What travellers wrote after their own morning or evening on the tower, in their own words, alongside every operator’s published rating. Prices and what each fare covers sit with the small-group Eiffel Tower tours.
These are travellers’ accounts of the day they booked. The mixed ones stay: a four-star noting that the stairs beat one half of a couple, and another noting that a guided fare cost close to double a ticket bought alone, tell you more about what you are choosing between than another line of praise would.
★★★★★
Eiffel Tower Guided Tour by Stairs with Optional Summit by Lift
We had planned to give up on the stairs and take the lift. Our guide talked us into carrying on, kept the pace sensible, and we were very glad afterwards. The climb was nowhere near as hard as we had braced for.
Marizel S. · First-time visitors · August 2026
★★★★☆
Eiffel Tower Guided Tour by Stairs with Optional Summit by Lift
The stairs are genuinely tough and my wife did not finish them. Worth knowing too that if the wind gets up, or the crowds do, the top can close on the day. The guiding itself was excellent.
James S. · Couple · August 2026
★★★★★
Eiffel Tower Guided Tour by Stairs with Optional Summit by Lift
Went on a quiet slot and had the staircase almost to myself for the photographs. Climbing it rather than riding up changes the whole thing — you see the ironwork close enough to touch.
Dalton J. · Solo traveller · August 2026
★★★★★
Paris: Eiffel Tower Summit or 2nd Floor Reserved Access
Collecting the ticket at the meeting point was straightforward and the host was good company on the walk over. After that the tower was ours for as long as we wanted it.
Leif K. · Couple · September 2025
★★★★★
Paris: Eiffel Tower Summit or 2nd Floor Reserved Access
Money well spent. On my own I would have gone up, looked at the view and come down again knowing nothing. Instead I came away with the history of the thing.
Peggy R. · First-time visitor · September 2025
★★★★★
Paris: Eiffel Tower Summit or 2nd Floor Reserved Access
Our guide was entertaining without ever talking over anyone's head, and the children took to her immediately. We laughed a lot more than we expected to on a monument visit.
Bernice T. · Family · September 2025
★★★★★
Paris: Eiffel Tower Summit Small-Group Guided Tour Max 6 People
Six of us, all older, and our guide was patient with every question. Going to the top with just our own party meant no waiting around for a crowd to gather. Very little of the two hours was wasted.
Leisa P. · Group of six · August 2026
★★★★★
Paris: Eiffel Tower Summit Small-Group Guided Tour Max 6 People
Our guide arrived on time and had the group talking within a minute. He started with the story of Gustave Eiffel and kept layering on top of it all the way up. It made the whole visit.
Michelle B. · Couple · June 2026
★★★★☆
Paris: Eiffel Tower Summit Small-Group Guided Tour Max 6 People
Straight to the top by lift, which was not what we had assumed would happen. We could have come back down to the second floor with the guide and chose to stay up there instead. No complaints, but plan for that order.
Beth F. · Couple · May 2026
★★★★★
Paris: Eiffel Tower Summit Small-Group Guided Tour Max 6 People
A small group is the way to do this. Our guide explained the construction properly and brought photographs to show what she was describing. Six of us, and everybody could hear.
Janet I. · Couple · November 2025
★★★★★
Eiffel Tower Guided Tour by Stairs Optional Top floor by Elevator
We booked the five o'clock slot and got the city in daylight and then lit up. Our guide had stories about Paris well beyond the tower itself.
Sue G. · Couple · October 2025
★★★★★
Eiffel Tower Guided Tour by Stairs Optional Top floor by Elevator
It is a real climb, and I am not fast. The guide put a lot of effort into the history and just as much into looking after those of us bringing up the rear.
Donna B. · Slower walker · October 2025
★★★★★
Eiffel Tower Climbing Tour with Optional Summit with Elevator
The gardens underneath are lovely and the climb to the second level wakes you up properly. I liked hearing about how the thing is actually put together and maintained. The lift up to the top afterwards was the reward.
Julie Z. · Couple · September 2026
★★★★☆
Eiffel Tower Climbing Tour with Optional Summit with Elevator
Our guide knew her material and was good fun with it, and she had photographs to pass round. The introduction did run long before we started moving.
Edytta W. · Couple · September 2026
★★★★★
Eiffel Tower Elevator Tour Access to 2nd Floor with Summit Option
Our guide was excellent with small children, which is not a given on a monument tour. She kept them interested and explained things clearly enough for the adults too.
Julia K. · Family · August 2026
★★★★★
Eiffel Tower Elevator Tour Access to 2nd Floor with Summit Option
This is the way to do the tower. One thing to plan for: if you go in the evening for the sunset and you are heading to the top, the lift queue up there is long. Nothing the guide can do about it, but worth knowing.
Greg B. · Couple · July 2026
★★★★★
Eiffel Tower Guided Tour Access by Elevator 2nd Floor and Summit
Our guide took a family photograph on the second floor and then showed us exactly which lift to take for the top. Friendly, well organised, and nobody got lost.
