Covers Rome, Paris and the south of Europe, and the famous sights that open their doors after dark.
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Paris is the obvious night city, and that's the problem for night tours. The best things it does after dark cost nothing.
The Eiffel Tower turns gold as soon as it gets dark and then sparkles for five minutes at the top of each hour, according to the tower's operator. The bridges are lit. The Louvre stays open until 9 p.m. twice a week. You can do most of a good Paris night on foot with a metro ticket, and plenty of people do.
So the six tours below, ranked by our Night Score, score lower than Rome's or Barcelona's. A Segway tops it at 5.3, a whisker ahead of a Louvre closing-time visit. Then come two big Seine dinner cruises, a private golf cart and a vintage sidecar.
What isn't here matters as much. No Paris ghost walk cleared our bar, and the two best candidates, a dark-history walk and a Latin Quarter pub crawl, showed no price on the day our researcher checked. Every plain sightseeing cruise on the Seine at night rated 4.2 or lower. Night buses rated 3.5 to 3.8.
At a glance
Best overall
Go Go Tours Segway night loop to the Eiffel Tower (5.3)
Best for a group
Paris by Golf Cart private night drive (4.8)
Best dinner cruise
Bateaux Mouches, boarding at Pont de l'Alma for an 8:30 p.m. sail (4.9)
Best free option
The Eiffel Tower sparkle, 5 minutes at the start of each hour after dark
Skip
Night bus tours and plain Seine evening cruises; none cleared our bar
When it gets dark
5:31 p.m. in December, 10:37 p.m. in June
On this page
The 6 best night tours in Paris, ranked
Every tour we scored in Paris that cleared our bar (rated 4.4 or more from 50+ reviews), in Night Score order. Night Score = 30% rating, 10% review count, 20% price per hour, 40% how much the night is the point. How we score
Paris by Night: Exclusive Segway night tour with a Local Guide
Night walking tours
5.3/10Night Score
From $74 (€66)
1.5 hours
Starts: Evening
Small group, 12+
4.9 (102 reviews)
It wins because it covers ground. Ninety minutes on a Segway takes you from the Champ de Mars past Pont Alexandre III, the Grand Palais and Concorde to the Louvre and back to the lit tower, which would be a long walk at night. A 4.9 from 102 reviews is strong. The catch is price: $74 (€66) for an hour and a half is $50 (€44) an hour, so it's no bargain. Go Go Tours caps groups at 15 and takes no one 11 or under. It meets on Avenue de la Bourdonnais, next to the tower.
How the score breaks down, and the fine print
Rated by travelersData · 30%4.8
Review countData · 10%4.1
Price per hourData · 20%4.5
After darkEditors · 40%6.5
What it is: A Go Go Tours Segway ride from the Champ de Mars past Pont Alexandre III, the Grand Palais, Concorde and the Louvre and back to the Eiffel Tower.
Good to know: Capped at 15; no children 11 and under. Admissions not included. Returns to the meeting point.
After dark: The loop past the Invalides, Concorde and the Louvre ends at the lit Eiffel Tower.
Rating, review count and from-price as shown on Viator on October 26, 2026. The price changes with the date.
Closing Time At The Louvre: From Mona Lisa to Venus de Milo
After-dark entry
5.2/10Night Score
From $72 (€64)
2 to 4 hours
Starts: Early evening, as the museum
Small group
4.7 (567 reviews)
This is the most proven tour on the page after the cruises, 4.7 from 567 reviews, and museum entry is included, which is why it ranks second. It's not a night tour in the strict sense. Walks times it for the last hours before the Louvre closes, when the Mona Lisa room is far calmer than in the morning crush. $72 (€64) for two to four hours. Groups cap at 20. It isn't wheelchair or stroller friendly. Pick it if the Louvre is on your list anyway. You'll leave as the pyramid lights up.
How the score breaks down, and the fine print
Rated by travelersData · 30%4.7
Review countData · 10%6.7
Price per hourData · 20%5.7
After darkEditors · 40%5.0
What it is: A Walks small-group highlights tour of the Louvre timed for the last hours before closing.
Good to know: Museum entry (28 euros) included; capped at 20. Not wheelchair or stroller friendly. It is a closing-time visit, not an after-hours one.
After dark: Late in the day the galleries thin out, so the Mona Lisa room is far calmer than in the morning rush.
Rating, review count and from-price as shown on Viator on October 26, 2026. The price changes with the date.
