The Eiffel Tower

Overview:

The glob­al icon of both France and love, the Eif­fel Tow­er is not only one of the most recog­nised mon­u­ments in the world, but also one of the most vis­it­ed – with some sev­en mil­lion peo­ple ascend­ing to the 900-foot-high obser­va­tion lev­el and the secret apart­ment at its peak, which offer a pic­ture post­card view of Paris.

Named after Alexan­dre-Gus­tave Eif­fel, the Eif­fel Tow­er stood at the time of its con­struc­tion in 1889 as the unri­valled tallest man-made struc­ture in the struc­ture at more than a thou­sand foot tall, and has sur­vived mul­ti­ple attempts to tear it down and the focus of the Nazis to con­tin­ue to play on impor­tant role in broad­cast­ing to the French nation, and per­haps more impor­tant­ly evolve to host two Miche­lin star restau­rants.

Com­bined with the easy access and cheap tick­ets, the Eif­fel Tow­er stands as not just as a glob­al icon and an archi­tec­tur­al feat but as both an endur­ing sym­bol of love – with thou­sands of pro­pos­als tak­ing place in its shad­ow every year, help­ing to enshrine it not only as the sym­bol of Paris’s ‘city of love’ but also a tru­ly unique won­der of the world.

Where:

The Eif­fel Tow­er is locat­ed on the on the Champ de Mars in the heart of Paris, France at the inter­sec­tion of the quai Bran­ly and the Pont d’Ié­na – giv­en its com­mand­ing struc­ture and height it’s tru­ly hard to miss.

Best time to Visit:

The best time is dur­ing the sum­mer months when France’s weath­er is nicer, although be warned this will also bring huge crowds so you’ll have to vis­it in advance. It’s also strong­ly rec­om­mend­ed to go once dur­ing the day­time and once dur­ing the night time to tru­ly expe­ri­ence every­thing the beau­ty of the Eif­fel Tow­er.

Explore:

Along­side tak­ing in the views of the Tow­er from its based and doing a spot of peo­ple watch­ing (includ­ing the occa­sion­al (nor­mal­ly suc­cess­ful) pro­pos­al) – there are two best ways to see the tow­er.

The first is by ven­tur­ing up it – which is rec­om­mend­ed by using the lift to the top floor, from here the obser­va­tion deck gives a pic­ture post­card panoram­ic view of Paris and all its high­lights at the obser­va­tion deck, with a secret apart­ment and a cham­pagne bar wait­ing for those who jour­ney to the top.

From there, for those who have built up an appetite and fan­cy a spot of Miche­lin star din­ing, there are two restau­rants the Le 58 Tour Eif­fel on the first lev­el which is cheap­er and the Le Jules Verne on the sec­ond lev­el – where book­ings re very much need­ed in advance, with both restau­rants acces­si­ble by lift, there’s also of course the stan­dard gift shop, pho­to spot and a spe­cial post office in the tow­er which affix­es a spe­cial Eif­fel tow­er stamp to each post­card that goes out for those mail­ing greet­ings to back home.

Out­side the tow­er, it’s strong­ly rec­om­mend­ed that as well as send­ing time view­ing the tow­er in both the day­time and night time, with the Mont­par­nasse Tow­er, the banks of the riv­er sine, the Pont de Bir-Hakeim and the Port Debil­ly all offer­ing fan­tas­tic views – but be warned it’s tech­ni­cal­ly ille­gal to pub­lish pho­tos of the tow­er of night as the copy­right belongs to the French gov­ern­ment !

Getting there:

The Eif­fel Tow­er is incred­i­ble acces­si­ble, being locat­ed in the heart of Paris on the Champ de Mars, with the neart­est metro sta­tion being Bir-Hakeim and the near­est bus sta­tion the Champ de Mars-Tour Eif­fel – from either of these or from any area of Paris it’s then sim­i­lar a mat­ter of head­ing in the direc­tion of the Tow­er itself – which is hard to miss ! – and for those with tick­ets locat­ing the entrance at the base of the tow­er which is well sign post­ed.

Cost:

Tick­ets to access the top floor be ele­va­tor cost a rea­son­able €26 with reduced tick­ets avail­able for access only to the 2nd and 1st floor and tick­ets avail­able from [https://www.toureiffel.paris/en/rates-opening-times] – but be warned tick­ets will sell out fast so it’s advised to book well in advance – the tow­er is open from 9:30 – 23:45 dur­ing the peak months of June – Sep­tem­ber offer­ing a chance to expe­ri­ence both the day and night ver­sions of the Paris sky­line, with the open­ing hours reduced to 10:30 — 18:30 for the rest of the year.

Out­side of entry to the Tow­er views of the base and of the night show at the Tow­er includ­ing for New Year’s Eve are com­plete­ly free and open all year round (although be sure to watch your items for pick­pock­ets) , mak­ing the Eif­fel Tow­er an incred­i­bly acces­si­ble won­der of the world.

Fun Fact:

Along­side the fun fact that the tow­er was not actu­al­ly designed by Alexan­dre-Gus­tave Eif­fel, the secret apart­ment and some­times the cham­pagne bar at the top lev­el go unvi­sist­ed – with the apart­ment hav­ing housed guests such as Edi­son and Alexan­dre-Gus­tave Eif­fel him­self.

Also for those vis­it­ing from abroad, be sure to check out the post office on the 1st floor for a unique sou­venir and post card with a spe­cial Eif­fel tow­er post­mark on it !

Best photo spot:

An incred­i­bly pho­to­genic won­der, the Tow­er can be cap­tured both dur­ing the day and the night from mul­ti­ple view­ports, but from our expe­ri­ence the best are the Mont­par­nasse Tow­er, the banks of the riv­er sine, the Pont de Bir-Hakeim and the Port Debil­ly – which all offer spec­tac­u­lar views – just be sure to avoid pub­lish­ing any pho­tos tak­en at night for prof­it !