The Eiffel Tower

My daughter and I in front of the Eiffel Tower in 2025

The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 World's Fair. It was designed by Gustave Eiffel as part of a competition to design a centerpiece for the World's Fair. It was at first only meant to be temporary, but it quickly became a beloved icon of Paris and I am sure will remain there forever.

The Eiffel Tower is 1,083 feet tall. It weighs 10,100 tons. Tickets should be purchased in advance on their website. You can ride the lift or climb the stairs. My fear of heights has prevented me from ever trying the stairs, so I have always ridden the lift. It costs just over 23 euro to ride to the 2nd floor and just over 36 euros to ride the lift to the top level. Taking the stairs only costs 14.5 euros to the second floor and 27.5 euros to take the stairs to the top. You can purchase tickets at their website here:

Its official website is here: The Eiffel Tower

I recommend reserving your tickets on the first day that your desired date opens up on the website. Usually they allow you to buy your tickets 60 days before your visit. But on the day that your desired date opens up for purchase, tickets are immediately disappearing. I wanted to visit the summit on my most recent visit to the Eiffel Tower, but even though I went online on the first day that my date of visit opened for sale, all of the times that would have worked for me were sold out for the summit. I ended up being able to purchase tickets to the second floor, but I was disappointed not to be able to visit the summit, especially since on my previous visit I had purchased tickets to the summit but they had closed the summit for the day because of high winds.

When you arrive at the Eiffel Tower, you won't be able to enter the line to ride the lift until the time on your ticket begins. For example, if your ticket to the Eiffel Tower is for 10 am, they will allow you to enter the line between 10 am and 10:30 am, but not earlier than that. You can stand in a stand-by line until the time reaches 10 am. I do recommend getting there early, though, because people will wait in the stand-by line for their reservation time to open up, so if you arrive right at your appointed time, you will have a longer wait than those who arrive a half hour early.

On our most recent visit to the Eiffel Tower, we had waited in line for a half hour for our reservation time to open up. Then once we joined the line, the lift broke. We decided to keep waiting, because we really wanted to go up the tower. We waited in line for an hour while workers tried to fix the elevator. People who were up on the tower decided not to wait for the elevator to be repaired, so they took the stairs down the tower. We saw lots of unhappy people exiting the tower, including children in tears who were either tired from hiking down the stairs, or perhaps scared because the stairs are completely exposed and would definitely be an issue for anyone who is afraid of heights!

The Eiffel Tower is located at Av. Gustave Eiffel, 75007 in Paris, France. Riding the metro is the easiest way to reach the Eiffel Tower, although you can park in a nearby parking garage and walk there as well. Champ de Mars is the closest metro stop to the Tower. You can enter on the south or east sides of the Eiffel Tower, and you will go through a security check before entering the grounds. If you are riding a lift, you go to one of the green entrances (North, East, or West pillars). If you are climbing the stairs, you head to the blue entrance, which is the South pillar.

You can get off on the first or second floor by lift, but if you are riding to the summit you will switch elevators. I am very afraid of heights, but I was alright on the second floor. It is safe and completely surrounded by fencing so it would be impossible for someone to fall off the tower. You can walk all the way around the tower and see the view of Paris from every side.

At dusk, the lights come on the tower and it is illuminated until 1 a.m. Every hour, on the hour, the tower sparkles for five minutes. This sparkle light show ends at 1 a.m. when the lights of the tower turn off. I got photos and videos of the tower sparkling, but because this sparkly light show is protected by copyright, I can't share them here. Visit the tower and watch the sparkle for yourself!

You can watch a video of our visits to the Eiffel Tower here: The Eiffel Tower

view of the Eiffel Tower and the Seine River

view of the tower as we approached it in 2025

View from underneath the Eiffel Tower

Views from the second floor

view from inside the lift

The line to ride the tower down to the ground

The Olympic rings, from when the Olympics were in Paris, are right next to the Eiffel Tower

The view of the Eiffel Tower from the air as our airplane was coming into Orly airport.

view of the Eiffel Tower from the airplane

The view of the Eiffel Tower from the Statue of Liberty Paris

We were standing under the tower when the lights turned on for the evening

In November 2024, my kids and grandkids and I found an outdoor cafe near the Eiffel Tower to enjoy some hot cocoa and crepes while we waited to watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle.

viewing the tower from below

My daughter at the tower in 2024

This fun little tower is on the grounds of the tower and a bit out of the way. Follow a walking path and you'll find fun little buildings for children to explore.

Earlier in 2024 we visited Paris on an over-night layover with my mom. When we reached the Eiffel Tower it was after 1 a.m. so the lights had already been turned off.

The Eiffel Tower through the Arc de Triomphe in March 2025

Where to Stay

One of the times that we stayed in Paris we wanted to stay right next to the Eiffel Tower. I booked a hotel called the Eiffel Seine. It is right next to the Bir-Hakeim metro stop. We arrived after 1 a.m. and had a hard time finding the hotel because we weren't sure what we were looking for, and our google maps took us on a wild goose-chase. Once we finally did find the hotel, we realized that we had walked right past it once exiting the metro. It was rather expensive to stay there, although everywhere in Paris is expensive! The nicest thing about it is that it is literally a block from the Eiffel Tower. When we stayed at the hotel, it was under construction. Now it is easier to locate because the outside is marked much better than it was during our stay in March 2024. Here is their website:

Hotel Eiffel Seine

On our most recent trip to Paris, we stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn Paris La Villette. It is a block away from the Corentin Cariou subway stop. It is not near either of the Paris airports, however, so it is not conveniently located for flying in or out of Paris. There are not many places to eat near this hotel, either, and that is another of the downsides to staying there. Breakfast at the hotel is very expensive, so my husband and I walked a block to a market near the hotel to purchase breakfast the night before. I had purchased yogurt and put it in our mini fridge in the hotel room, but the fridge did not keep things cold enough, so the yogurt was room temperature by morning. Overall I would not recommend staying at this hotel, unless you have Hilton Honors points to use. There are other more convenient locations to stay. Here is the hotel website:

Hilton Garden Inn Paris La Villette