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Eiffel Tower Paris Tours › Stairs or Lift at the Eiffel Tower: An Honest 2026 ComparisonUpdated 2026-09-09

Stairs or Lift at the Eiffel Tower: An Honest 2026 Comparison

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

The Eiffel Tower framed at the end of a narrow Paris street

The short answer. The stairs cost €14.80 against €23.50 for the lift, take you to the same second floor, and involve about 674 steps in two flights. Climb if you are reasonably fit and want the cheapest ticket and the better experience. Ride if you are not, if you have small children, or if you are short of time. And note that from 29 September 2026 the stairs ticket needs booking in advance.

This is a real decision with a real answer, and the answer is different for different people. Both routes end on the same platform. What differs is what you pay, what you see on the way and what it asks of you. The guided climbs are the Eiffel Tower stairs tours, and the guided lift ascents sit with the other guided tours of the Eiffel Tower.

The arithmetic

StairsLift
Adult, second floor€14.80€23.50
Adult, on to the top€28.00€36.70
Youth 12–24, second floor€7.40€11.80
Child 4–11, second floor€3.80€6.00
Booking window30 days ahead60 days ahead
QueueBlue kiosksGreen kiosk

The interesting line is the second one. Climbing to the second floor and then taking the lift to the top costs €28.00 against €36.70 for the same 276 metres by lift throughout. That is €8.70 saved per adult for a view that is identical once you are up there.

How hard are 674 steps?

Less hard than the number suggests, and harder than a photograph does. It is two flights with the first floor between them, so there is a natural stop halfway, and the climb winds up inside the ironwork rather than going straight up.

Some of the climbing listings ask for a moderate level of fitness and say so plainly. That is the honest bar: if you can manage the stairs at a metro station without stopping, you can manage these with a couple of pauses.

Travellers say both things. One review of a stair tour describes being talked out of giving up and being very glad afterwards; a four-star review of the same product says the writer’s wife did not finish. Both are true of the same staircase.

What the stairs give you that the lift does not

  • The structure, close up. You spend twenty minutes inside the lattice rather than looking at it through glass.
  • The first floor, unavoidably. A stair ticket routes you through the level almost every lift passenger skips.
  • A shorter queue, usually. The blue kiosks take fewer people than the green one.
  • The cheapest way in. €8.70 a head, which over a family of four is a meal.

Who should not climb

The stairs are closed to visitors with reduced mobility, in a wheelchair or on crutches, and the tower gives evacuation as the reason. If that is you, the lift to the second floor is the route, wheelchair users get priority access at the desks and the pillars, and the second floor is the better viewing platform anyway.

Beyond that it is a judgement. With a toddler, a non-folding stroller or anyone likely to reconsider at step 300, take the lift — there is no way to switch halfway. The family version of this decision is in the post on visiting with children.

The one thing the stairs cannot do

Reach the top. The staircase stops at the second floor and the last 161 metres are by lift for everybody, which is why the €28.00 ticket exists. If the top is your destination, the choice is not stairs or lift — it is which half you climb.

The tower also notes that if you have booked the summit you must visit it first, before exploring the lower floors. That order surprises people. It is on the second floor and summit page with the rest of the level-by-level detail.

From 29 September 2026, stairs tickets need an advance reservation. Until then you can buy one 30 days ahead or on the day; after it, booking ahead becomes compulsory for the stairs alone. If turning up and climbing was the plan, the guided stair climbs already reserve ahead.

What to wear for it

Shoes with grip, and a layer. The descent is where people find out what their footwear is like, and the platforms are open to the wind at every level. Nothing you cannot carry — there is no storage anywhere on site, which matters more on the stairs than in a lift. What to expect has the full refusals list.

The verdict, by visitor

If you are…TakeBecause
Reasonably fit and cost-consciousStairs€8.70 cheaper and a better experience
Heading for the topStairs, then the lift€28.00 against €36.70 for the same view
With a toddler or a strollerLiftNo halfway switch, nowhere to leave anything
A wheelchair user, or on crutchesLift, second floorThe stairs and the top are closed to you
Short of timeLiftThe climb takes 30–45 minutes
Going in the eveningEitherThe lighting inside the stairwell is its own reason to climb

If you are still undecided, climb. Almost nobody who takes the stairs wishes they had ridden, and the ticket is cheaper.

What the climb is actually like

You start at a blue kiosk on the esplanade and go up inside the east or south pier. The first flight is the steeper of the two and it winds, so you never see very far ahead — which is a mercy. The first floor arrives sooner than you expect, and it is the natural place to stop: there is a walkway, a shop, a restaurant and the glass floor, and nobody is counting how long you take.

The second flight is straighter and easier. You come out onto the second floor at 115 metres having spent twenty to thirty minutes inside the structure, which is the part lift passengers never get. Coming down again is quicker and harder on the knees, and it is where people discover what their shoes are like.

Two more things worth knowing before you commit. The stairs are inside the lattice, so on a wet day you are climbing in the weather. And in the evening the stairwell is lit by the same golden system that lights the outside, which several travellers describe as the best part of the whole ascent — the detail is on the evening visits page.

The meeting point for every one of the guided climbs is on the map page, and the security and timing detail is on what to expect.

Climbing it? Every tour below goes up the stairs with a guide, and where the top is offered it is by lift, as an option at checkout. The lift-only alternatives are on Eiffel Tower Paris Tours.

Guided climbs of the Eiffel Tower