Visiting the Eiffel Tower in 2023

The Most Iconic Monument in the World

The dom­i­na­tion of Ins­ta by Eif­fel pho­tos, the key­chains, and all the post­cards can­not serve jus­tice to the mag­i­cal ver­ti­go of stand­ing under­neath the arch­es of criss­cross­ing met­al and look­ing up, or the almost dan­ger­ous feel­ing of walk­ing up a nev­er-end­ing flight of uncom­fort­ably thin stairs in a giant, see-through, met­al cage. 

Con­struc­tion on the Eif­fel Tow­er began in 1887 as prepa­ra­tions were under­way for the 1889 World’s Fair. Despite heaps of crit­i­cism from the most influ­en­tial quar­ters of the Parisian who’s-who, and many com­pet­ing pro­pos­als for the project, what we know as the Eif­fel Tow­er was com­plet­ed and has gone on to become the glob­al sym­bol of Paris.

Visiting the Eiffel Tower + Where to Eat/ Drink Something

Tick­ets will allow you to take the stairs or an ele­va­tor up the tow­er for an unpar­al­leled look over Paris. There are sev­er­al options for din­ing and the bet­ter ones, of course, require a reser­va­tion, but there are take­aways on the first lev­el if you can’t wait for some­thing bet­ter than sand­wich­es. If you’d rather eat with your feet on the ground, there are a few cafés near­by for lunch or din­ner that have a view of the Iron Lady (most are not rec­om­mend­ed so stick to our Eif­fel Tow­er neigh­bor­hood guide here.) Oh, and one more thing. Before you leave, make sure to see it twin­kle at night; on the hour after sun­set for 5 minutes.

There’s also a cham­pagne ‘bar’ (more like a take­away win­dow, no seat­ing), a wine bar (in the win­ter it’s in a cozy bub­ble) which is the most acces­si­ble in terms of price and reser­va­tions — except stand­ing up with a sand­wich from the take­away sta­tion, as well as Madame Brasserie (posh, reser­va­tions gen­er­al­ly need­ed, first lev­el) and le Jules Verne (uber-posh, reser­va­tions need­ed in way in advance, 2nd lev­el). You can also find his­tor­i­cal exhibits about the con­struc­tion of the Iron Lady and of course, the req­ui­site gift shops. In the win­ter, you can even skate around on an ice rink (some­times) in the win­ter (if it’s not there, look to the Mont­par­nasse Tow­er, they have been putting up ice rinks recent­ly on the roof). There’s some­thing for every­one, except those afraid of heights. 

Vis­it­ing the Eif­fel Tow­er is some­thing every aspir­ing Parisian should do at least once, and for those want­i­ng a repeat or an alter­na­tive type of vis­it, check it out at sun­set to see the city begin to twin­kle and the tow­er broad­cast it’s gold­en glow. 

For those of you who count it as just anoth­er tourist trap not worth your time (I used to be among you, I spent my first 44 (!) days liv­ing in Paris with­out see­ing the Eif­fel Tow­er, except for the search­light that comes on after dark), you can always use the bath­room at the sum­mit and say you made a pi-pi 906 feet high in the sky. It’s not quite the mile-high club, but it’s still a .0000001.% of human­i­ty experience. 

Also, just vis­it­ing the Iron Lady would real­ly piss off Hitler, if he were still Hit­ler­ing around, as he tried to have it blown up in 1944 along with almost every­thing else in Paris besides the crois­sants (obv, he didn’t succeed).

So do your part to stick it to the Nazis and vis­it the Eif­fel Tow­er. Even wear a Black Lives Mat­ter t‑shirt if you wan­na rile up the con­tem­po­rary ones.