If you have never been to Las Vegas but have only seen a picture of the Strip, you will have noticed an Eiffel tower. This is located at the Paris Hotel. It is a half scale replica of the Eiffel tower in Paris, France.
If you have been to Las Vegas, you may have even walked by it, but what you may not be aware of is that you can take an elevator to the top of the Eiffel tower and look at the entire valley from all directions.
Your must purchase tickets for first. The ticket office is located in the Eiffel tower gift shop. The first time I went looking to buy tickets I couldn’t find the place, but it is actually easy to find. When you walk through the front doors from the Strip, you will see a large elevator with a hotel employee. This is for the restaurant, located a few stories high, overlooking the Strip. Opposite this elevator is the gift shop. The tickets are sold inside the gift shop.
You can buy tickets for the daytime or the nighttime. The daytime is cheaper, so that is when I went. From what others have told me here in Las Vegas, it is crowded at night, at least on the weekends. I went right before lunch during a weekday, and it was not crowded at all.
In back of the ticket seller, you will notice many padlocks for sale. In Paris, these are known as love locks, and couples lock them to the fences on bridges, then throw the key into the water. Pont des Arts is the most famous of these bridges. Recently the Paris city government has been attempting to put an end to this practice as it has become a safety issue; a section of the Pont des Arts bridge collapsed because of the weight of the locks. There is no safety issue here in Las Vegas, so you can purchase your love lock and attached it to a fence at the top of the escalator on your way to the elevator.
Once you buy your tickets, you simply walk around to the side of the gift shop and hand your ticket to the employee at the bottom of the escalator and head upward. As I mentioned before, the fence for love locks is at the top of the elevator. There is a bridge you walk across to the elevator. You may have to wait a few minutes for the elevator, because it is a 46 story trip.
I have been told that I have a fear of heights. This is not true. However, I do have a respect for heights, and if you’re like me, you may find the elevator trip to the observation deck a bit intense. The elevator going up is a bit of a ride because there is plexiglass that you can see through as you go up. If you respect heights, you should avoid looking out the window too much on the way up. I wasn’t as apprehensive on the observation deck as I was on the elevator ride.
Once you have reached the observation deck, you can spend as much time looking around as you want. The observation area is 360 degrees and is completely fenced in, but you can easily take pictures through the holes in the chain linked fence.
Here is a view of the Bellagio
This is the Strip looking to the south
This is a view looking North East. You can see the High Roller (the Ferris Wheel) from here. As you can tell, the Eiffel tower observation deck is approximately the same height as the Higher Roller, but if you are looking for a good view of Las Vegas, the Eiffel tower is cheaper than the High Roller.
This is a view of the Strip looking north
Also, there are slits at the bottom of the floor along the outer wall that you use to fit your camera lens over, at least the lens of a smartphone, and take pictures directly down.
Here is a picture through a a slit in the floor. In the bottom left corner, you can see the Strip. Along side of this is the sidewalk. The tiny things on the sidewalk are people.
You can get more information along with hours and prices at the Paris Hotel website.
MATT
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