Eiffel Tower Tickets - UGH!
 

I pre-purchased 2 tickets to go to the summit on the Eiffel Tower on Sunday, October 25th, 2015 at 5:30pm. It was the only time left the first day that date was on sale online. We are only there for the day. So we thought how wonderful it would be to see our first Paris sunset from there. Well, we are flying out that night and we now don't think we will make the Eiffel Tower or we will miss our flight. I know they won't give us a refund as I read the rules and regulations. Is there any place else I can see if someone would like them at face value? I'd hate for them to go to waste knowing that people stand in line for hours. Any suggestions? Thank you!!

While I understand your disappointment, FWIW, the summit of the Eiffel Tower was decidedly my LEAST favorite place in Paris -- and for that matter, in all that I've been privileged to see in France!

I hope you are successful in your efforts and that you enjoy the rest of your trip.

@KJA - Really? Was it because it was too crowded? What I ended up doing since we are limited in time for the one day is purchase tickets to Montparnasse Tower roof. In all honesty, if I knew about the tower ahead of time, I never would of gotten the Eiffel tickets. The views, as per my research are spectacular imho. We'll still go to the Eiffel Tower to take photos and all, but I think Montparnasse Tower is just what we needed to really view the city with it's most famous landmark in the photos. :-)

YOu'd have to ask someone who used an eticket if they check ID. They obviously can as the ticket includes name.

Why would someone buy a piece of paper from you without knowing if it were legit? I wouldn't ever do that. You know they are invalidated when used and a piece of paper could easily be faked.. You are trying to sell something that a lot of people will be leery of at face value, you should be discounting them. Even if you send a link to someone, they don't know how many times you've sold that link, for example (you could sell it 20 times and only the first people would get in).

@Christina - there is no link. From what I've read by what everyone else says, they never check ID, they just want to see the ticket so you can pass. So for people that want to scam, I'm sure the way you describe might be done. I'm not looking to scam as I would meet whoever at the tower and hand over the tickets. I just don't want them to go to waste. Not everyone on this planet is a scam artist.

As far as if you can sell them...I'm with Christina, I wouldn't buy them. Too many possibilities of fraud or forgeries. But, check if the ticket states if they can be transferable and go from there.

As far as the views from the Tower itself...Well, overall the rooftops of Paris really are sort of plain with exceptions of course to major buildings (i.e. Grand Palais, Invaldies (sp??), etc.). You do get an amazing bird's eye view, of course. I actually found the second tier to have better views than the third tier - you begin to get too high to actually "see" anything.

Montparnasse Tower: the only way to not see this ugly building is to be ON the ugly building. With that having been said, you will have an AWESOME view of the Tower straight ahead.

Another Alternative: Go to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. Some argue its the best view of Paris as the sights are sort of head-on rather than looking from above.

Good luck!

The views from the Montparnasse Tower are spectacular (much better than from the ET IMO) -- and particularly because they are of the ET and not from it.

But - I'd never pre-book them because what if it is raining and the clouds are so low you can't see anything much?

For one day in Paris the top of the ET wouldn't make it to the 10th page.

@ MKDx4 -- yes, really! When I was there, the Eiffel Tower was ridiculously crowded -- and worse, full of people committed to pushing and shoving. :-( I far preferred the views from Montmartre and the Arc d'Triomphe -- views that actually include the Eiffel Tower!

Hi All!
We are really looking forward to going to the top of Montparnesse Tower. I think it is just high enough and we can enjoy the beauty of the city from there. We are going to head over to the Eiffel Tower and see if we can get to level 2 but if time isn't on our side, we've decided to just give the tickets to 2 people (couple) on line and let them enjoy the ET summit for us. We'll just take pictures in front and underneath like everyone else. As for booking in advance, yeah, I hear ya all. But I don't like standing in lines for hours. Even if we weren't rushed for time and there for 3 days, I'd still book in advance and take my chances with weather. Anyway, thank you all for your comments! Greatly appreciated!
MKDx4

For those thinking of the Tour Montparnasse I'd suggest visiting the bar at Restaurant Ciel, you'll only pay for your drinks. It's best to go mid afternoon, ideally in a quieter season, midweek.
http://www.somuchmoretosee.com/2013/...-to-paris.html

@welltraveledbrit - thanks for sharing that!

I had lunch up at Ciel de Paris (expensive and pretty posh) but w/ the very good service and a window table it was wonderful.

https://www.google.com/search?q=ciel...FdQ2iAodj9sOxg

@janisj Maybe if we return to Paris we will look into that! For now, we are there for the day only and will be seeing the highlights. We'll be doing the "locals" thing at bistros and cafes! Hopefully someone else will be able to use your link and do it on their trip! Thanks!

UPDATE: Who knew it was a holiday when we went! LOL! Loved Eric Kaiser for breakfast at 8 Rue Monge. After, we went to Monteparnesse Tower right when it opened. It was awesome. Since we only had the day there, we did the L'Open tour's orange and green buses. We just rode them. Never got off and it was great. We had the whole bottom on both rides to ourselves as we weren't going to freeze and get sick sitting on top! The restaurant that I wanted to go to for a late lunch was closed ... due to the holiday ... so we ended up enjoying some freshly made street crepes (ham and cheese) before picking our bags up at City Locker (highly recommended!) and catching the Super Shuttle to CDG.

What did you do with the ET tIckets?

Thanks for the update.
So glad you enjoyed the view from the Tour Montparnasse! It's worth seeing Paris even if only for the day ;)

I wondering about this "holiday" in October that I have never heard about. Looks to me like it was just a Sunday.

Sorry I've taken so long to respond. The last week in October in the EU is a holiday. Schools are all out. We didn't know but it was the same everywhere we went.

Well, it's half term in UK so a lot of families travel then. I don't know about any other countries.