🇫🇷Arc de Triomphe Guide 2026: 284 Steps, Ticket Prices and the Champs-Élysées Walk

The Arc de Triomphe — full name Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile — is 49.54 m high and 44.82 m wide, standing at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle with twelve avenues radiating out from it, the most famous being the Champs-Élysées. Napoleon ordered it in 1806 to mark his victory over the Russian-Austrian armies the year before; work stopped when he fell, and it wasn't finished until 1836.

Photographed on site, 25 August 2025, 18:23 — Place Charles de Gaulle is a roundabout where twelve avenues meet; do not try to cross the traffic. Use the underpass on the north side of the Champs-Élysées; that entrance is also the ticket office and the way up.

Tickets and the climb

Getting to the top means 284 steps up a spiral staircase. Allow two to three hours for the visit, and you get one of the best panoramas in the city.

Prices (2026):

• April–September: €22 adult, €16 on Wednesdays
• October–March: €16 adult
• Free under 18; free for EU residents aged 18–25, including students on a residence permit
• Free on the first Sunday of the month in January, February, March, November and December

It's included in the Paris Museum Pass, and it needs no advance reservation — one of the few busy Paris sights where the pass alone gets you straight in.

Opening hours

• April–September: 10:00–23:00, Tuesdays from 11:00
• October–March: 10:00–22:30, Tuesdays from 11:00
• Last entry 45 minutes before closing
• Annual closures: 1 May; the mornings of 8 May, 14 July and 11 November; early closing at 16:00 on 24 and 31 December

Questions about the climb

Photographed on site, 25 August 2025, 17:23 — this view is what the climb is for: the Eiffel Tower on the right, the dark tower left of centre is Tour Montparnasse, and the boulevards radiate out from directly below you.

Is there a lift?

The standard route is the 284 steps. The lift is reserved for visitors with reduced mobility, elderly visitors, small children and pregnant women — you tell staff at security and they take you across. Fit young visitors who ask will be turned down. And the lift only reaches the upper hall: there are still 46 more steps to the actual terrace.

Can I bring a tripod?

No.

Do I need a ticket just to look at it from outside?

No. But the Arc is marooned in the middle of a roundabout — use the underpass, never try to cross the traffic.

Chaining it with the Champs-Élysées

The Champs-Élysées runs 2.5 km from Place de la Concorde in the east to the Arc in the west — 30–40 minutes on foot, with several metro stations along the way. The luxury shopping is concentrated in the triangle formed by the Champs-Élysées, Avenue Montaigne and Avenue George V.

• Not shopping: get off at Franklin D. Roosevelt or George V and walk towards the Arc, so the monument is in front of you the whole way. Climb it at the end.
• Shopping: get off at Charles-de-Gaulle-Étoile, climb first, then walk down the avenue and browse on the way.

Metro: Charles-de-Gaulle-Étoile (lines 1, 2 and 6), plus RER A at the same station.

Staying near the Arc

Convenient for shopping, since you're on the Champs-Élysées; good at night, because the terrace stays open past 22:00; and the area is one of the safer parts of central Paris to come back to late.

What to look at from outside

Four sculptural groups on the piers, all on the theme of war: The Departure of the Volunteers — better known as La Marseillaise, and the most famous of the four — plus Triumph, Peace and Resistance.

Photographed on site — Le Départ de 1792, known as La Marseillaise, by Rude, on the Champs-Élysées side: the most famous of the four groups. The winged figure roaring above is the spirit of war; below her are the volunteers marching out in 1792.

Photographed on site — Le Triomphe de 1810 by Cortot, on the same Champs-Élysées face, on the opposite pier from Le Départ. The vertical columns of names carved alongside are battles (LOANO, MONDOVI, MANTOUE…); you have to walk right up to read them.

Photographed on site, evening of 25 August 2025, from the Avenue de la Grande Armée side — the other two are round the back: La Paix de 1815 on the left, La Résistance de 1814 on the right, both by Étex. This face points west, so late afternoon is when it is best lit.

Inside are carved the names of 386 generals who served with Napoleon and 96 victories. Beneath the arch lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from the First World War, standing for the 1.5 million French dead, with an eternal flame in front of it. On national holidays a French flag over ten metres long hangs from the vault.

From the top you see the Champs-Élysées, the Eiffel Tower, and away to the north-west the Grande Arche de la Défense among the towers of the business district — which you can also go up.

Back to the Paris travel guide to see how it fits into a half-day route.