Bateaux Mouches Dinner Cruise on the Seine River in Paris
Night cruises
4.9/10Night Score
From $141 (€126)
2 hours 15 minutes
Starts: 8:30 p.m.
Shared boat
4.4 (5,268 reviews)
Of the two big dinner cruises, this is the one that's properly after dark. Boarding opens at 8 p.m. at Port de la Conférence by Pont de l'Alma, the boat sails at 8:30 and you're back by 10:45, so the whole loop past the tower, Notre-Dame and the Louvre is lit. That's its high after-dark score. 4.4 from 5,268 reviews is what drags it down. $141 (€126) buys three or four courses and live music; wine runs from one glass to half a bottle depending on the menu. The page also says be at the pier by 7:30. Go early.
How the score breaks down, and the fine print
Rated by travelersData · 30%0.1
Review countData · 10%10.0
Price per hourData · 20%3.5
After darkEditors · 40%8.0
What it is: A Compagnie des Bateaux-Mouches dinner cruise with a 3- or 4-course meal and live music.
Good to know: Back by 10:45 p.m. Wine depends on the menu tier (one glass up to half a bottle); kids' meals ages 4 to 12 cost extra. The page also says to be at the pier by 7:30, so arrive early.
After dark: The 8:30 p.m. departure means the whole cruise past the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame and the Louvre is after dark and illuminated.
Rating, review count and from-price as shown on Viator on October 26, 2026. The price changes with the date.
Bateaux Parisiens Seine River Gourmet Dinner & Sightseeing Cruise
Night cruises
4.8/10Night Score
From $143 (€127)
2 hours
Starts: Evening
Shared boat
4.4 (7,513 reviews)
The most reviewed tour in Paris, 7,513 of them, and it leaves from the tower's own pier at Port de la Bourdonnais. It ranks just under Bateaux Mouches on price: $143 (€127) for two hours, about $71 (€64) an hour. The 4.4 rating is the same and it sinks both. You get three or four courses, wine and a live singer, and the dress code is smart casual. Extra drinks cost more. The page doesn't promise the sparkle, though reviewers often catch it. Boarding times only show at booking, so check you're on a sailing that's actually after dark.
How the score breaks down, and the fine print
Rated by travelersData · 30%0.0
Review countData · 10%10.0
Price per hourData · 20%3.0
After darkEditors · 40%8.0
What it is: A Bateaux Parisiens dinner cruise on the Seine with a 3- or 4-course menu, wine and a live singer.
Good to know: Smart casual dress; extra drinks cost more. The page does not promise the hourly Eiffel Tower sparkle, though reviewers often see it.
After dark: It leaves from the foot of the Eiffel Tower and the return leg passes the monuments lit up after dark.
Rating, review count and from-price as shown on Viator on October 26, 2026. The price changes with the date.
A perfect 5.0, but from only 64 reviews and at a steep solo price, which is what holds it fifth rather than level with the Segway. It's private. The headline $172 (€153) is for one person, and the per-person price falls as your group grows, to $86 (€77) each for two. The route runs past Concorde, the Arc de Triomphe and Trocadéro to the tower and the Louvre. Pickup is free in the 1st, 2nd, 7th, 8th, 9th, 15th and 16th. Reviewers often finish with the sparkle, but it isn't promised. Book a slot after dark, which in June means late.
How the score breaks down, and the fine print
Rated by travelersData · 30%4.5
Review countData · 10%3.4
Price per hourData · 20%2.3
After darkEditors · 40%6.5
What it is: A Paris by Golf Cart private night drive past Concorde, the Arc de Triomphe, Trocadero, the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre.
Good to know: Free hotel pickup in arrondissements 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 15 and 16. The sparkle is not in the official itinerary; book a slot after sunset, which is late in summer.
After dark: The route takes in the Champs-Elysees, Trocadero and the Eiffel Tower lit up, and reviewers often end with the sparkle.
Rating, review count and from-price as shown on Viator on October 26, 2026. The price changes with the date.
Paris Vintage Tour by Night on a Sidecar with Champagne
Night bus tours
4.1/10Night Score
From $205 (€183)
2 hours
Starts: Early evening
Private
4.9 (52 reviews)
It's fun and it's well rated, 4.9 from 52 reviews, but the numbers are hard to defend. $205 (€183) per person for two hours is $102 (€91) an hour, the worst value on the page by far, and two of you share one sidecar. Retro Tour runs it in the early evening, out via the Opéra, Montmartre and Sacré-Coeur to the Arc de Triomphe and a stop at the tower as the lights come on. One glass of Champagne, a helmet and pickup in a set zone are included. Tower entry isn't. A splurge for a birthday, nothing more.
