U.S. National Parks aren’t the only place visiting is getting way more expensive: the Eiffel Tower’s prices just took a big leap, and like the U.S. park system, it’s being blamed on maintenance costs.
The price changes took effect last Wednesday, jumping the cost of a ticket to the top from €17 to €25, a 47% increase. Tickets just to the top of the first elevator have gone from €11 to €16, and a ticket to climb the stairs to that level went from €7 to €10. That ticket lets you walk up 704 steps, by the way, but not to the top.
Paris and France have committed to a 20-year €300 million renovation and maintenance budget for the tower, and the increases will fund a large part of that. The biggest project in the plan, just underway, is construction of a bullet-proof anti-terrorist glass wall around the base of the tower and new visitor entrances.
Even with the increase, the Tower is lower than comparable rates at some other towers; it’s 20% less than the Empire State Building in New York. Current king of the tower fees is also the tallest: €87 at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
