Every year on July 14th, Paris promises the most spectacular fireworks show in Europe. In 2026 they added 1,600 drones to the mix. I went. Here is what nobody tells you before you go.

The show starts at 11pm. You need to arrive by 8:30pm at the latest. The security queues at the Champ de Mars can take up to two and a half hours, and there is no way around them. Do not bring a selfie stick. Security will make you either throw it away or go back to your hotel, and neither option is fun after an hour of queuing.

The smartest thing you can do is bring a picnic blanket and sit on the side lawns of the Champ de Mars early in the evening. When the show starts, everyone stands and moves toward the center. You follow the crowd. This gets you a good position without standing for three hours.

The drone show itself was genuinely impressive. 1,600 drones forming shapes in the Paris sky, synchronized with the Eiffel Tower lights. The music choices surprised everyone, including a Blackpink track and an Avicii finale. What disappointed me was the length. Twenty minutes. For four hours of logistical effort, twenty minutes goes by very fast.

One technical note: do not stand directly at the base of the tower. From that angle the drones blend into the structure. Standing back about 300 meters gives you a much better perspective of the drones against the sky.

The real challenge is getting home. The moment the show ended, it started raining. The metro stations nearest to the Champ de Mars were completely shut down by police for crowd control. Hundreds of thousands of people were funneled through narrow exit corridors and forced to walk several kilometers in the rain to find an open station.

Is it worth it? Yes, once. The experience of being in that crowd, in that city, watching those drones is genuinely something. But go prepared, go early, and do not expect the metro to work afterward.