Written by Alan Vuong, for Accessible Travels and Vacations, December 12, 2022
I have visited many tall towers around the world including Toronto’s CN Tower, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, Tokyo’s Skytree and many more. Of course I had to visit the world famous Eiffel Tower in Paris when I recently went to this city with a friend. I always see this iconic landmark in movies and always wondered how accessible this tower would be considering it’s age and if I could actually visit it or not.
About The Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is about 330 meters (1080 feet) tall and opened in 1889. It was the tallest building when it opened and stayed the tallest until 1930. It was named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel and was designated a historic monument in 1964 and was named part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991.
Tickets must be purchased online in advance as it one of the world’s most visited paid monuments. I saw on the website that access to the very top is not for people in wheelchairs and they can only make it to the second floor. There is also a discount ticket price for those in wheelchairs so we bought admission tickets only to the second floor which was 17,10€ for my friend and 4,30€ for myself.
Getting There
The Eiffel Tower is located on the Champs de Mars at 5 avenue Anatole France in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. My friend and I were staying at Central Hotel Paris which was in the Montparnasse district. We were debating on taking either a taxi or an Uber to the tower but decided on Uber since it was cheaper. It was only a 15 minute drive and my first time in a Tesla car.
using an Uber to get to the Eiffel Tower… first time in a Tesla
There was a separate line for wheelchairs that is shorter to get into the Esplanade area. We did not need our online tickets yet but had to go through security to get into this area.
have to go through security to get into Esplanade area
The Esplanade
looking up at the tower
This large open area is where we start. The Esplanade is dominated by the Eiffel Tower as we get to see the iron structure soar high above in the sky. Looking up at the tower from the base makes the tower look even bigger. This area also includes a Gustave Eiffel sculpture, information desk, a few food places, and a couple gift shops.
one of the shops