Eiffel Tower Second Floor or Summit: Which Should You Book?
The short version. Buy the second floor if the view is the point, and the top if the height is. The second floor at 115 metres is where the Louvre, Montmartre and Notre-Dame resolve into buildings you can name. The top at 276 metres is higher, colder, smaller and costs €13.20 more, a second queue, and the risk of the whole floor being closed for wind on the day.
Every fare quoted below is with the Eiffel Tower tours and tickets, and the fares with the top floor in the price are the Eiffel Tower summit tours, so you can check the arithmetic against the products as you read.
Why this is a real decision and not a budget question
Most attractions sell you one ticket at one height. The Eiffel Tower sells you a choice between two platforms 161 metres apart, and almost everything written about it assumes the higher one is better because it is higher. That is the wrong frame. The two floors do genuinely different things, and the one most visitors should buy is not the one most guides recommend.
It is also not a small sum. Across a family of four, the difference between second floor and top is €52.80 at the official rates, and on a guided fare it can be more. That is a dinner.
What the two tickets actually cost
| Ticket | Adult | Youth 12–24 | Child 4–11 | Reaches |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stairs to the second floor | €14.80 | €7.40 | €3.80 | 115 m |
| Lift to the second floor | €23.50 | €11.80 | €6.00 | 115 m |
| Stairs, then the lift to the top | €28.00 | €14.00 | €7.00 | 276 m |
| Lift to the top | €36.70 | €18.40 | €9.20 | 276 m |
Look at rows three and four before anything else. Climbing to the second floor and then riding the last 161 metres costs €8.70 less than riding the whole way, for an identical view once you are up there. If you are physically able and the top is your destination, that is the ticket.
What does the second floor actually show you?
The tower's own pages are unusually specific here, and the list is the argument: from 115 metres you pick out the Louvre, the Grand Palais, the bends of the Seine, Montmartre, Invalides and Notre-Dame. Individual buildings, recognisable, close enough to point at.
That is the height where Paris is still a city rather than a map. You can see the grain of the Haussmann blocks, the traffic on the bridges, the boats. The second floor runs to 4,692 square feet across two levels, so there is room to walk round and find your own side.
It also carries Le Jules Verne at 125 metres, one Michelin star, and the Macaron Bar on the lower level with two recipes made for the tower. Those are on the restaurants page.
And what does the top give you instead?
Height, and four specific things that are only up there.
- Gustave Eiffel's reconstructed office, with wax figures of Eiffel, his daughter Claire and Thomas Edison, and the gramophone Edison gave him.
- The panoramic maps, which place you and then give direction, distance and height for monuments around the world, with a reference line for this tower.
- A 1:50 model of the 1889 summit in its original red-brown.
- The champagne bar, built into the structure, 11am to 10.30pm and to midnight in July and August.
What it does not give you is a better view of Paris. From 276 metres the buildings you were naming from below become shapes in a plan. It is a different pleasure — scale rather than detail — and whether you want it is a matter of what you came for.
The three costs nobody puts on the ticket
A second queue. Five lifts run from the ground to the second floor. Two pairs of duolifts run from the second floor to the top. That is a separate system with separate capacity, so a summit ticket means queueing twice — and travellers who have done it in the evening consistently say the second wait is the longer one.
The wind. The top closes in high wind and severe weather, on the operator's judgement on the day, and access can be restricted at peak times as well. Most operators refund the summit portion when it happens. It is still not the afternoon you planned.
The cold. The tower's own line about the third floor is that it is always windy, and one of its two levels is open to the sky. Whatever the weather is doing at ground level, it is doing something more at 276 metres.
Second floor or the top, side by side
| Second floor | The top | |
|---|---|---|
| Height | 115 m | 276 m |
| Floor area | 4,692 sq ft | 820 sq ft |
| Adult, by lift | €23.50 | €36.70 |
| Cheapest route | €14.80 by stairs | €28.00 stairs then lift |
| Queues | One | Two |
| Closes in high wind | No | Yes |
| Wheelchair access | Yes | No |
| Restaurants | Le Jules Verne, the Macaron Bar | The champagne bar |
| What you see | Named monuments | The whole basin of Paris |
Who should not buy the top at all?
Some of this is a choice and some of it is not.
Wheelchair users and anyone on crutches cannot go, and the reason the tower gives is evacuation, which can be by stairs. Priority access at the desks and the pillars applies to the second floor, which is the route. That is set out on the visiting page.
Families with small children usually get less from it than they expect. It is a second queue for a smaller, colder, windier platform, and the first floor at 57 metres has the glass floor on it.
Anyone with an hour should skip it. The extra floor is comfortably another hour once you count the wait.
Is the top worth it on a windy day?
Not as a fixed booking, no. If the forecast is unsettled and the top is the whole reason for the visit, the honest move is to book the second floor and buy the upgrade on the day if the weather holds — or to book a guided fare with a free cancellation window and use it. Which fares carry which policy is on every card, and the month-by-month risk is on the weather page.
The tours that include the top, and the ones that only offer it
This is where a lot of money goes astray. Most guided ascents put the summit behind an option ticked at checkout: the second floor is in the fare and the top is an upgrade. A handful include it outright. Both are legitimate products and they read almost identically on a listing page.
The chip on every card here says which. “Summit included” means it is in the fare with nothing more to pay; “Summit optional” means you tick it when you book and it can also be unavailable. If the top is non-negotiable, the difference matters more than the price.
The arithmetic, done for two adults
| Two adults doing it | Total |
|---|---|
| Gardens and esplanade only | €0 |
| Stairs to the second floor | €29.60 |
| Lift to the second floor | €47.00 |
| Stairs, then the lift to the top | €56.00 |
| Lift all the way to the top | €73.40 |
| Lift to the top with a glass of champagne each | €121.40 |
The spread between the cheapest and the dearest of those is €91.80, for the same monument on the same evening. Where a guided fare sits against them is set out in the guide to what tours cost.
What to do if you cannot decide
Buy the second floor. It is the better viewing platform, it is cheaper, it is open in weather that closes the top, and it is reachable by everyone. If you get up there and want more, the top is a decision you can still make with a ticket bought on the spot when the queue is visible in front of you rather than imagined weeks earlier.
The one exception is a first and only visit to Paris where the height itself is the memory you want. In that case take the stairs-and-lift combination at €28.00, put the €8.70 you saved towards the champagne bar, and go on a still morning rather than a windy evening.
The level-by-level detail is on the second floor and summit page, the closure risk by month on the weather page, and every fare that reaches each floor on Eiffel Tower Paris Tours.
Frequently asked questions
Should you book the second floor or the top?
What happens if the top is closed when you arrive?
Which Eiffel Tower ticket should you buy?
Is the Eiffel Tower wheelchair accessible?
What do official Eiffel Tower tickets cost in 2026?
Is the first floor worth stopping at?
Tours that reach the top floor
Eiffel Tower Access to Summit with Host
Both upper levels in the fare, guided in English. Final sale, so fix your date.
From $129 per person
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Paris: Eiffel Tower Summit Small-Group Guided Tour Max 6 People
Six people, the top floor included outright, and Gustave Eiffel's office explained.
From $152 per person
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Soirée at the Eiffel Tower: Small-Group Guided Experience
Six people, timed evening entry, and champagne at 276 metres as the lights come on.
From $234 per person
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