Golden hour in Cairns in December

Cairns lies at 16.92° S, in the tropics, where the sun climbs steeply and sets fast. Its longest measured day falls on Sun 20 December 2026 with 13h 09m of daylight, and its shortest on Thu 18 June 2026 with 11h 07m — a difference of 2h 02m between the two extremes.

Evening golden hour in Cairns runs for roughly 31 minutes at the height of summer, 29 minutes around the March equinox and 32 minutes at midwinter. The warm window is actually widest in the colder months, which makes winter evenings unusually forgiving here.

The sun sets toward 294° WNW in late June and toward 245° WSW in late December, a shift of about 49° in where the last light lands — worth checking before committing to a west-facing viewpoint. In Cairns, the sky reaches full darkness between evening and morning twilight year-round.