How the score breaks down, and the fine print
Rated by travelersData · 30%3.7
Review countData · 10%3.1
Price per hourData · 20%1.6
After darkEditors · 40%6.0
What it is: A Retro Tour chauffeured vintage sidecar ride via the Opera, Montmartre, Sacre-Coeur, the Arc de Triomphe and a stop at the Eiffel Tower.
Good to know: One glass of Champagne, helmet and hotel pickup in a set zone included; Eiffel Tower entry is not. Two guests share one sidecar.
After dark: An early-evening ride to Montmartre and the Eiffel Tower as the lights come on.
Rating, review count and from-price as shown on Viator on October 26, 2026. The price changes with the date.
Reserve links go to GetYourGuide or Viator. Booking through them can earn us a commission at no cost to you; it never changes a score or a rank. How we make money
What Paris is actually like after dark
The tower runs the show. Its operator says the golden lighting switches on automatically within 10 minutes of dark, and the 20,000 sparkle bulbs go off for five minutes at the start of every hour from then on. This week the tower itself is open from 9:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., with last ascents at 10:45 p.m.
The museums mostly close at 6. The Louvre is the exception: Wednesday and Friday it stays open until 9 p.m., with last entry an hour before and rooms cleared 30 minutes before closing. It's closed on Tuesdays. On the first Friday of the month it's free for everyone after 6 p.m., except in July and August.
Where do people actually go? The quays of the Seine, the steps of Sacré-Coeur, Saint-Germain and the Marais for dinner, and the Latin Quarter for bars. None of that needs a guide.
Wheels, a cruise or the Louvre: how to pick
Wheels if you want to see a lot in one evening. The Segway and the golf cart both loop the big monuments and end at the tower. The Segway is cheaper if you're one or two people. For four, the private cart starts to make sense.
A dinner cruise if the meal is the point. I think the Bateaux Mouches sailing is the better buy of the two, simply because its 8:30 p.m. departure guarantees darkness for most of the year. In June it doesn't get dark until 10:37 p.m., so on a summer evening any cruise is partly a sunset cruise. Don't expect a great dinner on either boat. Expect a good view with a decent dinner attached.
The Louvre closing-time tour is for people who were going to the Louvre anyway. It saves you the morning crowds. It won't show you Paris at night.
For how cruises compare across cities, see our night cruises page.
The free version: a sparkle and a river walk
Start at Trocadéro a few minutes before the hour. The terrace between the two wings of the Palais de Chaillot is the classic spot and it's crowded for a reason: the whole tower is in front of you when the bulbs go off. Then walk down through the gardens and over Pont d'Iéna to the foot of the tower.
From there, follow the left bank east along the river. Pont Alexandre III is the prettiest bridge in the city at night, with its lamps and gilded statues. Cross it, walk past the Grand Palais to Concorde, and through the Tuileries to the Louvre pyramid, lit from inside. That's roughly the Segway route, on foot, for free.
The tower's operator suggests the second floor if you'd rather watch the sparkle from the tower itself, timed for the hour. Honestly, it's a better show from the outside.
Montmartre is the other free night. Climb to Sacré-Coeur after dinner and sit on the steps. Keep your phone in your pocket on the way down.
Getting back late
The metro runs from about 5:30 a.m. to 1:15 a.m., and until 2:15 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights and the night before a public holiday, per RATP. Bateaux Mouches docks by 10:45 p.m., which leaves you hours to spare.
After that it's the Noctilien night buses: RATP lists 47 routes running between 12:30 and 5:30 a.m. They work. They're slow.
Taxis are fine. Take one from a rank or book through an app, and don't take a ride offered by someone standing outside a station. Our night tour safety guide has the general rules.
When to go: darkness, cold and long summer evenings
Paris swings hard. In December it's dark by 5:31 p.m. and a 6 p.m. tour is fully at night. In June you wait until 10:37 p.m., which pushes every night product late. The table below has every month.
Winter nights are cold. January lows in our weather data are around 35°F (1.6°C), and November to January each bring 12 or 13 rain days. In July and August nights sit around 59°F (15°C), pleasant for walking. The tower's operator warns it is 1 to 3 degrees Celsius colder on the upper floors, so bring a windproof layer whatever the month.
