Shot Down at the Eifel Tower

[richardfinegold]

Bad experience. I tried to obtain tickets to the Eifel Tour "tour" direct from the site. The tickets are made available exactly 3 months in advance. I didn't realize this until a few days ago. Our guide book also said that they sell out fast. We wanted to get tickets for 7/16. I tried a few days ago (4/14) only to be informed that they hadn't been posted but would be posted on 4/17 at 8:30 A.M. That is 1:30 A.M. Chicago time.
My wife and I duly set our alarm and were on line exactly at 1:30 AM. Slots were available when we logged on; by the time we hit the "purchase button" they were gone.
The price of the tickets are 15 euros. The price of a tour from a commercial agency is 4-7 times that. Clearly the commercial agencies must be using the same kind of technology that stock traders use to instantly grab the tickets.
We can still purchase tickets the day of the tour but the typical wait in line without advance tickets is 4 hours. Or we could pay the inflated price to ride an elevator in a "tour". My wife has angrily nixed that option.

[Beef Oven!]

Bad experience. I tried to obtain tickets to the Eifel Tour "tour" direct from the site. The tickets are made available exactly 3 months in advance. I didn't realize this until a few days ago. Our guide book also said that they sell out fast. We wanted to get tickets for 7/16. I tried a few days ago (4/14) only to be informed that they hadn't been posted but would be posted on 4/17 at 8:30 A.M. That is 1:30 A.M. Chicago time.
My wife and I duly set our alarm and were on line exactly at 1:30 AM. Slots were available when we logged on; by the time we hit the "purchase button" they were gone.
The price of the tickets are 15 euros. The price of a tour from a commercial agency is 4-7 times that. Clearly the commercial agencies must be using the same kind of technology that stock traders use to instantly grab the tickets.
We can still purchase tickets the day of the tour but the typical wait in line without advance tickets is 4 hours. Or we could pay the inflated price to ride an elevator in a "tour". My wife has angrily nixed that option.

Blimey. How things have changed. All you needed to do once upon a time was mosey on over from your hotel, decide whether you fancied it, if so buy a ticket and then 2 minutes later, Bob's yer mum's brother.

[Dave2002]

Does sound very bad, if as you say, commercial agencies are grabbing all the spaces as soon as they are released. It's also pretty poor if the software shows you slots, and then prevents you from buying them. Most UK venues do hold seats (for theatres, concerts etc.) for long enough to allow you to complete a purchase using a website. However there are some things which are very difficult. We tried to get tickets for the Olympics in 2012 - absolutely no chance, over several ballots and on-line attempts. Getting tickets for Glyndebourne can be problematic too, and sometimes they are not obtainable even if one picks up the phone bang on the time the lines open. Having said that, sometimes that's not a problem, as returns may become available later.

Are you sure that it really does take 4 hours waiting in line to get tickets for the Eiffel tower on the day? It may not be quite as bad as that - perhaps if you start early in the morning. It's now over 30 years since we did that, but I don't remember it being too problematic, though I do remember the trip right up to the top. I didn't really enjoy it much more than an even earlier trip I did up to the top of Blackpool tower when I was very young. The lower levels are OK.

[Honoured Guest]

You may well have been fortunate to dodge being conned by a fake website if it was really called "Eifel Tour". Search instead for the "Eiffel Tower" or la "Tour Eiffel".

[vinteuil]

... (in the three years I lived in Paris I never did the Eiffel Tower . )

[richardfinegold]

You may well have been fortunate to dodge being conned by a fake website if it was really called "Eifel Tour". Search instead for the "Eiffel Tower" or la "Tour Eiffel".

we were on the official site

[Petrushka]

I've been up the Eiffel Tower twice, in 2006 and 2007, and both times I did what my guide book recommended, that is, turn up at about 8.30 in the morning before the queues get bad. I just strolled up from my hotel and had my ticket on both occasions within 20 minutes or so. Nothing to it.

[Serial_Apologist]

... (in the three years I lived in Paris I never did the Eiffel Tower . )

My Parisian hosts' 14-year old son hadn't been up either, when I first went over there as a 15-year old on a school exchange in 1961. He didn't fancy the height, he explained sheepishly.

Now, I - a Londoner - have never been on the London Eye. It's only there for tourists, isn't it?

[vinteuil]

Now, I - a Londoner - have never been on the London Eye. It's only there for tourists, isn't it?

... I think that's it : natives don't 'do' the tourist thang.

As a Wiltshire lad, at primary school we 'did' the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey; as a Londoner (from 1975) I ain't done nuffink of the kind.
Tho' of course I have done the 'specialist' things - Fenton House, the Soane Museum, the Wallace Collection, the Horniman, the Dulwich, the Brentford Collection of Musical Automata...

[Serial_Apologist]

... I think that's it : natives don't 'do' the tourist thang.

As a Wiltshire lad, at primary school we 'did' the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey; as a Londoner (from 1975) I ain't done nuffink of the kind.
Tho' of course I have done the 'specialist' things - Fenton House, the Soane Museum, the Wallace Collection, the Horniman, the Dulwich, the Brentford Collection of Musical Automata...

Ditto moi, yes...

[richardfinegold]

... (in the three years I lived in Paris I never did the Eiffel Tower . )

This will be my 3rd visit to Paris. Didn't even consider it the last two times, but as I am going with a large crowd this time there has been some interest in this. We will certainly look into early morning and late evening excursions, when the lines are shorter, but the tower is considered to be the most visited Tourist Attraction in the World, and we are there at peak season.

[clive heath]

We got help from Select Italy (based on your doorstep in Chicago) by way of advance tickets for the Uffizi, they may know of a similar organisation for France/Paris in the US.

http://selectitaly.com/

[Pulcinella]

Why not aim for the Tour Montparnasse instead?

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g187147-d314450-Reviews-Tour_Montparnasse-Paris_Ile_de_France.html