How to Get Eiffel Tower Tickets in Paris

The elevator doors open on the second floor and suddenly all of Paris is spread out beneath you like a living map. The Seine curves through the city, Montmartre sits on its hill in the distance, and somewhere down there somebody is probably arguing about the best croissant in the 7th arrondissement.

That moment — stepping out onto the platform 115 meters above the ground — is why roughly seven million people line up for Eiffel Tower tickets every single year. And getting those tickets? It used to be straightforward. Now it requires a bit of strategy.

The official site releases tickets 60 days in advance, and they vanish fast. Peak summer months can sell out within hours of opening. But here is the thing most guides will not tell you: the official website is only one of at least five different ways to get up the tower, and some of them are actually better than the direct route.

How Eiffel Tower Tickets Actually Work

Before you start clicking around trying to buy tickets, you need to understand the system. The Eiffel Tower has three levels open to visitors, and the pricing depends on two decisions: how high you want to go, and whether you take the elevator or the stairs.

The Second Floor (115 meters) sits roughly 377 feet above the ground. Despite the name, this is not literally the second floor of a building — it is higher than most apartment blocks in Paris. The views from here are outstanding, and honestly, many repeat visitors say this is the sweet spot. You are close enough to pick out individual landmarks but high enough that the city layout makes sense.

The Summit (276 meters) is the top. This is where Gustave Eiffel had his private apartment (you can still see a recreation of it through the glass). The champagne bar is up here too, though expect to pay Paris-premium prices for a small glass. On clear days you can see 70 kilometers in every direction.

Stairs vs. Elevator — and this is the part most people skip over. You can walk up to the second floor via 674 stairs. The stair tickets are cheaper and — this is the key part — almost always available even when elevator tickets are completely sold out. The stairs are wide, well-maintained, and broken into sections with rest platforms. It takes most people 30 to 45 minutes at a comfortable pace. From the second floor, you can then buy an elevator ticket to the summit if you want to continue higher.

Official Tickets vs. Third-Party Options

There are three main routes to getting your Eiffel Tower tickets. Each one has trade-offs.

Route 1: The Official Website (ticket.toureiffel.paris)

This is the cheapest option. Adult elevator tickets to the second floor run around 18.10 euros, and summit tickets are about 28.30 euros. Stair tickets to the second floor cost just 11.30 euros. Youth and child discounts apply.

The catch? Tickets open exactly 60 days before the visit date, and popular dates sell out within the first few hours. You need to be ready at midnight Paris time (that is 6pm Eastern, 3pm Pacific the day before). Set an alarm. Have your payment details ready. And even then, you might strike out on summit elevator tickets for peak summer weekends.

If you get shut out, check back regularly. Cancellations do appear, especially 2-3 days before the date. But this is not a reliable strategy for a trip you have already booked flights for.

Route 2: Skip-the-Line Tour Operators

Companies like GetYourGuide and Viator buy ticket allocations in bulk from the tower. They mark them up — sometimes $10-15 above face value — but they come with guaranteed time-slot entry and often include a guide who can share background you would miss on your own.

The real advantage is availability. When the official site shows sold out for a given date, tour operators often still have inventory. They secured their allocation months in advance.

Route 3: Walk Up and Queue

Yes, you can still show up without a ticket and buy one at the base. But the wait can stretch to 2-4 hours during summer, and there is no shade for most of the line. This is the option of last resort, not a plan.

The Best Eiffel Tower Tours and Tickets

We looked at every major Eiffel Tower experience available through the main booking platforms and narrowed it down to five that actually deliver. These are sorted by the type of experience rather than price, because the right ticket depends entirely on what kind of visit you want.

1. Eiffel Tower Entry Ticket with Optional Summit Access

From $29 per person | 90 min – 2 hours

This is the straightforward ticket most people want. Elevator access to the second floor, with the option to upgrade to the summit at booking. You get a timed entry slot, skip the longest part of the general queue, and go at your own pace once inside.

