Eiffel Tower Self-Guided Audio Walk: Trocadéro, Pont d'Iéna and the Champ de Mars
1 hour and 20 minutes
About this experience
The Eiffel Tower was built for the world's fair of 1889 on a site granted for twenty years, and more than forty artists protested before it was finished. It is still standing. Start on the Trocadéro terrace, walk down through the gardens of the 1878 fair and cross Napoleon's Pont d'Iéna to the tower. Learn how it was designed, riveted and painted, and why its legs curve. Then go behind it: a museum wall of 15,000 living plants on a former river island, an Art Nouveau facade that was a ceramist's shop window, a fountain begun in 1806 and marked by the flood of 1910, and then the Champ de Mars itself, a drill ground before it held five world's fairs, crossed on its gravel avenue toward the École Militaire. Finish looking back down the lawns to the tower. Nine stops, about 2.4 km and 80 minutes, at your own pace, in English. Tickets to go up the tower are not included.
- Experience type
- Day tour or activity
- Duration
- 1 hour and 20 minutes
- Guide
- English
- Audio guide
- English
- Categories
- Walking tour · Cultural and theme tours · City tours
What's included
Self-guided audio tour in English: 9 stops, 2.4 km, 80 minutes Stops at Palais de Chaillot, Pont d'Iéna, a museum wall of living plants GPS map and walking directions in your phone browser, no app needed Lifetime access: start any day, at any hour, and replay it
What's not included
A live guide: you set the pace and the pauses A fixed start time: begin whenever you arrive Museum and monument tickets, all optional extras Tip or gratuity Food and drinks Entry or admission fee
Please note
To start the tour, enter the ticket code from your confirmation on the Roamer redemption page linked there. Do this before you set off, while you still have signal. The tour then opens in your phone browser, with no app to download. Bring a charged phone and earphones. Mobile data helps; if you have none, open the tour on wifi before you set off. Best time: Daytime, Tuesday to Saturday, starting by about 4pm in October so the Musée du quai Branly garden is still open: 9.15am to 7.30pm (Thursday to 10.15pm) per the museum's own page on 6 October 2026; Monday opening is not confirmed. The views at stops 1 to 4 work at any hour. The Champ de Mars (stops 8 and 9) has no gates and is open 24 hours a day per the City of Paris (checked 8 October 2026), but its gravel avenues are best walked in daylight; after dark, use the street fallback in the precautions. Tower hours vary by date: the operator's September 2026 calendar showed 9.30am to 11pm. Checked 7 October 2026. Getting to the start: Trocadéro Metro station (line 9) is a couple of minutes' walk from stop 1. Bus 72 stops at the Pont d'Iéna (stop 3). The walk ends at the south-east end of the Champ de Mars lawns, a short walk from École Militaire Metro station (line 8); RER C Champ de Mars-Tour Eiffel and buses 82, 30, 86 and 69 also serve the area. On certain Sundays from September to November 2026, Metro line 6 is suspended between Charles de Gaulle-Étoile and La Motte-Picquet-Grenelle and Bir-Hakeim station is closed. Checked 7 October 2026. The Eiffel Tower (stop 4): from 29 September 2026 stairs tickets must be booked in advance, and groups of more than nine must buy online, not at the ticket office. Prices, hours and the free gardens are on the stop's card. Buy only on the official site: the operator warns of fraudulent ticket sites. Checked 7 October 2026. Walking under the tower is free: go through the security check at entrance 1 or 2, in the queue for visitors without tickets. Large luggage is not allowed and there is no left-luggage service. Checked 7 October 2026. The Musée du quai Branly's garden (stop 5) is a free public garden behind the glass wall: 9.15am to 7.30pm, Thursday to 10.15pm, per the museum's page on 6 October 2026; Monday is not confirmed. The museum itself is open 10.30am to 7pm, Thursday to 10pm. Checked 7 October 2026. The Champ de Mars (stops 8 and 9) has no gates: the City of Paris lists it as open 24 hours a day in every period through September 2027, with public toilets, play areas and a snack bar inside the park. The gravel avenues can be soft after rain. Checked 8 October 2026. Hungry at the end? The Rue Cler, a pedestrian street of food shops, is a short walk north-east of stop 9. Many of its shops close on Monday, and Sunday afternoon is quiet. Steps: between stops 1 and 2 the route goes down the Trocadéro gardens by a flight of about 53 steps with no handrail and a flight of 8 steps with a ramp beside