Eiffel Tower

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

We are heading to Europe in a few weeks. One part of the trip is a couple of days in Paris, and as the SWMBO didn't get to go up the Eiffel Tower when she was there 31 years ago, she really wanted to do it this time. Unfortunately with so many other things to organise we hadn't booked a ticket and the "Skip the Line" tickets are all sold out for the day we want.
We are trying to get an idea of how bad the queues are if you have to queue in early October. Anyone been ther at that time?

Malcolm

[I.C.D (Ian)]

G"Day Malcolm,
We were their in early May with a group having dinner on the tower (we had tickets ) and we had to queue for half hour to get to the lifts .Your best bet would be to get to the tower very early in the morning before the crowd arrive. See if can find out what time it opens and get their 2 hours before.The queuing will be worth it when you get up their the views fantastic
Ian .C

[JB80 (Jarrod)]

Hmm, it'll depend on the actual dates but I believe the second half of October is the start of French school holidays and I'm not certain on other countries but it's always going to be busy at holiday time.
The queue times can be pretty terrible, upwards of a couple of hours. Going in the morning may help.

To be honest it's hard to say as it might not be too bad on any given day.

[tlgerdes (Trevor)]

I was there in August 15 years ago, during the world cup no less. Parisians visitors seem to like a sleep in, so if you go early you can make good time. We had a walk up start for both the Louvre and the Eiffel tower, got to each about 8am, jet lag is a wonderful thing.

Don't forget to climb the arc de triumph, we thought the view from there was better the the Eiffel.

[blink138 (Pat)]

the problem is there is always something going on in paris!
early October is the time we go as the paris optical fair is on in the first week of October (silmo) so they would get a lot of international
visitors.
people always say to us "I cant believe you went to paris and did not visit this or that" but by far for me the most interesting thing about paris is walking down all of the tiny streets until all hours of the morning taking it all in until I can no longer walk! it truly is one of the most amazing cities
pat
oops sorry I really did not answer the question...... but paris is always chockers
pat

[gregbradley]

Just came from there. Lines were longish but used the skip the line tour. Booked on the internet. It should still be available. Its well run and professional informative guide. My son went there in Nov a few years back and said the lines were much shorter as the crowds are more in summer and he hardly had to wait at all. I don't know what time he went. As mentioned Paris is a late finishing and late starting place so the tourists don't really clog up until about 10:30 to 11am. So an early start is the go.

The lines I saw for no advance booking 3 weeks ago at about 5pm looked to be about 1/2 an hour long at a guess perhaps a tad longer. Everyone of course wants to go there. There are 2 levels - an observation deck about 100m up and right up the top. The first level would be enough for most. The top level is of course higher but also of course the same view just higher. The tower is more narrow up top then you would think and moves a tad. Some may not like it too much. I liked it but the view was not really much different. The decks are very crowded. We think we have large tourism in Oz, its a fraction of what Paris gets.

Montparnasse Tower (tall ugly skyscraper) also has an observation deck which costs about $13.50 Euro. A bit tacky but the view is the same and way less crowds and a faster elevator.

Lots of scammers around the Eiffel Tower (and most tourist spots). Sell you roses, rubbish knick knacks, signs warning of pickpockets everywhere, people who find a gold ring on the ground claim its yours and when you say no try to sell it to you, guys selling friendship bracelets who try to tie it on your wrist so you can't get it off and want to be paid, fake petitions they want you to sign and then say you have to pay to make it legit - usually done by 18-22 year old women, lots of beggars. So get used to ignoring a lot of that stuff and don't let it get past someone approaching you by ignoring them. Another is people insisting on helping you with your luggage down stairs at train stations but that was more an Italy thing. They then want money.

Oct will probably be cold.

A great restaurant by the way in in Rue Delambre Montparnasse (right near Vavin metro train station, 2 minute walk) called Bistrot Du Dome (not Le Dome on the corner, this one is up from the corner and is a seafood restaurant half the price of Le Dome but food is just as good if not better).

Greg.

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Thanks for the replies guys.
We had a look at the Skip the Line tours (as opposed to the plain Skip the Line tickets) and while still available, they are sold out for the early times. As we have to catch a flight to Prague that afternoon, it would leave us no time if we did that.
We think it will take us about 50mins to get from our hotel to the Tower on the Metro, so plan at this stage is to plan on getting there about 8am and just enjoy the queue!
The actual date is Oct 8th, we get there on the 7th in the afternoon, but much of the next day is taken up and we want to go to Versaille.

Thanks for the restaurant tip Greg, but the SWMBO is definitely not a seafood eater, so will keep a look out for other options. Of course it is near the end of the 6 weeks of travelling so will probably be broke and eating at McDonalds by then!!

Thank again all!!

Malcolm