Skip the Line at the Eiffel Tower: A Complete Guide

The Eiffel Tower sells around 25,000 visitor tickets a day and still routinely runs out — waiting without a plan can mean an hour or more in line before you even reach security. Here’s how to avoid that.

Second floor or summit?

The second floor is the classic view — close enough to feel the height, with the best photos of the tower’s ironwork itself. The summit (top level) climbs higher and reaches above most of Paris’s rooftops, but the elevator queue there runs separately and adds time. If photos of the tower matter more than the view from it, the second floor is usually the better trade.

Buying ahead vs a guided tour

Official tickets go on sale in batches and sell out fast, especially for popular summit slots. A [skip-the-line tour](/tours/category/eiffel-tower) books a fixed group entry time in advance, which removes the guesswork — useful if your dates are locked in and you don’t want to be refreshing a ticket page weeks ahead.

Sunset is the single best time to go up — you get daylight Paris on the way up and the city lit up on the way down, in one visit.

When to go

• Early morning (first entry) has the shortest security queues.
• Sunset gives you both daytime and night views in one visit — the most popular slot, so book ahead.
• Midday in summer is the busiest and hottest time to queue — avoid if you can.
• Stairs to the second floor are usually faster than the elevator queue, and cheaper.

However you go up, pair it with a walk through the [Trocadéro gardens](/tours/category/paris) across the river — it’s the classic photo spot looking back at the tower, and free.