it. There is no step-free way down this slope on the route. Wheelchair users can start at stop 3, the Pont d'Iéna (bus 72), where the rest of the walk is flat. The Trocadéro terrace (stop 1) and the Pont d'Iéna (stop 3) are busy with sellers and street games; keep bags closed and in front of you, and walk past anyone offering bracelets or a game of chance. The Pont d'Iéna is closed to private cars but buses, bicycles and emergency vehicles still use it: keep to the pavement. Cross the riverside roads, the Avenue Rapp and the Avenue de la Bourdonnais only at the signals. The Avenue Rapp's side lanes, the Rue Sédillot and the Rue Saint-Dominique at the fountain, and the small road at the Champ de Mars edge after stop 7 have no lights: look both ways. You cannot walk under the tower on this route without a security check; the walk stays outside the perimeter. Do not buy tickets from street sellers. 29 Avenue Rapp (stop 6) is private housing: look from the street only. The École Militaire (stop 9) is an active military institution: stay on the park side, outside its grounds; do not enter and do not photograph the guards. The City of Paris is renovating the Champ de Mars's paths and lawns and gives no dates or plan of the works; parts may be fenced off, and large events can fence big areas for weeks (checked 8 October 2026). If the gravel avenues of stops 8 and 9 are fenced, or after dark, stay on the street: after the lights at the Avenue de la Bourdonnais, follow its pavement south-east to its end, then turn right to the Place Joffre, at the end of the lawns, and take stop 9's view from there; play stops 8 and 9 by hand, as they will not start on their own off the park avenues. The Trocadéro fountain's jets run on a schedule that was not confirmed; they may be off. Public transportation nearby
Itinerary
- 1Day 0
Trocadéro: The View Three Fairs Built
Parvis des Libertés et des Droits de l'Homme, Trocadéro terrace of the Palais de Chaillot, 75016 Paris, Paris
A 1937 palace frames the view. Its curved wings stand on the frame of a palace built for the fair of 1878.
- 2Day 0
Trocadéro Gardens: Down to the River
Jardins du Trocadéro, at the Warsaw fountain basins, 75016 Paris, Paris
1878 fair gardens step down. The long pools and the fountain people call the Warsaw fountain were added in 1937.
- 3Day 0
Pont d'Iéna: Napoleon's Bridge to the Tower
Pont d'Iéna, on the footway, 75007 Paris, Paris
Stone horsemen guard both ends. Stone horsemen guard both ends, and the deck was widened for the fair of 1937.
- 4Day 0
The Eiffel Tower: Twenty Years That Never Ended
Quai Branly riverside promenade, facing the Eiffel Tower, 75007 Paris, Paris
Built in two years for 1889. Built in two years, two months and five days for the fair of 1889, on a site granted for twenty years.
- 5Day 0
Musée du quai Branly: A Garden on the Wall
Quai Branly at Avenue de la Bourdonnais, by the museum's green wall, 75007 Paris, Paris
Living plants cover the wall. Jean Nouvel's museum of 2006 stands on stilts behind a glass screen, on what was a river island until 1812.
- 6Day 0
Avenue Rapp: Lavirotte's Ceramic Shop Window
Avenue Rapp, opposite no. 29, 75007 Paris, Paris
A ceramic front won a prize. Number 29, built in 1900, won a City of Paris facade prize in 1901.
- 7Day 0
Fontaine de Mars: War and Health at the Hospital Gate
Rue Saint-Dominique, across from the Fontaine de Mars, 75007 Paris, Paris
Mars meets the goddess of health. It stood at the gate of a military hospital, and a plaque at its foot marks the flood of 1910.
- 8Day 0
Champ de Mars: From Drill Ground to Garden
Champ de Mars, Allée Anatole-France where the Avenue du Général-Margueritte joins, 75007 Paris, Paris
The walk crosses the old drill ground. Five world's fairs were held here, and in 1908 it became a garden of long lawns.
- 9Day 0
École Militaire: The End of the Line
Champ de Mars, south end of the lawns facing the École Militaire, 75007 Paris, Paris
The school closes the long view. Founded in 1751, it looks down the lawns to the tower at their far end.
Meeting point
Trocadéro, Paris Parvis des Libertés et des Droits de l'Homme, Trocadéro terrace of the Palais de Chaillot, 75016 Paris, Paris, Île-de-France, FR
Pick up
Pickup is not provided.
Cancellation policy · Eiffel Tower Self-Guided Audio Walk: Trocadéro, Pont d'Iéna and the Champ de Mars
Standard Viator policy
- Cancellation 0–24 hours before departure: 100% cancellation fee.
- Cancellation 24–24000 hours before departure: 0% cancellation fee.
Good to know
Operated by Roamer and sold by AGORA. Your voucher and booking reference arrive by email straight after payment.