On a summer evening Castle Hill in Nice is full of people waiting for the sunset. Many of them go home a little disappointed. From late April to mid-August the sun doesn’t go down into the sea there at all. It sets far to the right, behind the hills and the foothills of the Alps, and it’s often lost in the haze some time before the official sunset.
I’ve seen it happen many times, and more than once I was one of those people. I’ve lived in Nice since 2014 and I’ve photographed sunrises and sunsets all along the coast. I still kept getting it wrong: I’d come at the right time to the wrong place, or to the right place in the wrong month.
So I built getasunrise.com. It’s a free site that shows you where the sun will rise or set from a given viewpoint on the French Riviera and in Provence, on any day of the year.
How it works
Each viewpoint page starts with a photo I took from that spot. The photo is calibrated: the site knows which direction each part of the image faces and where the horizon, the hills and the buildings are. You choose a date, drag the time slider, and the sun moves across the photo.
Castle Hill in Nice on 15 November, from 3:40 pm to 5:05 pm. The sun follows the time slider and goes down over the Baie des Anges.
Under the photo you’ll find the actual sunrise and sunset times and the golden hour. You’ll also see when the sun is really visible from that spot, which is often not the same as the official time. There are buttons for the solstices and equinoxes and a “Play the day” button that runs through the whole day in a few seconds. The dotted line shows the sun’s path on the chosen day, and short markers show where it sets (or rises) in December, March, June and September.
The same place, a different sunset every month
When I started measuring the viewpoints, I was surprised how much the sun moves along the horizon during the year. A few examples from the site:
- Castle Hill, Nice. Between mid-August and late April the sun sets inside the frame. In December it goes down over the sea beyond the airport. On most evenings it disappears behind the distant hills 5 to 20 minutes before the official sunset time.
- Promenade des Anglais, Nice. This is a winter sunrise spot. From mid-October to late February the sun comes straight out of the sea to the right of Cap de Nice. For the rest of the year it rises behind Mont Boron or out of the frame.
- The beach in Cannes. This view works only in winter. From early November to early February the sun sets behind the Esterel mountains, about 15 to 20 minutes before the official time. In summer you get the evening light over the bay, but not the sun itself.
- Les Catalans beach, Marseille. In late autumn and winter the sun goes down behind the Frioul islands and the Château d’If.
- Sugiton, Calanques. From mid-November to late January the sun rises out of the sea next to the cliffs of Cap Canaille. In spring and late summer it comes up from behind the high cliffs of the Calanques, up to an hour after the official sunrise.
The Promenade des Anglais in December: the sun rises out of the sea to the right of Cap de Nice.
Will there be a sunset at all?
Knowing where the sun will set is only half the story. The other half is the clouds. Each viewpoint has a forecast for the next few days showing two things: the chance of actually seeing the sun, and the chance of a colourful sky.
The forecast checks the clouds above the viewpoint and also about 40 km out towards the horizon, where the sun will be. Low clouds on the horizon can hide a sunset even on a clear day. High clouds, on the other hand, often give the best colours. The weather data comes from MET Norway. As with any forecast, anything more than two or three days ahead is only a rough guide.
The cloud forecast for the next days at Castle Hill.
On the home page there’s a short list of the viewpoints with the best chances for the next sunrise or sunset. I check it in the afternoon before I decide whether it’s worth driving anywhere.
19 viewpoints from Marseille to Menton
At the moment the site covers 19 places:
- Nice: Castle Hill, the Mont Boron terrace, the port seen from Mont Boron, and the Promenade des Anglais
- Between Nice and Italy: the bay of Villefranche-sur-Mer, Tête de Chien above Monaco (one sunrise view and one winter sunset view), and the Old Cemetery in Menton
- West of Nice: La Gravette beach in Antibes, the beach in Cannes, and Cap Dramont near Agay
- Var: the coastal path in Saint-Tropez, Pampelonne beach, Port Grimaud, and L’Almanarre beach on the Giens peninsula
- Marseille and Cassis: Notre-Dame de la Garde, Les Catalans beach, the Calanque de Sugiton, and the Calanque de Port-Pin
All of them are on a map on the home page, and you can show only sunrise spots or only sunset spots. On some pages there are also my photos of real sunrises or sunsets taken from that place. One click shows the same date and time in the simulator, so you can compare the photo with the calculation.
The map of viewpoints on the home page.
A few practical things
The site is free and there’s nothing to install or sign up for. It works in a phone browser, which is how I use it most often, usually standing somewhere on the coast. It’s available in English and Polish.
If you’re planning a sunrise with friends, there’s a “Share this view” button. It sends a link with the date and time you’ve chosen, so they’ll see the same sun in the same place. That can help when you’re trying to convince someone to get up at six in the morning.
I also wrote a longer guide on where and when to watch the sunrise and sunset on the French Riviera, with tips on the weather and on which viewpoints to choose in each season.
What’s next
I’m adding new places as I photograph and measure them, so the list will grow. If you have a favourite sunrise or sunset spot on the Riviera or in Provence that isn’t there yet, let me know. I’ll be happy to go and check it.
👉 Open getasunrise.com
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