Most first-time visitors to Paris have a checklist of famous sites to get to, with the Eiffel Tower often near the top. This is our fourth visit to Paris as a couple, and we finally visited the landmark tower. Pat did go to the site as a college student to gaze at it, but being a poor student at the time, she didn’t go up because there has long been a charge to do so. Me? On three prior trips to Paris since the 1990s I never even made it that far. Pretty weird, I will admit.

We resolved on this trip to finally correct that oversight, buying tickets that included the right to go to the very top. It was worth the wait. We had a glorious sunny day. It was breezy and warm, and not overly hot. You couldn’t ask for much more. The views, suffice to say, are awesome.

We had timed entry tickets that we bought in advance. Some tickets to ascend the tower are available daily at the site, but if you want to get to the very top it’s best to buy ahead of time, because those are more limited as it is the narrowest part of the tower. Tickets can be purchased 30 days in advance. You can buy online tickets here.

The cheapest ticket is for permission to ascend to the second level via the stairs. It costs a bit more to take a tram-like escalator up to the same level. The priciest ticket is to add on another elevator ride to the summit. There is an option to add a glass of champagne, which drives the price still higher. The bubbly can be purchased ala carte if you don’t do it in advance. After all this time we went all in.

The timed ticketing does a good job of managing the crowd. We did have to wait about 30 minutes on the second level to get into the elevators to the top. Again, the tower gets narrower as you go higher so it makes sense.

So, was it worth doing? Yes. There is a reason the Eiffel Tower is a popular stop. Some of us are just a little slow to realize it.