The single black skyscraper that breaks the Paris skyline, the 210-metre Tour Montparnasse was finished in 1973 and so disliked that the city banned further high-rises in the centre two years later. Parisians have never forgiven it — the running joke is that its observation deck offers the most beautiful view in Paris precisely because it is the one viewpoint from which you cannot see the tower itself.
Jokes aside, the 56th-floor deck and open-air rooftop terrace give a genuinely superb 360-degree panorama, with the Eiffel Tower, Sacré-Cœur, and the sweep of the boulevards laid out below — and far shorter queues than the Eiffel Tower. It is at its best toward sunset. A major renovation of the tower's exterior has been underway in recent years.