Sonia B. · Family · June 2026
★★★★★
Eiffel Tower Guided Tour Access by Elevator 2nd Floor and Summit
Our guide worked in English and Spanish and kept checking that everyone had followed. That is rarer than it should be here.
Lisseth O. · Bilingual group · August 2026
★★★★★
Eiffel Tower Guided Tour Access by Elevator 2nd Floor and Summit
The tour starts half an hour before the ticket time, which caught us out at first. Allow two hours if you are doing the second floor and the top, because you still queue for the lifts.
ChiPei C. · Couple · August 2026
★★★★★
Eiffel Tower Access to Summit with Host
We went in the evening and saw the tower lit up with the five-minute sparkle running. The guide was patient and kind, and the queues moved faster than we had feared.
Rick R. · Couple · October 2025
★★★★★
Eiffel Tower Access to Summit with Host
Take this one right at sunset. The view at dusk is more than you picture beforehand, and then the city switches on beneath you.
Dean C. · Couple · August 2025
★★★★★
Soirée at the Eiffel Tower: Small-Group Guided Experience
Our guide was patient, knowledgeable and genuinely kind, and made the evening feel like an occasion. We have recommended it to a lot of people since.
Michele R. · Couple · June 2025
★★★★★
Soirée at the Eiffel Tower: Small-Group Guided Experience
It delivered exactly what it promised, which is not always the case. Well worth the money on a trip to Paris.
Danilo B. · Couple · August 2026
★★★★★
Eiffel Tower Tour with Optional Summit and Seine River Cruise
We had six hours in Paris and this covered what mattered most to my boys. The meeting point was easy to find and the guide got us through the queue quickly. We toasted at the top and browsed the shops on the way down.
Erica D. · Family · August 2025
★★★★★
Eiffel Tower Tour with Optional Summit and Seine River Cruise
You take the cruise whenever you like and meet the guide at the tower at your allotted time, which suited us. She stayed with us for a while at the top and then let us explore.
Cathleen K. · Couple · September 2025
★★★★★
Eiffel Tower Tour with Optional Summit and Seine River Cruise
Waits were short and we got round all three levels in about three hours. The river hour afterwards was easy to redeem. Would book the same combination again in summer.
Vivek C. · Couple · March 2025
★★★★★
Paris Earliest Lunch at Eiffel Tower Madame Brasserie Restaurant
The listing says be there half an hour early; give it closer to three-quarters. Two security lines and then the lift take longer than you think. The food and the service were both excellent once we were up.
Kylie R. · Couple · August 2025
★★★★☆
Paris Earliest Lunch at Eiffel Tower Madame Brasserie Restaurant
The restaurant and the view were both as good as we hoped and the waiting staff were lovely. We were late to the table because it took half an hour to be brought up, which we had not allowed for.
Hilary K. · Couple · March 2026
★★★★★
Paris: Eiffel Tower Summit or Second Floor Access
Hearing about the tower while we waited made the wait shorter, and the ticket kept us out of the longest queues. Straightforward and well run.
Steven H. · Couple · September 2025
★★★★☆
Paris: Eiffel Tower Summit or Second Floor Access
The guiding was excellent and the timekeeping was better still. It did cost close to double what booking it myself would have, and on a quieter day I am not sure the difference is worth it.
Hadeel A. · Solo traveller · September 2025
★★★★★
Paris: Your Own Private Photoshoot at the Eiffel Tower
We wanted decent photographs of our toddler and this was exactly right. The photographer was professional, the instructions were clear and the files arrived within a day.
Yreca T. · Family with a toddler · March 2026
★★★★★
Paris: Your Own Private Photoshoot at the Eiffel Tower
It poured, and the photographer shot anyway. We cut the session short because of the cold and still came away with more good pictures than we knew what to do with.
Alisa M. · Couple · May 2026
★★★★★
Deluxe Paris Shore Trip from Le Havre with Cruise & Packed Lunch
Seamless from the terminal onwards, and the coach was comfortable. The hour on the Seine was the best way to see everything at once. Our guide was clear and funny with it.
Michael H. · Cruise passenger · July 2026
★★★★☆
Deluxe Paris Shore Trip from Le Havre with Cruise & Packed Lunch
Three hours on the coach each way is a long day and it leaves you about three in Paris. Seeing the tower and the Arc made it worth doing, but there was only an hour for anything of your own.
JoAnn R. · Cruise passenger · July 2026
★★★★★
Paris Half-Day: 30+ Sights, Eiffel Tower, Montmartre & Notre-Dame
There were seven of us, so it felt like walking round with friends rather than following a flag. Our guide was delightful and knew the city inside out.
Kaiya L. · Small group · September 2026
★★★★★
Paris in A Day Louvre Eiffel Tower Notre Dame and Seine Cruise
Bring comfortable shoes, a hat and water — you will need all three. Our guide was engaging and genuinely passionate about the city, and I got through most of my list on day one.
Natasha V. · First-time visitor · September 2026
★★★★★
Paris in A Day Louvre Eiffel Tower Notre Dame and Seine Cruise
A lot of walking, a lot of stairs and a lot of Metro. If you struggle to keep up with a group this is not the day for you. We had a very good time and would do it again.
