Eiffel Tower

Yes, but how you visit matters more than whether you go. The 2nd floor offers the best photography — you're high enough to see the full sweep of Paris from the Louvre to Montmartre, but close enough to pick out architectural details like the dome of Les Invalides and the glass of the Louvre Pyramid. Skip the summit on hazy days; at 276 meters, you'll see little more than a gray wash. Go at dusk for the golden illumination and the five-minute sparkle show at the top of each hour.

Budget 1.5 to 2 hours for a focused visit to the 2nd floor with pre-booked tickets. If you want the full experience — summit, glass floor on the 1st floor, Gustave Eiffel's reconstructed private apartment with its wax figures of Eiffel and Thomas Edison — plan for 3 to 4 hours. Always add 30 to 45 minutes on top for the mandatory security screening at the base, which can feel longer than the elevator ride itself.

The best approach is Metro Line 9 to Trocadéro, which gives you the classic postcard view across the Seine before you even arrive. Line 6 to Bir-Hakeim is closer — about a 10-minute walk — and the RER C stops at Champ de Mars-Tour Eiffel. Bus lines 82 and 42 also serve the area. Driving is a bad idea; on-site parking is almost nonexistent.

Early morning on a weekday in late September or October gives you the thinnest crowds and the sharpest autumn light over Paris. Summer extends hours until midnight but brings enormous queues and heat that makes the iron expand by up to 15 centimeters — the tower literally grows. For the most dramatic visual experience, arrive 90 minutes before sunset: you'll see the city in golden hour, then watch the 20,000 bulbs ignite as night falls.

You cannot enter the tower itself for free — adult tickets range from €14.80 (stairs to 2nd floor) to €36.70 (elevator to the summit). However, the esplanade beneath the four massive iron pillars is open to all, and the Champ de Mars park offers an unobstructed ground-level view that costs nothing. The best free vantage point is from the Trocadéro terrace across the river, or for something more intimate, try the intersection of Rue de l'Université where the tower appears to erupt directly from the Haussmannian rooftops.

Three things most visitors walk right past. First, the 72 names of French scientists, engineers, and mathematicians engraved on the first floor's exterior — Eiffel placed them there to force the artistic establishment to acknowledge the tower as a monument to intellect. Second, the glass floor on the 1st floor, installed during recent renovations, which lets you stare straight down through 57 meters of empty air. Third, look closely at the rivets in the lower pillars: only a third were inserted on-site, and you can spot the slight irregularities in the hand-beaten heads, each one shaped by a 19th-century blacksmith working 300 meters above the Seine.

The 1st and 2nd floors are fully accessible by elevator, and staff will prioritize visitors with disabilities at the security entrance if you present a disability card. The summit, however, is not accessible to wheelchair users due to evacuation safety constraints. The esplanade at ground level is paved and flat, though the sheer size of the area means you'll still cover a fair amount of ground.

The most common is the petition scam — someone posing as deaf or mute asks you to sign a clipboard, while an accomplice picks your pocket. Street vendors selling miniature towers and illegal shell games (bonneteau) cluster around the base. Never book a tour through anyone who approaches you in person; always use official channels through the tower's website. The 7th arrondissement is safe, but the sheer density of tourists makes it prime territory for distraction theft.