*** Eiffel Tower - can buy tickets in advance ***
 

I read in our local paper's travel section that is was possible to buy tickets to Eiffel Tower in adavnce. Since one of the complaints has always been about the line-ups, I did a search and found this.

http://ticket.toureiffel.fr/index-se...-pg1-lgen.html

It seems to be the solution. Has anyone tried this?

Haven't tried it but today's Sunday Times (the one in London) recommends doing it. They also give tips on when best to go as well as to other Paris places

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/tra...cle7085882.ece

I ordered my tickets online and it was very easy to do and you receive an email confirmation. You book the exact date and time you want....a pleasure!!

IMO - that would be like pre-booking the London Eye. Yes, it might be a convenience, but visiting the ET is quite weather dependent. What if the day/time you pre-book is during a rain/wind storm w/ a low ceiling and you can't see a darn thing?

Just something to consider.

That's a good point Janis. However, I don't know which is worse - bad weather or waiting in a long line wasting precious time. I wonder if there is anything that Eiffel can do for you if the weather is bad for your time slot???

Michel - I looked up the fine print for you and here is what it says:

"The Ticket holder may not make any claim nor request a refund or compensation if there is a Force Majeure event, such as unfavourable weather conditions (frost, wind, snow, etc) or a decision by the Public Authorities, disrupting the proper operation of the monument visit and leading, if necessary, to its total or partial closure."

I don't see how this is fair?? What happens if it is pouring rain when your time slot comes?

"<i>I don't see how this is fair?? What happens if it is pouring rain when your time slot comes?</i>"

If it is pouring rain, or there's a strike, or you have an upset tummy and are stuck at the hotel . . . Them's the breaks. That is WHY pre-ordering might not be such a good idea.

We have reservations for the Jules Verne Restaurant. If we want to go on to to the top of the tower, can we purchase tickets on the restaurant level, or will we have to go back down to the grond first?

I found this same site. Every search engine points to it (Google, Yahoo, etc). However, at least for the last 3 days I could not make the calendar change months. My French is shaky, but I tried it in French and English -- same result. I even used the London Times link from another blogger on this site (and thanks), but still the same). Has anybody experienced this, and hopefully knows how to get it to change months? Thanks. JeffZ

Keith

You can purchase tickets to the top on the restaurant level, you do not need to go down to ground level.

we're in Paris staying at an apt, and have wireless, but don't have a printer. Will the email confirmation number be enough, or should I try to find an internet cafe. Or can we buy tickets at the Eiffel tower for use on a later day?

thanks,

No, the e-mail confirmation is not sufficient. You have to either print your tickets or send them to a cell phone which can properly display the bar codes. Tickets purchased at the Tour Eiffel are for immediate admission. Advance tickets are available only on the website.

On the website, tickets are available only for the current month until mid-month when they are also available for the following month.

The website is a little tricky. Tickets default to the second level, so you have to click to change for tickets to the summit.

we went early in the morning....... waited in line for 15 minutes .....

I also cannot buy tickets for June does anyone know how to contact them??

The June tickets are not available yet. If you look at ticket purchase you will see that the calendar is only populated with dates through April 1.

It won't do any good to contact the ET.

Jeffz, I was unable to change calendar from different device. Bad news, they are sold out for most of June and much of July. (No tickets available at all for the two week period my husband and I were trying to go over on the Eurostar from London for the day.)

Michael-Paris, may I add a question to your thread?

If the online tickets are sold out, we are going on a busy day in July, and our train, while leaving London before the sun still won't get us there until after 9am, is there a chance that we could wait in line for hours and not be able to go to the top? (Have only seen one comment of that nature on different random report of Paris trip). Would it be worth the over double cost to get Viator or some such skip the line tour tickets or is the fear of not enough tickets baseless?

Good grief. I only looked at the dates on the last few replies. I assume Jeffz is now moving on from his question . . . Since I already posted I will wait and see what happens, but I can see that I should have started new thread. Sorry.

gogo, I will attempt to answer part of your question...

I don't know if you could get stuck waiting in line and never get to the top or not.

My experience has been that the 3rd level (the top one) is less spectacular and a significant hassle vs. the lower 2 levels. Once before, even with the timed tickets, I think we had to still wait with the great unwashed masses for the elevator to the 3rd level. For us, that was what took all the time, not the lower two levels (this was 3 years ago, so things may have changed).

On our most recent trip, we walked - and it was great in that you absolutely controlled your pace. We waited 10 minutes to purchase tickets and from there, went at our own speed. However, we had decided not to go to the top, so that made life easier. (That was a unanimous decision - the kids didn't care about going to the 3rd level).

If you are there when they open, you should be in good shape. Check the hours and be there 20 minutes early. Be warned though, that the lines are very long in the am. We were surprised on our most recent trip that there was no line waiting to go up when we were leaving the Eiffel Tower at 4pm. good luck!

thank you, surfmom, for your help! We have talked about taking the stairs (I assume that is what you mean by walked) and it sounds like a neat experience itself. How long did it take you? We would shoot for casual speed, not rushed.

We reserved 4:30 on a Saturday in April. We went to level 2 quickly, but as surfer mom says, we waited forever to get to the top. Then another long wait to go down. If I were to do it again, I would stop at level two.