The Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower (Tour de Eiffel) is the symbol of Paris and was build for the world´s fair in 1889 in order to celebrate the 100th year anniversary of the French Revolution. The tower is 324 metres (1063 ft) tall and was up until 1931 the tallest building in the world. The Tower offers a beautiful panoramic view of Paris with the possibility to catch a glimpse at sites such as the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame.

Visiting the Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower has three platforms on different levels;
* The 1st floor: Accessible by stairs or lift from the ground level, this is the largest of the platforms and ideal for hanging out and relaxing. A circular gallery with signs offers you a panoramic view of all the Paris sites and monuments.
* The 2nd floor: Also accessible by stairs or lift from the ground level or 1st floor. This floor offers another complete circular view over Paris. From here you can take the lifts to get to the top of the Tower.
* The top floor: Accessible only by lifts from the 2nd floor. The 180 meters by the glass lifts is by itself a spectacular experience which offers a really panoramic view. The top floor has two levels, one in the open air and the other under a roof. You will be rewarded by stunning views. Also at the top you will find Gustave Eiffel’s office which has been restored to its original condition.

Opening hours

The Eiffel Tower is open every day of the year
 • from 9 a.m. to midnight from 15 June to the 1st of September
 • from 9:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. during the rest of the year
 • At Easter weekend and during the Spring holidays : extended opening hours to midnight
Being one of the most popular attractions in Paris, prepare your visit well ahead by buying tickets in advance.

Address

Tour de Eiffel

Getting there

By metro
 • Line no.6, metro station "Bir-Hakeim"
 • Line no.9, metro station "Trocadéro"
 • Line no.8, metro station "Ecole Militaire"

By citybus RATP
 • Line no.42, at Quay Branly / Avenue de la Bourdonnais
 • Line no.69, at Avenue Joseph Bouvard
 • Line no.72, at Avenue de New York / Pont d'Iéna
 • Line no.82, at Quay Branly / Pont d'Iéna
 • Line no.87, at Avenue Joseph Bouvard

By car
Nearest parking is the underground parking on Quai Branly

By boat
Many tour boats stops at the Port de la Bourdonnais on the seine river, close to the eiffel tower

History

Gustave Eiffel, engineer and architect, was born in Dijon in 1832. After graduating from the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in 1855, he spent several years in the South West of France supervising work on the great railway bridge in Bordeaux. In 1864 he founded a business specializing in metal structural work. His career culminated in 1889 with the Eiffel Tower. Among his other works are the Garabit viaduct, Pest railway station in Hungary, the dome of the Nice observatory and the structure of the Statue of Liberty.

The design of the Tower was originated by two engineers, Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier who worked for Eiffel. Later the head of the company´s architectural department Stephen Sauvestre contributed to the design by adding decorative arches to the base, a glass pavilion to the first level and other embellishments. Eiffel then bought the rights to the patent on the design and exhibited it at the Exhibition of Decorative Arts in 1884. The Eiffel Tower was among 107 projects participating in a great open competition held for a centerpiece for the 1889 Exposition Universelle. All entries for the competition had to include a study for a 300 m (980 ft) four-sided metal tower on the Champ de Mars. All the proposals except for Gustave Eiffels´s were either impractical or insufficiently worked out, Eiffel won and a contract was signed in January 1887. Not everybody was excited by the project. As work began at the Champ de Mars, a committee of three hundred was formed. A petition was sent to the Minister of Works and Commissioner for the Exposition and published by Le Temps, one of Paris´s most important daily newspapers. Some of the protesters changed their minds when the tower was built, while others remained unconvinced. The french writer Guy de Maupassant supposedly ate lunch in the Towers restaurant every day, and when asked why, he answered that it was the one place in Paris where he could not see the structure. The Eiffel Tower was intended to stand for 20 years and was to be dismantled in 1909, when its ownership would revert to the city of Paris. But the tower had proved to be valuable for communication purposes and it was allowed to remain.