Golden hour in Edinburgh in December

Edinburgh lies at 55.95° N, in the high latitudes, where summer evenings stretch and winter days are brief. Its longest measured day falls on Sat 20 June 2026 with 17h 37m of daylight, and its shortest on Fri 18 December 2026 with 6h 58m — a difference of 10h 39m between the two extremes.

Evening golden hour in Edinburgh runs for roughly 64 minutes at the height of summer, 49 minutes around the March equinox and 79 minutes at midwinter. The warm window is actually widest in the colder months, which makes winter evenings unusually forgiving here.

The sun sets toward 317° NW in late June and toward 226° SW in late December, a shift of about 91° in where the last light lands — worth checking before committing to a west-facing viewpoint. In Edinburgh, around midsummer the sky never reaches full darkness — evening blue hour runs into morning twilight.