Jono Muller

Montparnasse Tower

I stayed a night in Paris on Thursday and went up the Montparnasse Tower. You can go up to the top of the tower on the 59th floor and get a panoramic view of the whole of Paris. I decided to go late at night - it is open until 23:30 in the summer and 22:30 in the winter. The place not very busy at all and it only takes a couple of minutes to buy your tickets. Then you are told to go down a corridor and follow the signs to Montparnasse 56. The signs direct you to lifts where some staff are there to direct you in. The lifts themselves are the fastest in Europe, taking only 38 seconds to go up 56 floors and 196 metres. I even timed the lift myself and it gave the same result. After you get to the 56th floor you arrive at a large room with big glass windows, touch screens with interactive treasure hunts on them, photos on the walls of Paris history, viewpoint tables around the windows telling you what you are looking at, a bar and restaurant, a few telescopes dotted around the room and a gift shop. If you want to go to the top of the the which is outside, you have to walk 3 floors to the 59th floor at the top of the tower. It is a very short walk up 14 metres which brings you up to 210 above ground level. At the top of the tower you get a much better view of the whole of Paris. There is a big open space where you can walk around and look at all of the attractions. The roof has much more space on the roof than on the Eiffel Tower so you are able to walk around. It is also not very busy. I think that the Montparnasse 56 is one of Paris’s best kept secret as everyone goes up the Eiffel Tower but I think the that the Montparnasse Tower is a very good alternative for tourists and sightseers. You also get to see the Eiffel Tower in the view which you don’t see when you are at the top of the Eiffel Tower! Here are a few pictures of the view from the Montparnasse Tower of the views of Paris at night.