sure to take a photo of the ET at night when it is dark. Have fun. Bike tour sounds great.

Definitely book your tickets on-line. We walked in at our appointed time and went to the second level. We did have to wait in a bit of line as I wanted to go from level 2 to level 3. In contrast to other posters, I loved ET and we spent 3 hours on the tower itself. My husband and I booked tickets to be there right before sunset so we could see the city both in light and darkness. We looked around from the second level and then ascended to the third. We took pictures on the very exposed top top level and walked a complete circle up there watching the sun set until we got too cold ( went in early April). Then we went down to the enclosed area and warmed up and walked all around again checking out the skyline. Then we went back up and repeated the process since it was now really night. Finally we descended and walked around level 2. The light show came on about then so we could see it from the Tower. Later on our trip we were taking an evening Seine tour and were very close to the Tower so we saw the light show from outside the tower. I don't know if I would have enjoyed the tower as much just in daylight. It was a treat for me doing it the way we did.

Mary-PLEASE DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT pre-book your tickets for the Eiffel Tower. I've been up it 3 or 4 times now, and you never know what the weather will be. If it's rainy/foggy then it will be a waste of time and money. Even if the weather is "supposed" to be clear and sunny on 19 Sept, from reports on 18 Sept, you just never know. If the weather is nice, go early enough to go up it, check out the lines, and if they're long just walk around, enjoy a leisurely dinner etc. I suspect some of these people who say pre-book either haven't been there or got lucky with the weather!

I would not try to squeeze it in.. Some things are best not rushed and this is one of them. Spend a little time to get somethign to eat, get your bearings and enjoy your evening... We have prebought our tickest for the Eiffel both times we went up. It was in July/August so the lines were long. We took a gamble on the weather to avoid the long tickets lines, but in Sept. it might be better.. BTW, we very much enjoyed the town of Bayeux as well as the WWII history. It is a neat place!

save it for another day..try it at sundown..also suggest walking up because the line is only about 15 minutes as opposed to the much longer elevator. Views incredible at night

I'd "squeeze" it in. In Sept the lines will be better and if you are in good enough shape to walk the 700 stairs (vs the elevator) to the 2nd level you will have no problem. You will need to stand in line to go from the 2nd level to the top but everyone needs to do that once and as long as you aren't trying to do it right at sunset, you should be fine. It's a great experience but once you are up there I doubt you'll stay longer than an hour and you can walk down the stairs from the 2nd level to the ground and hop on the bike tour (which is actually fun but the ask your bike tour guy to get you to the boat early enough that you dont get stuck in the stinky back section standing the whole time.)

Check out Rick's Blog regarding booking online for the Eiffel Tower. http://blog.ricksteves.com/?p=3824 Pam