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Eiffel Tower Paris Tours › The Eiffel Tower with Kids: What to Book, How Long to Allow, and What to SkipUpdated 2026-09-09

The Eiffel Tower with Kids: What to Book, How Long to Allow, and What to Skip

Hours, prices and access verified by the Eiffel Tower Paris Tours team — last checked 2026-09-09

The Eiffel Tower behind branches of pink spring blossom above the Seine

The short answer. Under-fours go free but still need a free ticket, and the adult with them pays full price. Anyone 12 or under has to be with an adult. There is nowhere to leave a stroller, a bag or anything else. Buy the lift to the second floor, pick up the free activity booklets on the way in, and spend the time on the first floor rather than racing to the top.

The Eiffel Tower is a good day out with children and a bad one if you plan it like an adult. Three rules and one floor decide which you get. Which fares suit a family are on the Eiffel Tower tours and tickets.

Do children need a ticket?

Yes, all of them, including the ones who do not pay.

AgeLift, second floorLift, the topStairs, second floor
Adult 25+€23.50€36.70€14.80
Youth 12–24€11.80€18.40€7.40
Child 4–11€6.00€9.20€3.80
Under 4€0.00, ticket still required€0.00€0.00

The free under-four ticket is the one that catches people out. Issue it when you book or at the tower, and remember the accompanying adult pays the full rate rather than a family one. Anyone 12 or under must be with an adult. The rates in full are on the visiting page.

The three rules that shape a family day

  • Nowhere to leave anything. No lockers, no storage, no cloakroom, on site or nearby. Whatever you bring, you carry up.
  • Non-folding strollers are refused. A folding one clears the check; a large frame does not.
  • Two security checks, both compulsory. Allow 15 to 20 minutes for the first, with everyone in the party carrying some ID.

Between them those three do more to shape the morning than the ticket does. What to expect on the day has the full list of what is refused.

Pick up the free booklets. The tower publishes two illustrated activity booklets for young visitors — one on Gustave Eiffel and one on how the tower has lasted — in French, English or Spanish. They are at the lift boarding areas and at the foot of the stairs, and they cost nothing.

Which floor to spend the time on

The first floor, and most families ride straight past it. It is 57 metres up, every ticket reaches it, and it has the things children actually engage with: the glass floor, the outdoor walkway telling the tower’s story, and smartphone experiences that produce Gustave Eiffel when you scan a code near the guardrail.

The second floor at 115 metres is where the view resolves into named buildings, which is worth ten minutes of pointing. The top at 276 metres is high, cold, windy and small — 820 square feet for everyone up there — and it costs a second queue. The second floor and summit page sets the three out side by side.

Should you take the stairs?

With children over about eight who like a challenge, yes: 674 steps in two flights, with the first floor as a natural halfway stop, and it is genuinely more interesting than a lift because you are inside the ironwork the whole way. It is also the cheapest ticket by a distance.

With a toddler, a stroller or anyone who might change their mind at 300 steps, no. There is no way to switch to the lift halfway, and carrying a child up the second flight is a long way to regret a decision. The stairs tours are worth reading first if you are tempted.

How long to allow

PlanAllowNotes
Gardens and esplanade only1 hourFree, no lift, no queue after the first check
First and second floors2–2.5 hoursThe version most families should book
Adding the top3 hours+A second queue at 115 m, and a small, windy platform
Lunch on the first floorAdd 45 min before the sittingSecurity and the lift both take longer than you think

Timing the day

Two good slots and one bad one. The 9.30am opening is the shortest queue of the day and the calmest. An hour before sunset gives you the city in daylight and then lit, and the sparkle on the hour is the single thing children remember afterwards. The middle of a summer afternoon is the version to avoid: longest queues, most heat, least patience all round.

Sunset moves by more than four hours across the year, so “an hour before sunset” means 4pm in December and 9pm in June. The weather page has it month by month.

Eating up there

There are buffets on the esplanade and on both the first and second floors, savoury and sweet, which is what most families actually want. Madame Brasserie on the first floor is a proper restaurant with a Michelin-starred chef behind it, and it works with children if you have allowed enough time to get up there.

One thing to be clear about: a restaurant booking carries lift access to the floor you are eating on and no further. The full picture is on the restaurants page.

Where to stand outside, and why it is often better

If the queue looks impossible, or the children have decided they have had enough, the best version of this monument for a family may be the one from underneath. The Champ de Mars puts you on grass looking straight up the length of the ironwork, with room to run about and nothing to book. The Trocadéro esplanade across the river gives you the whole tower head-on, which is the picture you will actually keep.

Both are free, neither needs a ticket, and the five-minute sparkle at the top of every hour after dark is arguably better from the grass than from the platform — because from down there you can see all of it happen at once. It is also, for a tired four-year-old at nine in the evening, a considerably easier proposition than a lift queue.

What to skip

The top, on a first visit with small children, unless the height is specifically what they came for. It costs €13.20 more a head, adds a second queue at 115 metres, closes without warning in high wind, and delivers a view that is further from the city than the one below it. Spend the difference on the first floor and the time on the glass floor.

Booking for a family? These three keep the group together through both security checks and leave you free on the platforms afterwards, which is the part that matters with children. Everything else is on Eiffel Tower Paris Tours.

Tours that work with children