Paris's Eiffel Tower top floor reopens to visitors on 15 July

The most iconic French landmark, the Eiffel Tower, is to reopen reopen its top level to the public on 15 July after months of being off-limits due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The Eiffel Tower's first and second floors reopened on 25 June after the monument's longest closure since World War II, a symbolic restart as France emerged from lockdown.

"Who hasn't dreamed of having Paris at their feet, from a height of 276 metres?" SETE, the tower's operator, said in a statement on Thursday.

"This will be possible from 15 July, the day of the reopening of the top floor."

All visitors are required to wear face masks and keep safe distances from each other.

When it reopens, the top floor will accommodate no more than 250 people at a time.

Elevators were off-limits when the tower welcomed back its first visitors – meaning visitors had to climb hundreds of stairs – but they have since been reopened.

104-day closure

The tower's 104-day closure cost SETE 27 million euros in lost sales, with visitor numbers not expected to return to normal anytime soon.

The Paris landmark usually takes in about seven million visitors a year, mostly from abroad.

• Eiffel Tower to welcome back visitors from 25 June

France is one of the world's most-visited countries but its tourism industry has taken a hard hit from the coronavirus lockdown, with hotels, restaurants, museums and theatres closed for three months.

Local tourism

France lifted restrictions at European borders on 15 June, and the tourism industry hopes foreign visitors will start trickling in again as the summer season kicks off.

Europe is not yet allowing visitors from the hard-hit United States, and several other countries deemed to have "unsafe" levels of Covid-19 rates.

SETE said since reopening three-quarters of its visitors had been from France.