Jeffrey S. · Couple · September 2026
★★★★★
Paris Highlights Bike Tour: Eiffel Tower, Louvre and Notre-Dame
Fourteen kilometres and our guide looked after riders of every ability, so nobody was left behind. Four hours went quickly.
Alana T. · Group of friends · June 2026
★★★★★
Paris Highlights Bike Tour: Eiffel Tower, Louvre and Notre-Dame
A brilliant first day in Paris. We felt safe in the bike lanes for most of the route and the group of twelve was the right size. The lunch stop had plenty of choice.
Jennifer D. · First-time visitors · May 2026
★★★★★
Private Golf Cart Tour: Paris Landmarks & Hidden Gems
First time in Paris, and two hours in the cart gave us our bearings and the major sights at once. On foot it would have taken far longer than we had.
Carrie M. · First-time visitors · August 2026
★★★★★
Private Golf Cart Tour: Paris Landmarks & Hidden Gems
A very good way to see the city. The cart gets down streets a coach simply cannot, and you are sitting down while it does.
Rosemary B. · Couple · August 2026
Across every operator here, reviewers lead with the person. Masha, Nihad, James, Andre, Amira, Remi, Salome, Sophia, Daniel, Flavia, Clement, Mina, Barbara, Noah and Antoine all appear repeatedly, and the difference between a good ascent and a flat one is described almost entirely in those terms.
Reviewers who booked late afternoon describe getting the city in daylight and then lit, and the five-minute sparkle from the platform. It is also what the monument’s own pages recommend, which is not always the case with traveller consensus.
Not the ground-floor queue — the second one, at 115 metres, for the pair of lifts that climb the last 161. Several reviewers who booked the top say to allow for it, and one notes that a sunset slot makes it longer rather than shorter.
A recurring note on the stair tours: travellers who had planned to give up and take the lift were talked into carrying on and were glad of it. The counterweight is there too, from a four-star review whose author’s wife did not finish.
Everyone who has eaten at Madame Brasserie says the same thing. The booking asks you to arrive half an hour early; three-quarters is closer to the truth once two security checks and a lift queue stand between the gate and the table. The food and the view both get reviewed well.
These figures are the operators’ own, published on their booking listings and shown here as they stand. They belong to the operators, not to us. Every fare in the last column is priced per person.
| Tour | Rating | Reviews | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paris: Eiffel Tower Summit or Second Floor Access | 4.4 | 17,307 | From $60 per person |
| Paris: Eiffel Tower Summit or 2nd Floor Reserved Access | 4.7 | 7,410 | From $65 per person |
| Eiffel Tower Guided Tour by Stairs with Optional Summit by Lift | 4.8 | 5,782 | From $53 per person |
| Eiffel Tower Climbing Tour with Optional Summit with Elevator | 4.6 | 3,260 | From $54 per person |
| Paris Half-Day: 30+ Sights, Eiffel Tower, Montmartre & Notre-Dame | 4.9 | 3,218 | From $75 per person |
| Paris in A Day Louvre Eiffel Tower Notre Dame and Seine Cruise | 4.8 | 2,500 | From $117 per person |
| Eiffel Tower Elevator Tour Access to 2nd Floor with Summit Option | 4.6 | 1,053 | From $75 per person |
| Eiffel Tower Tour with Optional Summit and Seine River Cruise | 4.4 | 1,026 | From $65 per person |
| Paris Highlights Bike Tour: Eiffel Tower, Louvre and Notre-Dame | 4.9 | 930 | From $53 per person |
| Eiffel Tower Guided Tour by Stairs Optional Top floor by Elevator | 4.8 | 871 | From $52 per person |
| Eiffel Tower Access to Summit with Host | 4.2 | 575 | From $129 per person |
| Paris: Your Own Private Photoshoot at the Eiffel Tower | 4.6 | 307 | From $37 per person |
| Private Golf Cart Tour: Paris Landmarks & Hidden Gems | 5.0 | 291 | From $93 per person |
| Deluxe Paris Shore Trip from Le Havre with Cruise & Packed Lunch | 4.8 | 214 | From $84 per person |
| Paris: Eiffel Tower Summit Small-Group Guided Tour Max 6 People | 5.0 | 132 | From $152 per person |
| Eiffel Tower Guided Tour Access by Elevator 2nd Floor and Summit | 4.4 | 82 | From $71 per person |
| Paris Earliest Lunch at Eiffel Tower Madame Brasserie Restaurant | 4.6 | 73 | From $100 per person |
| Soirée at the Eiffel Tower: Small-Group Guided Experience | 4.9 | 28 | From $234 per person |
The top two rows are separate products from separate operators that sell a similar thing — a guided lift ascent with the second floor in the fare and the top as an option — and both are real and separately bookable. Which ones take you to the top outright is on the summit tours page; which ones climb is on the stairs tours page.
Read the practical detail on visiting the Eiffel Tower, weigh the shapes of day in the guides, then compare what each fare covers on Eiffel Tower Paris Tours.