Paris Attractions

Venue: Eiffel Tower    When: Daily

Visible from vantage points all over the city, the looming iron-work structure of the Eiffel Tower dominates the Paris skyline and offers increasingly spectacular views from its three storeys. Its twinkling lights, a legacy of the Parisian millennium celebrations, have remained thanks to popular demand - making it even more of a glittering attraction.

Standing 300 metres tall, the Eiffel Tower was the world's tallest building in 1899, when built for the following year's Exposition Universelle. Today it attracts five million visitors every year. In other words, be prepared to queue. Brave the queues and you will be rewarded first with a true sense of the structure's monumentality as it towers above you and then, as you go up, the best views over Paris. On a cloudless day these can span up to 65km.

There is the option of taking either stairs or lift for the first two floors, but the only way to the top is by lift. Souvenir shops, a post office and a photo shop can be found scattered about the first two floors. For the ultimate candlelit dinner, there is a reservations-only restaurant on the second floor, while below on the first is the 200-seater Altitude Bistro with its clear views of Trocadero.

The 20,000 lights light up for a few minutes every hour, rendering the tower as much as a focal point at night as it is in the day. These lights have been planned to last until 2013, so prepare yourself for a dazzling display on one of the world's most famous buildings.