Rick Steves - Rick Steves Tour: Eiffel Tower, Paris

Rick Steves Walks and Tours eBooks are straightforward, self-guided walking tours throughsome of Europes most popular destinations, designed for easy reference on your mobile deviceor eReader. Tours and Walks are available for must-see locations throughout London, Paris,Rome, Florence, Venice, Amsterdam, Budapest, Vienna, Athens, and Istanbul.

Rick Steves Tour: British Library, London

Rick Steves Tour: British Museum, London

Rick Steves Tour: National Gallery, London

Rick Steves Tour: National Portrait Gallery, London

Rick Steves Tour: St. Pauls Cathedral, London

Rick Steves Tour: Tate Britain, London

Rick Steves Tour: Tate Modern, London

Rick Steves Tour: Tower of London

Rick Steves Tour: Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Rick Steves Tour: Westminster Abbey, London

Rick Steves Walk: Bankside, London

Rick Steves Walk: City of London

Rick Steves Walk: West End, London

Rick Steves Walk: Westminster & Whitehall, London

Rick Steves Tour: Carnavalet Museum, Paris

Rick Steves Tour: Eiffel Tower, Paris

Rick Steves Tour: Louvre Museum, Paris

Rick Steves Tour: Orsay Museum, Paris

Rick Steves Tour: Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris

Rick Steves Tour: Pompidou Center, Paris

Rick Steves Tour: Versailles

Rick Steves Walk: Champs-Elyses, Paris

Rick Steves Walk: Historic Paris

Rick Steves Walk: Left Bank, Paris

Rick Steves Walk: Marais District, Paris

Rick Steves Walk: Montmartre, Paris

Rick Steves Tour: Appian Way, Rome

Rick Steves Tour: Borghese Gallery, Rome

Rick Steves Tour: National Museum of Rome

Rick Steves Tour: Palatine Hill, Rome

Rick Steves Tour: Pantheon, Rome

Rick Steves Tour: Pilgrims Rome

Rick Steves Tour: Roman Colosseum

Rick Steves Tour: Roman Forum

Rick Steves Tour: St. Peters Basilica, Rome

Rick Steves Tour: Vatican Museum, Rome

Rick Steves Walk: Heart of Rome

Rick Steves Walk: Trastavere, Rome

Rick Steves Tour: Accademia, Venice

Rick Steves Tour: Ca Rezzonico, Venice

Rick Steves Tour: Correr Museum, Venice

Rick Steves Tour: Doges Palace, Venice

Rick Steves Tour: Frari Church, Venice

Rick Steves Tour: Grand Canal Cruise, Venice

Rick Steves Tour: Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice

Rick Steves Tour: St. Marks Basilica, Venice

Rick Steves Tour: St. Marks Square, Venice

Rick Steves Tour: Venices Lagoon

Rick Steves Walk: Three Walks in Venice

Rick Steves Tour: Accademia, Florence

Rick Steves Tour: Bargello Museum, Florence

Rick Steves Tour: Duomo Museum, Florence

Rick Steves Tour: Medici Chapels, Florence

Rick Steves Tour: Museum of San Marco, Florence

Rick Steves Tour: Pitti Palace, Florence

Rick Steves Tour: Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Rick Steves Walk: Renaissance Florence

Rick Steves Tour: Anne Frank House, Amsterdam

Rick Steves Tour: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Rick Steves Tour: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Rick Steves Walk: Amsterdam City Center

Rick Steves Walk: Jordaan District, Amsterdam

Rick Steves Walk: Red Light District, Amsterdam

Rick Steves Tour: Hofburg Imperial Apartments, Vienna

Rick Steves Tour: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Rick Steves Tour: Ringstrasse Tram, Vienna

Rick Steves Tour: St. Stephens Cathedral, Vienna

Rick Steves Walk: Vienna City Center

Rick Steves Tour: House of Terror, Budapest

Rick Steves Tour: Thermal Baths, Budapest

Rick Steves Walk: Castle Hill, Budapest

Rick Steves Walk: Leopold Town, Budapest

Rick Steves Walk: The Castle Quarter, Prague

Rick Steves Tour: Athens Acropolis

Rick Steves Tour: Ancient Agora, Athens

Rick Steves Tour: Acropolis Museum & National Archaeological Museum, Athens

Rick Steves Walk: Athens City Center

Rick Steves Tour: Bosphorus Cruise, Istanbul

Rick Steves Tour: Chora Church, Istanbul

Rick Steves Tour: Grand Bazaar, Istanbul

Rick Steves Tour: Hagia Sophia, Istanbul

Rick Steves Tour: Istanbul Archaeological Museum

Rick Steves Tour: Topkapi Palace, Istanbul

Rick Steves Tour: Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum, Istanbul

Rick Steves Walk: Historic Core of Istanbul

Rick Steves Walk: Istanbul City Walls & Neighborhoods

Rick Steves Walk: Istanbul New District

Rick Steves Walk: Istanbul Old Town Backstreets

La Tour Eiffel

Its crowded, expensive, and there are probably better views in Paris, but visiting this 1,000-foot-tall ornament is worth the trouble. Visitors to Paris may find Mona Lisa to be less than expected, but the Eiffel Tower rarely disappoints, even in an era of skyscrapers. This is a once-in-a-lifetime, Ive-been-there experience. Making the trip gives you membership in the exclusive society of the quarter of a billion other humans who have made the Eiffel Tower the most visited monument in the modern world.

(See map)

Cost: 13.40 for an elevator ride all the way to the top, 8.20 if youre only going up to the two lower levels, not covered by Museum Pass.

You can save some time in line by climbing the stairs to the first and second level for 4.70, or 3.70 if youre under 25. (Elevators and stairs are both free going down.)

Once inside the tower, you can buy your way to the top with no penaltyticket booths and machines on the first and second levels sell supplements for 5 (walkers need to climb to second level to ride elevator up).

Hours: Daily mid-June-Aug 9:00-24:00, last ascent to top at 23:00 and to lower levels at 23:30; Sept-mid-June 9:30-23:00, last ascent to top at 22:00 and to lower levels at 22:30 (elevator) or 18:00 (stairs). During windy weather, the top level may close to tourists.

Reservations: Frankly, youd be crazy to show up without a reservation. At www.tour-eiffel.fr , you can book an entry time (for example, June 12 at 16:30) and skip the lineat no extra cost. Book well in advance, as soon as you know when youll be in Paris. Just pay online with a credit card and print your own ticket (or have a confirmation sent to your mobile phone). Arrive at the tower 10 minutes before your entry time and look for either of the two entrances marked Visitors with Reservation , where attendants scan your ticket and put you on the first available elevator. Even with a reservation, when you want to get from the second level to the summit, youll still have to wait in line like everybody else (and show your ticket again).