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Along with happy hour, golden hour is easily our favourite time of day. It gives you the perfect excuse to clock off early, head outdoors, and take in the view from your favourite rooftop bar or coastal lookout. If you’re a sunset seeker, a new scientific study has revealed the world’s ultimate golden hour destinations – and two are right here in Australia.
The meteorologist-led study, commissioned by premium travel brand Kuoni, evaluated more than 150 popular global sunset destinations across six factors: cloud cover, light pollution, artificial brightness, rainfall, wind speed and average sunset duration. Each factor was weighted to produce an overall score out of 100, crowning the world's 20 most impressive golden hour spots.
Taking the top spot with a near-perfect score of 95.92 was Jordan’s Wadi Rum – often referred to as ‘Mars on Earth’. This otherworldly UNESCO World Heritage site offers little cloud cover (15.3 per cent), almost no rain (0.1mm) and vast desert wilderness for uninterrupted views of the sun dipping below the giant rocks and dunes. It’s a movie-like scene – and in fact has starred as the backdrop for blockbuster films like The Martian and Lawrence of Arabia.
With wide-open landscapes and pristine skies, desert landmarks dominate the top ten – including Australia’s very own Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park in joint eighth place. This sacred landmark, which holds 50 million years of history and culture, achieved an overall score of 88.22. Thanks to zero light pollution and a generous 28-minute sunset duration, visitors get a front-row seat as the ancient red monolith glows against soft purples and pinks swirling overhead.
The only other Aussie destination to make the top 20 is South Australia’s Flinders Ranges, landing at number 14 with a score of 86.7. Spanning 600 million years of history, this rugged landscape truly turns on the magic during golden hour. The setting sun reflects on the ancient quartzite rock in glowing shades of amber and crimson. Plus, with no tall buildings or trees, zero light pollution and few crowds around, you’re almost guaranteed a private sunset show.
You can check out all the best golden hour destinations here.