Pre-Book your Tickets to the Top - Tour Eiffel

If visiting the Tour Eiffel is in your radar for your next visit to Paris, make a reservation before you go. It will make your wait in line for the elevators way shorter and you will be glad you did. With your pre-booked Internet ticket, you can just walk to the front of the (lengthy) line where poor folks are waiting for the elevators at the foot of the Eiffel Tower for hours in the summer season. With your ticket in hand, you will breeze right in.

So how to pre-book? go to the official (English version) Internet site for the Tour Eiffel. The site can be reached easily by clicking on the enclosed blue link at the end of this paragraph or by typing "Eiffel tower" in google. Once you reach the official site, go to the ticket section. Once there, please note that there are two types of tickets one can purchase, depending on how high up the tower you wish to travel on their elevators. Be sure to print your ticket from the Internet with the bar codes visible. This will be of crucial importance once you get checked in to enter the "fast and short" line to the Eiffel tower elevators at the foot of the monument. La billetterie officielle de la Tour Eiffel

Some important facts you many want to know about the Eiffel Tower before you go:

- DOB - March 31 1880
- AGE - 121 years old
- MADE BY - Gustave Eiffel
- HEIGHT - 324 meters
- WEIGHT - 7,300 tons
- STEPS - 1665

If you expect to dine in the premises while you're there, there are three options available. First, there's the exclusive (and expensive) Jules Verne Restaurant (276 meters up) at the top of the tower. You must make reservations before you show up at their private elevator door located at the foot of the Eiffel or it's a no-go-up for you. Believe me, I tried lying my way in, it doesn't work! If you reserve, expect to pay about 175 Euros per person for their set menu lunch. The second option is the 58 Hour Eiffel restaurant (about 115 meters up) located in the fist level or fist elevator stop. This is a more reasonably priced, attractive bistro that offers choices like burgers for 15 Euros and lunch menus for 22 Euros. Both of these restaurants have spectacular views of Paris. The third and last choice is Buffet, a fast food restaurant located right at the foot of the Eiffel, where one can purchase soft drinks plus hot dogs, pizza or chicken sandwiches for about 7.50 Euros each.

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Eiffel Tower
5 Parc du Champ de Mars
Paris
Metro - Bir-Hakeim