We will be in Paris March 18-26. Could someone in Paris please tell me what time it gets dark? I am trying to figure out what time the Eiffel Tower illumination begins. Do you have a favorite location for watching the hourly illumination? I am trying to time it so that we can watch from a tour boat but there is no reason why we can't watch from another location on another night!
I also have a question about buying tickets for the different levels. Can we buy lift tickets to go to level 2 and then decide once up there if we want to purchase tickets for the lift to the final level? If (when) there are long lines for the lifts to go up, is it obvious to assume that there will also be long lines to get down? How long a line should we expect on a weekday afternoon in mid-March? Thanks for your help.

Go to www.tour-eiffel.fr and they might have the information you seek.

canterbury- Thank you for the web site but I already checked there. I couldn't find a time for illuminations other than "at dusk" and I found the ticket information to be very confusing.

Any personal experience out there?

Thank you.

The twinkling is for ten minutes on the hour beginning with the first hour after sundown. Sundown for March in Paris is here: tinyurl.com/2wbhdd

The Eiffel Tower webcam is here: paris-live.com

Thanks for posting this WLS. Some of our visit will overlap yours and I was curious about this too.

You mention timing a tour boat cruise to see the illumination. I asked this on another thread and didn't get an answer. How do you know how to time it? Obviously, you can find out when the cruise leaves and what time the illumination is. But how do you know how long it takes to get to that point in the cruise?

Thanks!

CAPH52: I will double check with the boat company when we arrive but I found on another thread the suggestion that it takes 30 minutes from the Ponte Neuf to the Eiffel Tower so to take the trips that leave Ponte Neuf on the half hour.

Robespierre: Thanks for the web site! After one day I will have a pretty good idea of when it gets dark but I was hoping to take the boat cruise on our first jet lag day/evening in Paris. Then again I am also hoping for a harmonious family trip and world peace. I don't ask for much!

Thanks again.

Thank you, WLS!