As Paris declares 2023 as the year Gustave Eiffel to commemorate the centenary of his death, France’s most iconic monument has elevated its offerings to the next level.
This is a great summer to visit Paris, ahead of the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games that will take place next year, and Eiffel Tower offers up three main reasons:
GASTRONOMY
With two fine-dining restaurants on level one and two, and macaroon designed especially by pastry master Pierre Hermé Paris, the Eiffel Tower is a gastronomy destination in its own right. The legendary Jules Verne, a Michelin-starred restaurant by Frédéric Anton is located on the second floor, and Madame Brasserie, a new Parisian venue headed by Chef Thierry Marx on the first floor offers seats for 200 pax. Apart from these, there are ample bar and lounge spaces to hang out all day, starting from breakfast and going up to sundowners and evening meals. The Pierre Hermé designed macaroons, complete with the Eiffel Tower logo and proprietary recipe, are a big hit with customers, said a representative we met at Marhaba-France Spain 2023, which took place in Oman, earlier this year.
PREMIUM RETAIL
After the pandemic, the Iron Lady’s retail offerings have returned with a premium, high-quality push, with exclusively made-in-France souvenirs and the finest French co-branded products on sale. With this, Eiffel Tower is emerging as a shopping destination as well as a stop on the gourmet map. Eiffel Tower’s shops sell a wide range of products and souvenirs, we are told – on the esplanade and first and second floors. Each shop has its own speciality including gourmet, fabrics, home and fashion. Think small trinkets, souvenirs to top-quality French-labelled leather bags, all in one stop.
VIP TOURS
To top it all off, VIP tours, aptly labelled the Grand Tour of Eiffel Tower, have been introduced just this May to make the destination suitable even for the most discerning guests. These tours for small groups, led by an Eiffel Tower guide, last about two hours of queue-free, priority access and include access to areas not available for public viewing. Hidden beneath the Eiffel Tower are its foundations, of course, which are firmly anchored 22.3 feet underground, but also the basements housing the technical equipment for each pillar, such as the elevator mechanisms, and offices. These can now be accessed on the VIP tour. Grand Tour customers are offered French bubbles and goody bags at the end of the trip, with special bags for the kids. It’s all very personalised and exclusive, so much so that the tour can also be arranged exclusively (crowd-free) upon request and availability.
The tour can then be topped off with fun additions such as Pierre Hermé macaroon tasting or a dinner reservation.
AN OLYMPIAN SUMMER
The next Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024 (July 26 to August 11) will take place in France exactly 100 years after it last hosted the summer games.
Paris 2024 will be the largest event ever organised in the country. It promises to be an inclusive, interactive and sustainable celebration of sport: the first fully gender-balanced and carbon-neutral Olympics, featuring the first-ever Olympic events open to general public participation. The Games will extend to the cities of Nantes, Bordeaux, Lyon, Nice and Marseille, as well as the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia.