Hi All,
I'm planning to go to tourist attractions such as Eiffel Tower, Louvre in Paris. Is it cheaper to prebook and is there any sites that are cheaper to book from?
Many Thanks!
Cheaper to prebook tourist attaction in Paris?
stardust77 on 20/06/2011 - 23:11
Comments
I've been to Paris a couple of times now and one key to Paris (especially on a first trip) is to buy the pass that allows you to bypass queues. I find it's the time in queues that is "costly".
http://en.parismuseumpass.com/I don't think the Eiffel Tower is included in that though. With the Eiffel Tower I definitely recommend paying to go the full distance to the very top, not just halfway.
Also, you can save a few euro but buying a book of 10 metropolitan subway tickets called a carnet (pronounced car-nay) which is cheaper than buying individual tickets.
Try this guidebook. I generally don't travel a European city without having given this brand of guidebook a read. There is lots of tips of how to save both time and money in these.
http://www.amazon.com/Rick-Steves-Paris-2011/dp/1598806610
Yep, with Paris its all about the queues, after that, you only have to worry about the queues, then the queues.
We actually just wandered around the back streets of the central city on our last trip, we had a lovely day, ending at the tower, where they had some X games skateboarding comp on.
You can also get his free walking tour podcasts if you're taking an MP3 player.
http://www.ricksteves.com/news/travelnews/0602/france_downlo…
Thanks greenpossum. I have been looking at these sites but I was hoping that some ozbargainers might know of some bargain sites for tickets but looks like it's all standard pricing.
Thanks for your valuable advice sparkles! Unfortunately I've left it too late and there's only tickets available to the 2nd floor for the Eiffel Tower for the days I want. I'll just have to book that and see how long the queue is from the 2nd floor! I'll have a read of the guidebook before I go. Thanks again! :)
the queues are very long
last time i went in september i lined up in the morning
made phot taking a lot easier
it opened eitehr 8:30 or 9 forgot
i lined up 1 hour early (was only gonna line up 30 minutes early lol)
By the way, is it better to go up the tower in the day or at night?
I always find that the best time to go up any tower or skyscraper in a city is about an hour before dusk. Then you get the view of the city in daylight, and then, just sit for a bit and think about the fact you're in Paris and we're not (always a good feeling for the person in Paris!!!), and before you know it, it's night time and you're looking at the city with lights and you've got both day and night views in the same trip.
For what it's worth, walking up the stairs is cheaper and faster than the elevator. You can get to the 2nd level by stairs, and it's not too hard - you'll want to stop at the first level and walk around to have a look (which gives your legs a rest from climbing) and then you can climb up to the 2nd level.
If you don't have the luxury of hours to sit and revel in the "I'm in Paris nyah nyah" feeling, I think you're better off going up the tower during the day, but making time to come back and look at it from the ground level at night. Try and time yourself so you arrive on the hour when they turn on all the flickery lights as well as the floodlights which are on the entire time.
Depends on what you want to see (or not see). Remember it's summer there and the sun sets late.
You're going in the thick of the tourist season, but look at the bright side, the Aussie dollar is high.
And you can get a pretty good view of the city (and tower) from the top of the park that leads up the hill from the tower, and its free = bargain.
its here…
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=48.85328,2.302596&hl=en&ll=…There's even more free entertainment in the form of watching street scammers at work along the street between the Esplanade de Trocadero and the Eiffel Tower. There's park bench seating all along Av Hussein 1er de Jordanie, and if you sit there for >15 mins, you get to see some very elaborate scams in the form of shell games and strange card games being played.
Four people gather around a cardboard box and play a game, and they play various roles. One is the dealer, another is the lookout for police, a third is a "tourist" who is not winning much, and the fourth is a "tourist" who is winning big every so often. They move the game around, up and down the street, based on where the police are at any moment. If you watch them for >30 mins, you'll see that they change roles where the person who was the "winning tourist" eventually becomes the dealer or lookout. The entire thing is set up so that some dumb real tourist walking past sees the fake tourist winning and decides to get in on the action and win some money.
But as a tightwad ozbargainer, it's fun to watch stupid people being ripped off as a form of entertainment. Or maybe that's just me? ;-)
Good point moooooooo. Paris is rife with scams/theft from tourists.
I had my car broken into there parked on a busy street in broad daylight (and it was a French car (UK plates though)). This was after I was hassled by our idiot travelling buddies when I told them to put their big backpack in the boot, rather than leave it on the back seat (K1w1s are so naive lol.) I wasn't so worried about their stuff, more worried about broken windows/locks on my car!
Anyway we were only gone for 2 hours, and someone had broken in by busting up the drivers door lock. There was absolutely nothing to steal in the car anyway (except the stupid backpack), which was still there safe and sound in the boot where I put it.
In hindsight I should have left the backpack where they left it, in plain view on the back seat. Then I would have been able to blame them and get them to cough up for the new door lock!
with lourve they have free admissions for:
Free admission for all visitors on the first Sunday of each month and on July 14.
On Friday evenings from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., admission to the permanent collections is free for under-26s regardless of nationality (on presentation of ID).
so if ya can plan around those dates or under 26 then ur fine (i went on a friday evening and gf went in for free a few years ago)
It's not just the Louvre that has free entry - there are a number of museums around the city which offer free entry on the first Sunday of the month. For example, Musee d'Orsay mentions it on their website too.
http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/visit/admission/admission-fees.…
But, since everyone knows it's free, the lines start extra early on those days!
Eiffel is not included in the pass.
For the Louvre doesn't look like it. In fact they charge more for delivery. It's for people who want to avoid the queues. Go early is the usual advice.
http://www.louvre.fr/llv/pratique/tarifs.jsp?tarif=4
For the Eiffel Tower, you can buy tickets online also to avoid the queues:
http://ticket.toureiffel.fr/index-css5-sete-pg1-lgen.html
or locally:
http://www.francetourism.com.au/eiffel-tower-entry-tickets
You'll have to work out which works better for you with any postage and/or currency conversion charges. (Hence the value of a 28degrees card for overseas transactions, no transaction charge.)
You have to remember that Paris is the most recognisable tourist destination in the world and that the sites in question don't need to discount tickets to attract customers (except for groups perhaps). In fact any agencies will charge more for the convenience.
BTW, all this is on the Internet, you only have to research it.