Eiffel Tower tickets - how do you get reasonably priced tickets?

[Osprey67]

We are going to France in half term and hope to go to Paris for the day. I naively thought if I tried the official Eiffel Tower website on the day the tickets went on sale I'd be in with a shout of getting them for around the time we want.
They are all sold out at 6am and from what I can gather, agents buy them and resell them for five times the amount!
I'm loathed to pay the high prices, what are my options and what is the experience of others?

I would just go to the roof of the Galleries Lafayette, you get a great view of Paris and it’s free.

Thanks. It's for the kids to experience. I can't believe on paper it's €50 for five of us, yet completely unobtainable!

We are going soon and also found it was sold out in advance. The official site was when we emailed. There are always tickets available on the day, but you queue for immediate entry which can be a long wait. The customer service advised checking in as tickets do get re-released. Checked for days then we randomly were able to book 4 for next weekend! 2nd floor only and stairs though! Good luck

@Riskybiscuits thanks. This seems to be the advice. Have a great time.

The tickets for stairs up to the second floor are the cheapest and go on sale on the official site 2 weeks before you want to go.

We got some last year through the official website kfor the stairs only and a random slot available. I'd say keep trying and be flexible with the date/time and tale the stairs one. You could also phone them and ask. Maybe it is busier this year because of the Olympics...

You get a much better view of Paris from the Montparnasse Tower, particularly of the Eiffel Tower itself, which obviously you don't if you are actually up there! Tickets are much cheaper and far more readily available, we didn't even need to queue.

https://www.tourmontparnasse56.com/

I keep forgetting about the blinking Olympics!

An update in case useful for anyone who may find this thread in a search. I managed to go up the Eiffel Tower and only booked the tickets on the official website an hour before our chosen slot. Slots seem to open up on the day. Well worth it in my opinion.

I would agree with this. We were up there for ages, got there late afternoon and stayed until it was dark. Cool roof garden too with illuminated "Paris" sign. Very Instagrammable!