Eiffel Tower Tickets

We will be taking a spending 3 days in Paris after out river boat cruise. We arrive in Paris in the early afternoon on August 18th and hope to visit the Tower later that afternoon. I intend to purchase tickets before we leave on our cruise (08/01). What I need to know is how far in advance should I book these tickets? Do they run out of available tickets for specific times?

Thank you to all who reply!

Last October was our first visit to Paris and we did book Eiffel Tower tickets - I just checked and I got them about a month in advance - but that was for October the end of the "heavy" season of tourists.

When we decided just which day and time we wanted I began checking the site - go to date and time as if you were going to make the reservation and see if everything is still available or if certain dates/times are filled. Just exit if there's plenty of availability and you're not ready to commit yet.

But be warned - and my experience is the example! - we debated which time, decided sunset would be perfect, made the reservations, and, yes, it was a rainy mess that evening!! And a BIG disappointment because the inside of the tower was filthy from people leaving drinks, bottle, napkins, half-eaten food all over!!! I can't say if it's alwasy that way but now I understand the comments about seeing the tower early in the morning - it might be for the "clean" view inside!! And its really a shame - it's the people who made the mess!!

But anyway, as for the tickets, they guarentee that you can by-pass the line to get into the ground entrance and right into an elevator that goes up to the 2nd floor. We did that and then decided to go to the top. The ticket we bought covered the cost but we still had to wait on line - about a half an hour if I remember correctly. (So if you buy the ticket all the way to the top hold on to it since there are two elevators!) The line was mostly in a covered area but at times I was happy to have my umbrella!! The view from the 2nd floor and the top are just awesome!!!!

Hope your experience will be better than ours! But I'm still happy we went and will try again in 2014 - our next scheduled visit!!

Thank you. Bad weather is a problem if you buy the tickets in advance.

I am hesitant going all the way to the top because I have a problem with heights and understand the view from the second level is great and possible the best.

The view from the second is great! And I have a problem with heights also but it was interesting - I buried my face in my husband's back as the elevator rose and when we got off the windows seemed small enough that it wasn't as scary as I was prepared for! We were in Munich last year and went up to the clock tower via elevator - it was nothing compared to the Eiffel Tower - maybe as high as the 2nd level - but I had to go back inside - it was too open for me and I couldn't do it! NYC's Empire State Building is also OK for me while Top of the Rock - forget about that! Everone's different but for me it seems to be the construction and how built up the area is that I'm standing in - but you have to you what's best for you!!!!

Hope you have good weather and no messy people!!!

The issue with not booking is the queues.......

We strongly suggest booking as early as possible. When we booked for tickets to the top, there were only 2 times left- 5 PM and 9:30. We took the 9:30 one, and were glad we did. Paris is so far North that it stays light until about 10 PM or so. We were able to have enough daylight to see everything then watch as Paris became illuminated. It was magical!

The line for tickets is roughly an hour and a half long, then there is a line for the elevators.

By purchasing in advance, we passed all of that.

From my research, if you order directly from the Eiffel Tower, you can order three months in advance. If you want a guided tour from the various tour companies, they might have your spot open now. What I am trying to accomplish now is to go over all of the various tour options, and try to get handle what to do and when. All of the recommendations say not to plan too much, so that is what I am going to do. The Eiffel Tower is the only thing, besides restaurant reservations that I will lock in. Also keep in mind that certain museums are closed on certain days when planning. The Louvre is closed on Tuesday. I have found that there are guided tours that you don't have to pay or reserve in advance (not for the EF), which I think is great, I can have them as a "probably" but not a must.

Thank you to everyone who replied. Guess I will start looking into book the Eiffel Tower once I book the train tickets. :)

You might like to consider booking a Behind the scenes Eiffel Tower Tour. We(a group of 6 friends) did this last year(June) and it was fantastic! We booked the 5.00pm tour on our first day in Paris, I think there are a maximum of 20 people on each tour. They only run on Fri, Sat, Sun & Wed. At present they have tours up till 1st September available for booking. We went under the Champ de Mars, engine room that runs the elevators, view from top of Jules Verne restaurant. The tour finishes on the 2nd floor and then you can purchase tickets to go to the 3rd level if you wish. The best part - no queues! when it was time for us to go up to the 2nd level our guide took us to the front of the line!I booked through the website: http://www.cultival.fr/en/visites/behind-the-scenes-of-the-eiffel-tower, the cost at present is 22.50euro and it was worth every bit of it!