No guide. No frills. Just the ticket and the views. If you prefer exploring on your own without someone narrating every rivet, this is the one.

One thing to note: the optional summit upgrade needs to be selected at the time of purchase. You cannot add it later, and summit slots do sell out independently of second-floor slots.

Read the full review and book this ticket

2. Eiffel Tower Reserved Access: Summit or 2nd Floor

From $25 per person | 90 minutes

This option includes a host who meets you at a designated point near the tower, walks you through the dedicated access lane, and gets you inside with minimal waiting. It is not a full guided tour — the host gives you some context and tips during the short walk and elevator ride, then you are free to explore.

The price is actually lower than the entry ticket above, which might seem odd. The difference is that this one sometimes routes through a slightly different access point and the availability windows can be narrower. But the core experience — getting up the tower without a massive wait — is the same.

Good option if the entry ticket above is sold out for your date.

Read the full review and book this tour

3. Eiffel Tower Stairs Climb to Level 2 with Summit Option

From $42 per person | 2 – 3.5 hours

The guided stair climb is a completely different experience from taking the elevator. A guide leads you up the 674 steps, stopping at key points to explain the engineering, the history, and the stories behind different structural elements. You notice details you would walk right past on your own — the names of 72 scientists engraved on the first level, the old hydraulic elevator machinery, the military telegraph station.

The climb itself is not brutal. The stairs are wide and well-maintained, and the guide paces the group. Most reasonably fit adults handle it fine. You stop often enough that your legs do not give out.

This tour almost always has availability even when elevator tickets are gone. It is the secret weapon for last-minute visitors. And honestly, you see more of the tower from the stairs than you ever would from inside an elevator.

Read the full review and book this tour

4. Eiffel Tower Access by Elevator + Seine River Cruise

From $79 per person | 3 hours

Two of the most popular things to do in Paris bundled into one ticket. You get elevator access to the Eiffel Tower (2nd floor, with summit upgrade available) plus a one-hour cruise on the Seine.

The cruise departs from the foot of the tower, so the logistics work smoothly — tower visit first, then straight onto the boat. The river cruise passes Notre-Dame, the Louvre, Musee d Orsay, and several historic bridges. It is a good way to get your bearings in Paris, especially if you have just arrived.

At $79, this is pricier than buying each separately. But the convenience of a single booking with coordinated timing has real value, especially if you are working with limited days in the city.

Read the full review and book this combo

5. Eiffel Tower Summit Ticket + Seine River Cruise

From $64 per person | 3 hours

Similar to the combo above, but this one specifically includes summit access as standard rather than an upgrade. If you know you want to go all the way to the top and you want the river cruise too, this is the cleaner booking.

The summit experience itself is worth it at least once. The champagne bar, the recreation of Eiffel office, and the genuinely dizzying height all make it distinct from the second-floor visit. Just know that the summit platform is smaller and gets very crowded, especially around sunset.

Read the full review and book this combo

When to Visit the Eiffel Tower

Timing matters more than most people realize, and the difference between a great visit and a frustrating one often comes down to the hour you chose.

Best time of day: First thing in the morning (9:00-9:30 opening slot) or late afternoon from about 5pm onward. Midday from 11am to 3pm is the worst — the crowds peak, the sun is directly overhead killing your photos, and the wait times for the summit elevator on the second floor can hit 45 minutes even with a ticket.

Best time of year: September and October are the sweet spot. The summer crowds have thinned, the weather is still pleasant, and ticket availability is dramatically better than July-August. Late April through May is also good.

Sunset visits: If you can get a slot for about 90 minutes before sunset, you will see the city in daylight, watch the golden hour transform the rooftops, and then catch the tower lights come on. Every hour on the hour after dark, the tower does a five-minute sparkling light show. Seeing it from the inside while it happens is surreal.

Skip these dates: July 14 (Bastille Day) is mobbed. The first two weeks of August when all of France goes on vacation and every tourist in Europe descends on Paris. Christmas week and New Year Eve.

