Paris · Champ de Mars · Second floor and summit
Eiffel Tower: tickets, summit access and tours
The famous tower of Paris, 330 metres of iron above the Champ de Mars. Choose how high you want to go and how you want to get there.
In short
- Your ticket decides how you go up. The second floor can be reached by lift or on foot, and the summit only by lift, from the second floor.
- Book before you go. Tickets are for a date, and the waiting time for the lifts, especially to the summit, can be long.
- The Tower is 330 metres high with its antenna and 300 metres without. The highest platform is at 276 metres.
- Hours change with the season and the day. The times for your date appear when you book.
The levels: first floor, second floor and summit
The Tower has three levels for visitors. The first floor has a glass floor and a restaurant, Madame Brasserie. The second floor is higher up: from here the whole city opens up, with the Seine winding below you. The summit, at 276 metres, is the highest platform, and Gustave Eiffel's restored office is up there.
You can climb on foot as far as the second floor, more than 600 steps. The summit cannot be reached on foot: from the second floor you take a lift. If you want to go all the way up, choose a ticket that says so, because not all of them include the summit.
Which ticket should you choose?
For most visitors the second floor by lift is enough, with a wide view. If you like to earn your view, the stairs ticket takes you to the second floor on foot, with a guide. If you want the top, the summit tickets include the lift from the second floor, and the small-group tour is the most personal way to do it.
There are also combinations: a ticket with an audio guide, one with a Seine cruise, one with a city bus tour, and a meal at Madame Brasserie on the first floor. All of them are on the tickets page, with what they include and what they leave out.
A short history
The Tower was built by the company of Gustave Eiffel between 28 January 1887 and 31 March 1889, and it opened to the public on 15 May 1889, during the Universal Exhibition. It was meant to be temporary, and it became the symbol of Paris. In 2022 it had 5.9 million visitors, and about 25,000 people go up every day.
Good to know before you go
You can see the Tower beautifully without going up. The two classic viewpoints are the Trocadéro, on the other side of the river, and the Champ de Mars, the long park at its feet. Around the base and in the lifts, watch your bag: it is a place where pickpockets work.
Visitor guide
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