Sunset Times
Sunset times for your own location and for every city in the directory, worked out from real coordinates rather than from the time zone.
Finding your city
Pick a country, then a city, for its sunset time today and for the next ten days, along with twilight, solar noon and the length of the day.
The times are calculated from each city’s coordinates, so two cities in the same time zone will differ — sometimes by the better part of an hour.
Why the time changes every day
The sun does not set at the same clock time from one day to the next because the Earth’s axis is tilted. Near the equator the change is a minute or two across a whole month. In northern Europe it can be four or five minutes a day around the equinoxes.
Sunrise and sunset are defined as the moment the top edge of the sun meets the horizon, with a small correction for the way the atmosphere bends light — which is why the sun appears to be up slightly before it geometrically is.
Twilight is the useful part either side. Civil twilight, listed on every city page, is the period when there is still enough light to work outdoors without artificial lighting.
Questions people ask
Why is my sunset a few minutes different from another source?
Elevation, the local horizon and the exact coordinates used for a city all move the figure slightly. Anything within a couple of minutes is agreement, not error.
How are sunrise and sunset defined?
As the moment the upper edge of the sun meets the horizon, with a correction for the way the atmosphere bends light — which is why the sun appears up slightly before it geometrically is.
What is civil twilight?
The period either side of the sun when it sits up to six degrees below the horizon and there is still enough light to work outdoors without artificial lighting.
What are nautical and astronomical twilight?
Twelve and eighteen degrees below the horizon. At nautical twilight the horizon is still visible at sea; after astronomical twilight the sky is fully dark.
What is the golden hour?
The period just after sunrise and just before sunset when the sun is low and the light is warm and soft. It is a favourite among photographers and is rarely a full hour.
Why does the sunset time change faster at some times of year?
Change is quickest around the equinoxes in March and September, and slowest around the solstices, when the sun appears to pause before turning back.
What happens above the Arctic Circle?
For part of the year the sun neither rises nor sets. City pages at those latitudes say so rather than printing a time that does not exist.
Why do two cities in one time zone see sunrise at different times?
Because sunrise follows longitude and latitude, not the clock. A city several hundred kilometres west sees the sun later even on the same offset.
Is the day exactly twelve hours at the equinox?
Close, but slightly longer — usually by about eight minutes, because of the atmospheric refraction and because sunrise is measured from the sun’s upper edge.
What is solar noon?
The moment the sun is at its highest point for that place. It rarely lands on clock noon, and can be up to half an hour either side of it.
Does the moon phase affect these times?
No. Sunrise and sunset depend only on the sun and your position. Moonrise and moonset are separate, and are shown on the homepage panel.
Do these times follow daylight saving?
Yes — every time is shown in the current local time of that city.
Where to go next
Bookmark or share sunset times directly. Everything else is one step away on local time in every country.
- Sunrise times — sunrise, twilight and day length from real coordinates
- World Clock — pick a country or city and read its clock, offset and daylight saving rules
- Ramadan calendar — sehri and iftar for your city, all month
- Time zone map — every offset from UTC−12 to UTC+14 and who keeps it
- current time around the world — the current time in every country, territory and US state