Practical Tips That Actually Help

Book exactly 60 days out. Mark your calendar. Set an alarm for midnight Paris time. Have your credit card ready. This is the single most effective thing you can do for official tickets.

If official tickets are sold out, do not panic. Third-party platforms like GetYourGuide and Viator almost always have availability. You pay a premium, but you get in.

Consider the stairs even if you do not have to. The stair route gives you a fundamentally different perspective of the tower construction. You are inside the iron structure rather than sealed in an elevator. And the stair tickets rarely sell out.

Layer up for the summit. Even on warm summer days, it can be genuinely cold and windy at 276 meters. Bring a light jacket.

Eat before or after, not at the tower. The restaurants on the tower (Madame Brasserie on the first floor, Le Jules Verne on the second) are experiences in their own right, but they are expensive and require separate reservations. For a regular visit, grab a crepe from the stands along Avenue de la Bourdonnais after you come down.

Use the Trocadero approach. Walk from Trocadero (Metro line 6 or 9) across the Pont d Iena toward the tower. This gives you the classic head-on view as you approach and makes for better photos than arriving from the Champ de Mars side.

Pickpockets are real. The area around the base of the tower, especially on the Champ de Mars, is one of the most active pickpocket zones in Paris. Keep your phone in a front pocket and your bag zipped and in front of you.

What You Will Actually See Up There

From the second floor, you can clearly identify the Arc de Triomphe straight down the Champ de Mars axis, the golden dome of Les Invalides where Napoleon is buried, Sacre-Coeur perched on Montmartre to the north, and the long glass roof of the Grand Palais. The Seine curves through the middle of everything. On clear days, you can trace it all the way to the skyscrapers of La Defense in the west.

The first floor (57 meters) has a glass floor section that lets you look straight down to the ground below. Kids love it. Some adults do not. There is also a small exhibition about the tower history and the various schemes people have proposed for it over the years — including painting it yellow, tearing it down after the 1889 exposition (it was supposed to be temporary), and using it as a giant billboard.

The summit level feels different from the second floor. The platform is smaller, the wind is stronger, and there is a real sense of exposure. The champagne bar sells small glasses at steep prices, but people buy them anyway because the story is better than the champagne. Eiffel restored office sits behind glass at the summit — a tiny room with wax figures of Eiffel and Thomas Edison, who visited in 1889.

If you are planning a longer stay in Paris, the Eiffel Tower pairs naturally with a few other experiences that are all within walking distance or a short Metro ride. A wine tour is one of the best ways to get deeper into French culture beyond the major landmarks, and several of the top-rated ones operate right out of central Paris. The food tours running through neighborhoods like the Marais and Saint-Germain will introduce you to bakeries and cheese shops that you would never find on your own, and they make a perfect contrast to a morning spent 276 meters in the air. For a different pace entirely, the walking tours cover ground from Montmartre to the Latin Quarter and fill in the kind of historical detail that makes Paris feel less like a postcard and more like a real, complicated, endlessly interesting city. And if you want a completely different kind of Paris evening, the Moulin Rouge is a 20-minute Metro ride from the tower — the cancan has been going since 1889 and the show still sells out most nights.

More France Guides

If you are planning a few days in Paris, the Eiffel Tower pairs well with several other landmarks that are all reachable on foot or by a short Metro ride. The Musee d’Orsay is a 25-minute walk along the Seine and covers Impressionist art in a converted railway station that rivals the tower itself for atmosphere. For a different kind of Paris panorama, the Arc de Triomphe rooftop puts you right at the top of the Champs-Elysees with the tower as your backdrop. A Seine river cruise departing from the docks below the tower is an easy way to see Notre-Dame, the Louvre, and the bridges all in one hour. And if you want a completely different kind of Paris evening, the Moulin Rouge is a 20-minute Metro ride north — the cancan has been running since 1889 and the show still sells out most nights.

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