★★★★★
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
Summit optionalCheck in at the shop, not the towerHost meets you
The ticket is bought, timed and waiting before you arrive. You collect it from the operator's shop rather than the tower, and an English-speaking host walks you over and gets you to the right pillar. It carries more traveller reviews than any other reserved-access product captured here, and the reason people give is always the same: the part of the queue that catches everyone out was already behind them.
What the fare has already done for you
The ticket, bought and timed
Pre-booked for the first and second floors by lift, in your name, before you land.
A host to the pillar
Somebody English-speaking walks you from the meeting point to the right entrance and the right queue.
The summit as an option
Available at checkout, subject to availability — not something you can add on the day.
Unlimited time on the tower
The walking-in part ends at the pillar. Your visit carries on for as long as you want it to.
Free cancellation at 24 hours
A full refund a day ahead, which is not true of every product here.
Check in at the shop, not the tower
The one instruction worth reading twice, and the one people skim past.
What a reserved-access ticket is actually buying
It helps to be precise about this, because “skip the line” is the most searched phrase about this monument and it is not what is on sale. Nobody skips the security. The tower states plainly that all visitors, whether they booked months ago or are buying at the desk, go through two checks.
What a pre-booked, time-stamped ticket removes is the ticket desk — and that is the queue that ruins mornings. On a busy day the tower's own online office sells out and the on-site offices are the fallback, which means a line to buy before the line to board. This fare has been through that weeks earlier.
The host is the second half. Somebody who knows which entrance, which queue, which kiosk colour and which pillar is worth more here than at almost any other monument in Paris, because none of it is signposted in English at the gate. What you get is the route and the context rather than a narrated tour, and for a first visit that is usually the more useful of the two.
The summit is an option ticked at booking, so decide before you pay rather than at 115 metres. Whether it is worth €13.20 more is worked through on the second floor and summit page, and every other fare is with the guided tours of the Eiffel Tower.
How the visit runs
- Check in. At the operator's shop near the tower, not at the tower itself. This is the step people get wrong.
- Collect the ticket. Pre-booked, time-stamped, in your name.
- Walk over. Your English-speaking host takes the group to the monument.
- Security. The first of two checks. Allow fifteen to twenty minutes; it applies to everyone.
- Green kiosk. The lift boarding area, which is where a reserved ticket belongs.
- Second floor. 115 metres, by lift, and the floor the views actually resolve from.
- The summit, if you booked it. A second lift and a second queue, from the second floor.
- Stay as long as you like. The listing puts no limit on your time up there.
Who this suits, and who should book something else
Book this if
- It is your first visit and you would rather not work out the entrances, the queues and the kiosk colours yourself.
- You want the ticket settled before you travel, with a full refund available a day ahead.
- You would rather ride up than climb.
- You want unlimited time on the platforms once you are up.
Book something else if
- You want a narrated tour rather than a host and a ticket — the small-group summit tour is guided throughout.
- You want the top guaranteed rather than optional.
- You would rather climb: the stairs tour costs less and goes up the inside.
- You are travelling with a party of ten or more this autumn — the tower's group rules change on 29 September.
What the fare covers
In the fare
- Pre-booked ticket to the first and the second floor by elevator
- Pre-booked ticket to the summit by elevator (if option selected and available)
- English-speaking host to accompany you from the meeting point to the tower
- Unlimited time on the Eiffel Tower
Not in the fare
- Transportation
- Food or drinks
- Tips
Where to check in
At the operator's shop near the Eiffel Tower. The listing's own instruction is the important one: head to the shop to check in and collect your ticket, and do not go directly to the tower. The meeting point varies slightly with the option booked, so read your confirmation.
Your host speaks English and will be waiting. Late arrivals cannot be accommodated and the ticket is non-refundable on the day of the visit, so build in more time than you think you need. Every meeting point is mapped on the map page.
Know before you go
- Your ticket time is when you must already be in the queue beneath the tower — not when to arrive at the gate.
- Bring ID. Each e-ticket is personal and can be checked, children included.
- Nothing large. No lockers, no storage, no cloakroom anywhere on site.
- Allow 1 to 1.5 hours for the ascent itself, depending on how the security queues are running that day.
- Summit holders queue again on the second floor for the lifts to the top.
- You will see the first floor on the way down. Stop there — the glass floor is on it.
What travellers said about the check-in
★★★★★
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
★★★★★
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
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a guided tour to go up the Eiffel Tower?
No. The monument sells its own timed tickets directly, and going up alone is a perfectly good visit. A guided departure buys you three things instead: a ticket already bought and timed, somebody who knows which pillar and which queue, and the story of what you are standing inside.
How long do the security queues take?
Allow 15 to 20 minutes to clear the entry check before you are even beneath the tower, and expect a second check before you enter the pillar. Both are compulsory and neither is skippable, whatever ticket you hold. Your ticket time is the time you must already be in the ticketed queue, not the time you arrive at the gate.
What does the time on your ticket mean?
It is the time you must already be beneath the tower, in the queue for visitors with tickets. It is not the time to arrive at the gate. Allow 15 to 20 minutes on top of it for the entry security, and bring some ID, because each e-ticket is personal and may be checked.
Should you book the second floor or the top?
The second floor at 115 metres is where the views of individual monuments are sharpest, and it is where the tower's own pages send you for them. The top at 276 metres is higher, colder and further from the city, and it needs a second queue for a second lift. Book the top if the height itself is the point; book the second floor if the view is.
Can you cancel an Eiffel Tower tour?
Most of the tours listed here refund in full up to 24 hours ahead, and each card says which policy it carries. The exceptions are a final sale, or half the fare back at 24 hours. Check the line on the card before you pay, because those are the exceptions rather than the rule.
What if I would rather climb than ride?
The stairs ticket is the cheapest entry the monument sells and reaches the same second floor, about 674 steps in two flights. The guided stair climb does it with somebody who stops on the way to explain the structure.
Other ways up the tower
Have the ticket waiting when you arrive
Pre-booked, time-stamped entry and a host who walks you in. Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Check availability