angel025

Tickets are sold out for our dates in July on the Eiffel tower website. Should I book the expensive tickets for a tour of the eiffel tower in advance? I am obviously nervous about the weather if I buy in advance.

I am thinking of taking this tour do you recommend any other tour? The prices seem to be the same everywhere.

http://www.viator.com/tours/Paris/Sk...8EIFFELTOWER_S

adrienne

That's a bit pricey. Only the on line tickets are sold out. If you go to the ET after the tour buses leave and when lots of people head back to their hotels at the end of the afternoon the lines will be short and you should have no problem getting tickets.

The Eiffel Tower web site has lots of information about the tower that you can print off and bring with you to read when you get there.

angel025

How long is usually the wait in July and what time would recommed I go? I would like to see the Eiffel tower at night.

adrienne

I don't know how long the wait is in July.

The sun sets at 10:00 at the beginning of July and 9:30 at the end. I would go earlier as the lines will probably increase again in the evening. You can check out the lines and if they are short around 6:00 have a picnic on the Champs de Mars and then buy your tickets and go up. If you're going to the 3rd level it will take some time to get there. The first elevator goes to the second level and then you need to take a smaller elevator to the top.

If you're fit you can climb to the second level. These are walk up tickets only and I doubt there would be a line to buy them.

angel025

How much time does it take to climb the tower? I know that it's 600 stairs.

surfmom

I would encourage climbing - it really isn't that bad. We did it and I had just come off a broken foot and while I had to stop and take breaks, it was fine. The stairways are wide and there is more space there for people going faster to pass. I thought it was easier to climb than Notre Dame towers due to the fact you could stop every 10-15 steps and take a break if desired without holding up the line behind you.

angel025

How much time did it take you to climb? Thanks

Marea56

My husband and I regretted not getting the jump the line tickets or the stairs. We went in early July and we waited in a queue for 3 hours!

Sue4

Yikes, 3 hours! You could just skip the Eiffel Tower, and go to the Tour Montparnasse, where the view is beautiful and you can see the Eiffel Tower, and I doubt they ever have a line. But I know everyone HAS to see Paris from the Eiffel at least once! But seriously, the Tour Montparnasse is worth doing, too - although the building itself is rather ugly. That aspect alone might turn people off from going up the elevator.

cathies

But Sue4 if you go to the top of the Tour Montparnasse then you have the benefit of seeing Paris without the tour montparnasse in your view

MelissaT305

I wouldn't settle for a tour just yet. When I initially looked for tickets during my upcoming trip in June, there was no tickets available. However, I kept checking daily and about a week later, some tickets were released for many of the days during my stay. If I were you, I'd continue checking daily.

Christina

They have lines at Tour Montparnasse sometimes, but they aren't that long. Maybe a 10-15 minute wait sometimes. It's just a building, it isn't any uglier than many other modern office buildings.

angel025

Again - How much time does it take to climb the tower? I know that it's 600 stairs.

adrienne

You need to calculate the time it takes you to climb 600 stairs. Climb 20 stairs SLOWLY (or more if you work in an office with a lot of stairs). Time how long it takes you to go up 20 stairs and then multiply by 30 (20*30=600). So if it takes you 1 minute to climb 20 stairs then it will take you 30 minutes to climb 600 stairs. If it takes you 30 seconds to climb 20 steps then it will take you 15 to 20 minutes to climb 600 steps.

Everyone climbs at a different rate depending on their fitness and stamina. 600 steps is very different from 20 steps so you'll need to figure on a bit more time if you need to stop or if your climbing rate is slower towards the top.

cathies

Yes angel025, it depends on you and your level of fitness. My daughter and her husband are extremely fit and would probably sprint up most of them. I would need a few breaks and it would depend if I was tired after already being on my feet all day. What does it matter anyway, 20 mins, 30 mins, what's the difference.

Christine, if that building was here in Sydney or in Chicago or NYC etc it would blend into the cityscape, but in Paris it's an eyesore.

surfmom

best guess is about 20-30 minutes. (good math adrienne!) We stopped at Level 1 and took a break before we continued to Level 2, so it wasn't straight climbing. Also, you can't climb to the very top and even if you get reserved tickets, they only are as good as Level 2 - you still have to wait in the crazy line for the top level. We had reserved tickets last time we were there, but still had to wait with the great unwashed masses to get to Level 3. Honestly, we didn't feel that we missed out by skipping Level 3 on our most recent trip. I wouldn't recommend it.

I would plan on spending between 2-3 hours there total. It is fun to get something to eat on Level 2 and my kids liked to walk around and check out stuff at the gift shop. Probably only takes 10-15 minutes to go down the steps when you are ready to leave. When we were there, there was a 5-10 minute line to buy tickets and get through security to start climbing, so there may be a short line there, but it moves quickly.

It is also fun to say, "we CLIMBED the Eiffel Tower!"

adrienne

<< good math adrienne! >>

When I went to school they were teaching basic math skills. I guess that's no longer true! LOL