We can't afford the restaurants, but my kids love the idea of having a snack on the Eiffel Tower. I saw on the website that there is a snack shop. What level is it on? What do they serve? Is there a place to sit? Is it always full of people?
We will be in Paris July and August and are a group of 7 (3 adults and 4 young kids).
We cannot climb the stairs but will have to take the elevator.
Is there less of a line at night?
Many thanks.
There are snack bars on the ground level, the first floor, and the second floor. The nicest place, IMO, is the one on the first floor, because there's so much space up there.....and most people seem intent on scrambling their way to the second floor and the top. But all are busy, all the time! See http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/teiffel/uk and check out each floor under "What to see" in the bottom center of the screen.
There are plenty of snack bar places to eat. There are also benches right at the base of the Tower as well as benches all around the park area right next to the Eiffel Tower. There was always some kind of line to get tickets and go up using the elevators. It seemed as though some nights, especially around sunset, which for them is between 9 and 10pm, there were pretty long lines everywhere you looked. With that said, everything ran smoothly and efficiently as far as I knew.
The snack bars on the 1st and 2nd levels of the Eiffel Tower are reasonably priced - given where they are located. I'm trying to remember some prices for you hot chocolate/coffee around 2.50 euros. Sodas around 3-4 euros. French fries around 3 euros I believe and they give you a large portion. I believe sandwiches were around 5 euros. I've been in the evening and during the day (2 different trips) and they weren't really crowded either time. I would suggest a weekday trip - I only waited about 15 minutes to go up. Whereas I went on a Saturday the first time and waited about 30 min. Of course both times I was there in the shoulder season. Hope that helps.
Oh, and I agree with your kids - I had to sit down and have a hot chocolate on the Eiffel Tower :)
