The tower was glowing gold. Dimple, Tin and I were standing at Trocadéro, phones ready for the Eiffel Tower sparkle, pretending we weren’t counting down to the hour.
Then it hit. The whole tower burst into white sparkles, the beacon swept across the sky, and Dimple was pointing at it like she’d personally arranged the whole thing. And from somewhere nearby, music was playing what sounded like “Time to Say Goodbye.”
You can’t plan a soundtrack like that. Paris just hands it to you, slightly over the top, and somehow it’s perfect.
Five minutes of showing off
The sparkle lasts five minutes, and it happens at the start of every hour after dark. We’d already been up the tower earlier in the trip, but this is the view you can’t get from the top: the whole thing, lit up, doing its party trick.
A few things we didn’t know
- Those sparkles are 20,000 tiny bulbs. Hanging them took 25 climbers five months. Our thanks to their knees.
- The sparkle was meant to be temporary. It started as 1999 became 2000, came down in July 2001, and returned for good in June 2003. Paris clearly missed it.
- The tower turns itself on. Sensors switch the golden lights on at dusk. No one has to remember.
- It was once a giant billboard. Our guide mentioned this one, and it checks out. From 1925 to the mid-1930s, the name CITROËN blazed down the tower in 250,000 bulbs in six colours, designed by Fernand Jacopozzi and visible from about 40 km away. Citroën paid for the space. Today’s influencers have nothing on that.
When to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle
The tower sparkles for 5 minutes at the start of every hour after dark. The last sparkle is at 11 PM, and the lights go off at 11:45 PM. Trocadéro gives you the full view, so get there a few minutes before the hour and claim a spot by the wall.
Quick answers
For 5 minutes at the start of every hour after dark. The last one is at 11 PM.
Trocadéro, for the full view.