How long does the Eiffel Tower light show last?

Five minutes per show. Then it stops, and roughly an hour later the same five minutes happen again. Sparkle on the Eiffel Tower is hourly, top of the hour, after the sun has gone down. Under current energy-saving rules, the tower's lights are switched off at 11:45 PM, meaning the final sparkle of the night occurs at 11 PM. A viewer who sticks around an entire evening will catch several of these five-minute bursts, depending on the season and sunset time.

No. Five minutes on, fifty-five minutes off. The bulbs that flash for the sparkle stay dark between bursts.

Two separate light systems are involved here. One is the gold coat, which uses 336 high-pressure sodium lamps tucked inside the iron framework. The sparkle is the other one: 20,000 little bulbs across the four sides of the tower that flash in short random patterns. They only switch on for those five minutes at the top of each hour.

End of the night. Since September 2022, the entire lighting system cuts off at 11:45 PM to conserve energy. This means the previous 1 AM sparkle show has been discontinued; the last chance to see the tower flash is now at 11 PM sharp.

Per event, five minutes. It was ten minutes until 2008, when it was reduced to save power and extend the lifespan of the bulbs.

Per evening, it depends on two factors: what time the sun sets and the mandatory 11:45 PM shutdown.

Winter provides the longest window. With the first sparkle around 6 PM and the last at 11 PM, you can catch six events, totaling about 30 cumulative minutes.

Summer is more limited. Because the sun sets very late, the first sparkle may not fire until 10 PM or 11 PM. Since the lights now turn off at 11:45 PM, a summer visitor might only see one or two sparkle events in total.

It chases sunset. Twilight sensors switch on the gold lighting once it has gone properly dark, and then the first sparkle waits for whichever top of the hour comes next.

Seasonal benchmarks roughly look like this:

• Winter: 5 PM to 6 PM
• Spring and autumn: 8 PM to 9 PM
• Summer: 10 PM to 11 PM

Inside each range, the exact starting minute shifts night by night as sunset drifts. Regardless of the start time, remember that the final show is always at 11 PM.