What does the official ticket actually cost?
On toureiffel.paris, adult prices in 2026 are roughly €22-25 for the lift to the second floor, €35-40 for the lift to the summit, €14-16 for the stairs to the second floor, and €26-30 for stairs plus a lift extension to the summit, with reduced rates for youth and children. These are approximate ranges because the tower adjusts pricing occasionally, so treat the exact euro as indicative rather than fixed on the day you book. Tickets are released roughly 60 days ahead of the visit date, and popular slots, especially sunset and weekend afternoons, sell out well before the release window closes, sometimes within days.
What are resellers actually selling you?
Almost always the identical ticket, purchased on the official site and resold with a markup that runs anywhere from 30% to 100% or more, sometimes bundled as a 'guided access' or 'skip the line' product. The guided version can be legitimate if it includes an actual guide and a genuinely different entry point, but plenty of listings are simply the standard ticket with a fee attached for doing the booking for you. None of this gets you inside faster than the ticket's own time slot would; it just means you paid someone else to click the same buttons you could click yourself, at your own risk if their supply falls through.
How do you tell a legitimate reseller from a scam?
Check that the ticket references a real time slot and floor, not a vague 'flexible' entry, and confirm the seller is a registered tour operator rather than an anonymous marketplace listing. A red flag is any seller offering same-day 'skip the line' access when the official site shows the day sold out — that ticket usually doesn't exist. Pay by credit card rather than bank transfer so you can dispute a charge, and cross-check the exact price against toureiffel.paris before paying; if the markup is more than double, walk away rather than assume urgency justifies it.
Keep it handy while in Paris
- Add it to your home screen: works offline too
- Save your favourite spots
- Turn on ZFE Crit'Air alerts (free)
What about security, bags and the stairs option?
Expect an airport-style security check at the base regardless of ticket type, with bag scanning and no large suitcases allowed — lockers aren't provided, so leave luggage at your hotel. The stairs option to the second floor is the most reliable same-day route when lift tickets are sold out, since stair tickets are released in smaller batches and sometimes have same-day availability at the ticket office, though queuing is still required and the climb is around 700 steps. From the second floor you can pay a supplement for the lift to the summit rather than needing a summit ticket booked in advance, which is the practical workaround most locals actually use.
Our honest recommendation
Book directly on toureiffel.paris the moment your dates are fixed, roughly 60 days out, and treat sunset slots as sold out within days unless you book immediately. The counter-intuitive move that actually works: if you missed advance booking, buy stairs tickets on the day and pay the small supplement at the second floor for the summit lift, rather than chasing a marked-up reseller ticket. For sunset specifically, book a slot around 45 minutes before actual sunset time, since the queue and lift transition eat into the light faster than you'd expect. If tickets are genuinely gone, Trocadero, Champ de Mars, Rue de l'Universite and the Montparnasse tower all give a free or cheaper view that includes the Eiffel Tower itself.