How do you deal with the crowds and tourists when photographing iconic landmarks like the Eiffel Tower?

I like to shoot in the rain or cold damp conditions. This seems to stop a lot of tourists coming out. I use either a Canon 1Ds iii or a Canon 5Dsr with Canon L lenses. All are well weather sealed. Mid week is also a good time. Not having a day job gives me more time to plan a shoot. Using HDR in post work help me convey a mood. To old abandoned buildings

Either go when everyone has left or don't bother. Unless you can make an image that's unique, just enjoy what's already been done over and over. Do we really need to see another photo of the Eiffel Tower or Yosemite unless it's really, really unique?

Chances are the good spots have already been used. Why not find something overlooked within the viewshed and concentrate on what everyone else has missed rather than another same-old of the common and overdone?

If the photo is really necessary, then shoot a bunch of photos of the scene and move along. You can then in post-processing stack the images and anything moving can be averaged out and then your crowds are gone. For me, I look for a unique behavior in the crowd or something the breaks up the ordinary and use that as an accessory or a "verb" to make my image.

I have a few creative options to deal with crowds when photographing locations like the Eiffel Tower. Use longer duration shutter speeds so the people in the scene's movements become blurs of color and form. Foreground motion blur with a structure in sharp focus can be a compelling photograph. Take multiple frames with the same focus and exposure settings to blend them in post and mask the humans out. Now we also have AI apps and digital camera tools that automate this scrubbing of people from the scene which are quite effective. From my experience of making travel photography in dozens of countries, my attitude is that special places should be shared, and my photography is no more important than other peoples visiting experience.

I agree with Dan. In my experience, long exposure is a great ally. Some of my most awarded photographs were taken in very crowded places, like the Canary Warf Tube Station in London. I decided on my composition and selected several filters from my neutral density filter gear. I studied the situation for a while, and with a 4-minute exposure, it was good enough to get a beautiful photograph of an empty subway station. Voila!!

Once you have learned the best image, then make yours better. By seeing what others have done many save you a lot of time-and-effort that you don't need to repeat.

Maybe it's simply best to put the camera done and just enjoy the experience like everything else. Or find the gems hidden in the matrix and make them visible.