I know that last year, the Christmas lights in Paris were taken down on January 9, 2012. I cannot find anything on the internet that officially states when the lights will be taken down in January 2013.

Unfortunately the earliest day I can fly out to Paris is January 7, 2013 - does this mean I will only have one night to enjoy the lights ... or perhaps they will already be taken down by then?

They normally stay up until Epiphany, which is January 6th next year. But that seems quite early to turn off the lights, so I would imagine they will remain until the following weekend.

Thanks kerouac and fingers crossed. I would hate to get there and find out that I missed it by one night

However, you will indeed miss the spectacular displays of the department stores. They make it a point of honor on January 2nd to make sure everything has disappeared as though it had never existed.

That's ok - i was mostly worried about the Champs Elysees lights. The plane tickets are substantially more expensive if i fly out earlier (maybe cuz it's still holiday peak season) but it might be worth it in order to avoid the risk of missing the lights altogether. I'll have to give it some thought ...