From late June to early September, the tower's own night-visit article says it closes at 12:45 a.m. Check the calendar on the ticket site for your date, because this week's posted hours end at 11 p.m.
What to skip, and what's missing
Skip the hop-on night buses. Big Bus and Tootbus night routes rated 3.5 to 3.8 when our researcher checked.
Skip the plain evening sightseeing cruises too. Vedettes de Paris rated 3.8, Vedettes du Pont Neuf 4.2 and a sunset Champagne cruise 4.1. If you want to be on the river at night, the two dinner cruises above are the ones that cleared the bar, and a walk along the quays is free.
The gaps are frustrating. A ghost walk sold through Viator rated 4.3, below the bar. "The Darkest Secrets of Paris" rated 4.7 from 205 reviews and a Latin Quarter pub crawl rated 4.7 from 396, but neither page showed a price, so we couldn't score them. We'll recheck both. For ghost walks in cities that do them well, see our ghost tours page.
When it gets dark in Paris
Times are for the 15th of each month in 2027, local time with daylight saving, computed with NOAA’s solar equations for Paris. Dark is the end of civil twilight, when streetlights and floodlights take over; fully dark is the end of nautical twilight. Night lows are 2016–2025 averages from the Open-Meteo historical archive. Every city side by side
Month
Sunset
Dark
Fully dark
Night low
January
5:20 p.m.
5:55 p.m.
6:35 p.m.
35°F (2°C)
February
6:09 p.m.
6:42 p.m.
7:19 p.m.
36°F (2°C)
March
6:54 p.m.
7:26 p.m.
8:03 p.m.
39°F (4°C)
April
8:40 p.m.
9:14 p.m.
9:54 p.m.
42°F (6°C)
May
9:24 p.m.
10:02 p.m.
10:51 p.m.
49°F (9°C)
June
9:55 p.m.
10:37 p.m.
11:38 p.m.
56°F (14°C)
July
9:50 p.m.
10:30 p.m.
11:26 p.m.
59°F (15°C)
August
9:07 p.m.
9:42 p.m.
10:26 p.m.
59°F (15°C)
September
8:05 p.m.
8:37 p.m.
9:14 p.m.
54°F (12°C)
October
7:02 p.m.
7:34 p.m.
8:10 p.m.
49°F (9°C)
November
5:11 p.m.
5:46 p.m.
6:24 p.m.
41°F (5°C)
December
4:54 p.m.
5:31 p.m.
6:11 p.m.
38°F (3°C)
Where Paris ranks
The best place a Paris tour reaches on each of our other pages.
For five minutes at the start of every hour once it's dark, according to the tower's operator. The first sparkle is on the first hour after nightfall: if it gets dark at 7:40 p.m., the first one is at 8. The lights and beacon stay on until midnight. More on our Eiffel Tower at night page.
Is the Louvre open at night?
Until 9 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays, with last entry an hour before. It's free for everyone after 6 p.m. on the first Friday of the month, except July and August. A standard ticket is $36 (€32) for visitors from outside the European Economic Area.
What time does the Paris metro close?
Around 1:15 a.m. Sunday to Thursday, and 2:15 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights and the night before a public holiday. After that, Noctilien night buses run until 5:30 a.m.
Is a Seine dinner cruise worth it?
For the view, yes. For the food, it's fine. Bateaux Mouches sails at 8:30 p.m. and is back by 10:45, so you get the lit monuments for most of the year. At about $141 (€126) a head, you're paying for the setting.
Is Paris safe to walk around at night?
The centre and the river are busy late and generally fine. Watch for pickpockets around the tower, Trocadéro and Sacré-Coeur, and use licensed taxis. Our safety guide covers the rest.
Where is the best place to watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle?
The Trocadéro terrace, a few minutes before the hour. It's free. Pont d'Iéna and the Champ de Mars are good too, and less crowded.
Further reading
Official sources
Tour Eiffel: Prices and opening times– Hours 9:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. for 26 to 31 October 2026, last ascents 10:45 p.m., adult lift to summit 36.70 euros; checked October 26, 2026
Musée du Louvre: Hours and admission– Wednesday and Friday to 9 p.m., closed Tuesday, 32 euros non-EEA, free first Friday after 6 p.m. except July and August; checked October 26, 2026
