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Golden hour

Quick answer

When is golden hour today?

It depends on your city — pick it below for today's morning and evening windows and a full month-by-month light calendar. Tonight: London 19:05–20:11 · Tokyo 17:37–18:27.

Why the light turns golden

When the sun is low, its light travels through many times more atmosphere than at noon. The extra air scatters the short blue wavelengths away and lets the warm reds and oranges through — soft, directional light with long shadows and no harsh contrast. Just below the horizon the direct light disappears and only the sky illuminates the scene: the blue hour, when cityscapes and long exposures come alive. Both windows are short, they move every day, and the morning one is routinely slept through — which is where an alarm you cannot swipe away earns its keep.

All cities by country

Over 34,000 cities are covered — the largest per country below; every city page links onward to its neighbours.

Albania

Armenia

Austria

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Burundi

Central African Republic

Costa Rica

Croatia

Eritrea

Estonia

Gambia

Georgia

Guinea-Bissau

Kosovo

Kyrgyzstan

Latvia

Lesotho

Liberia

Lithuania

Macao

Mauritania

Moldova

Mongolia

Namibia

Nicaragua

North Macedonia

Palestinian Territory

Papua New Guinea

Portugal

Puerto Rico

Republic of the Congo

Rwanda

Sierra Leone

Slovakia

Slovenia

South Sudan

Sri Lanka

Switzerland

Togo

Tunisia

Turkmenistan

Uruguay

Frequently asked questions

What is golden hour?

The window when the sun sits between 6° above and 4° below the horizon. Its light passes through far more atmosphere than at midday, which scatters away the blue and leaves warm, soft, directional light with long shadows — the most flattering natural light there is. There is one window after sunrise and one before and through sunset each day.

How long does golden hour last?

Rarely exactly an hour. Near the equator the sun crosses the altitude band steeply, so the window can be as short as 40 minutes; at high latitudes in summer it crosses at a shallow angle and golden light can linger for hours. Each city page shows the actual window month by month.

Does golden hour differ by season and latitude?

Strongly. The window shifts earlier and later with sunrise and sunset through the year, and its length grows with latitude — in midsummer at 60°N the evening golden hour can run for well over an hour, while in the tropics it barely changes all year. That is exactly what the monthly tables on the city pages map out.

Why people use Captain Wake to wake up on time

Not because it rings louder. Because it removes every way your half-asleep brain talks you back into bed.

There is no button to tap

Swiping an alarm away is a reflex you can perform while still asleep. A mission needs your thinking brain switched on — and once it is on, sinking back under is much harder.

It survives every trick

Force-quit the app, restart the phone, flip it to silent, turn the volume down. The alarm re-arms and keeps going until the mission is actually done.

It gets you physically upright

Photo and barcode missions are anchored to a spot in another room, so the only way to stop the noise is to stand up and walk there. You cannot pre-stage it from bed.

It fixes the night, not just the morning

A sleep forecast before bed, bedtime reminders and wake-up streaks — because the 6 AM problem usually starts at 1 AM.