I’ve always loved sunsets and the different shades of orange that gets painted across the horizon. Sadly, extended work hours and high-rise buildings have made it difficult for many of us to have the simple joy of watching sunsets.
And this is precisely why I realized we need to try doing it a lot more – take days off work, travel around the world and spot sunsets.
I tried making a list of stunning sunset locations around the world and honestly, it was pretty exhausting to zero in on my favorite go-to destinations. However, I’ve managed to pick five sunsets to savor, probably with your loved one or some good music.
Santorini, Greece
A wise man’s search for a window to paradise will probably end on an archipelago in the southern Aegean Sea about 200 km off the South Eastern coast of Greece. Be it a list of must-visit places around the world, top places to visit in Greece, or best places to watch sunsets, one can almost always find Santorini grabbing the top spot.
A multitude of places in Santorini offer coveted views of the sunset, and the village of Oia is the tourist favorite. Although hundreds of tourists throng the cliffs on the island in the evening, silence envelops the crowd as the sun spreads its ochre wings and takes a dip in the orange Aegean Sea.
For those wanting to enjoy a quiet romantic evening with a loved one, Santorini’s capital Fira and the Akrotiri lighthouse let them find their favorite spot, away from the mayhem, in the undiscovered nooks and crannies.
Angkor Wat, Cambodia
On one of the world’s most massive religious monuments, sunsets are relished through the eyes of history. Angkor Wat is embedded in a popular tourists’ memory as the location for Indiana Jones’s and Lara Croft’s eyes prying for treasure.
Hindu/Buddhist temple Phnom Bakheng is a popular tourist destination, especially during sunsets when light creeps in through the many crevices. A lesser-known and more serene spot is the expanse of the Srah Srang reservoir where you can watch the canopy of the forest slice through the sun in one direction and its thousand rays bathing the sandstone in gold in the other. Although Srah Srang is widely known as a sunrise spot, try going offbeat and watch a sunset – it is a unique experience in itself.
Taj Mahal, Agra
What better way to treat your loved one than with a romantic evening walk in the gardens of eternal love? Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan built the ivory white marble mausoleum of love in memory of his loving wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
Perhaps it is the purity of the marble that breathes magic into the monument and transforms it into greyish-pink at dawn and golden at sunset. In fact, if viewed from the right angle at one of the spots in the Mahtab Gardens, one can also witness the Indian national tricolor formation with the golden dome at the top, the white walls in the middle, and the green gardens at the bottom. At that moment, when a soft breeze from the Yamuna River brushes past, you can’t help but relive Shah Jahan’s timeless love all over again.
Piazzale Michelangelo, Florence
The Piazzale Michelangelo (literally, Michelangelo Square) is the lens through which one can bask in the glory of Florence’s alfresco art and sculpture from the Renaissance period. Although steep streets will greet you on your way over, the climb is worth the spectacle. Sip a glass of Chianti in the restaurant on the lower floors and revel at the magnificent Duomo, the city ruins, the markets, and the Ponte Vecchio glistening over the Arno River. The final act involves city lights springing to life one-by-one and lighting your way downhill towards the city’s bustling nightlife.
Uluru, Australia
Uluru, better known as the Ayers Rock, looks like a child lulled to sleep under an orange blanket at the onset of the evening. There’s magic in the way the far setting sun from the edge of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park pats the massive monolith to sleep. The blanket tends to change colors as the evening descends. It is bright orange at first, then a blazing red. As the sun dips further below the horizon, a light shade of yellow with purple specks punctuates its uneven contours before it finally dissolves into a monochrome black as the night settles in. The ethereal feeling of a giant rock changing colors before your eyes can be experienced from one of the five viewing areas designated for tourists.
These are the kinds of places that beckon you to pack your bags and hop on the next flight to witness the dusk setting in. And that is precisely what we ask you to do – be an impulsive traveler and start enjoying sunsets on the go.