Photo by James Whitesmith on Flickr.
As vacation rental owners in Paris, we field this question all the time: when should we visit the Eiffel Tower? When you visit Paris, the Eiffel Tower can’t be skipped. Unfortunately, every visitor knows that and thus the crowds are nothing to sneeze at.
The short answer to this common question?
Aim for early morning (the tower opens at 9 a.m. in summer, and 9:30 in fall, winter, and spring). Also aim for a weekday. And, if it all possible, aim to be here in fall (October) or early spring (March). Two out of these three is great; all three is better if you want a chance to have the Eiffel Tower all to yourself.
Another option: buy your tickets in advance. (If the Eiffel Tower website has sold all of its skip-the-line tickets, try Viator. They offer tour packages with some history lessons thrown in, too.)
The lines to ascend to the summit of the famous Tour de Eiffel are often endless (or close to it) because you purchase tickets in three stages, one for each segment of the tower. A two or three hour wait—or longer—to purchase these tickets is not unheard of, especially in June and July. If you buy the tickets in advance, you can bypass much of the hassle.
