Free photographer's tool

Golden Hour in Burlington, VT

With a great lake horizon, Burlington gets long, unobstructed golden light off the water — and blue hour over a lake is one of photography's most reliable free special effects. The times below are computed live for Burlington's exact coordinates and update automatically for any date you pick.

The month-by-month table below is in this city's own local time. The live times above follow your device's timezone. Mountains, ridgelines and buildings can shorten the usable window — scout your horizon.

Where to shoot it

Local golden hour spot: Waterfront Park on Lake Champlain. Arrive 30 minutes before the window opens to set up, and keep shooting into blue hour — it's shorter than you think.

In Burlington, sunset ranges from 4:12 PM in December to 8:41 PM in June. Evening golden hour lasts about 45 minutes at the summer solstice and 48 minutes at the winter solstice. Times below are local to Burlington (America/New_York).

Sunrise, sunset and golden hour in Burlington by month

MonthSunriseSunsetGolden hour (evening)LengthDaylight
January7:25 AM4:39 PM3:53 PM – 4:39 PM46 min9h 13m
February6:52 AM5:21 PM4:40 PM – 5:21 PM41 min10h 29m
March7:05 AM6:59 PM6:20 PM – 6:59 PM39 min11h 54m
April6:08 AM7:37 PM6:58 PM – 7:37 PM39 min13h 29m
May5:25 AM8:13 PM7:31 PM – 8:13 PM42 min14h 48m
June5:07 AM8:39 PM7:54 PM – 8:39 PM45 min15h 32m
July5:22 AM8:34 PM7:51 PM – 8:34 PM43 min15h 12m
August5:55 AM7:58 PM7:18 PM – 7:58 PM40 min14h 02m
September6:31 AM7:03 PM6:25 PM – 7:03 PM38 min12h 31m
October7:08 AM6:08 PM5:28 PM – 6:08 PM40 min11h 00m
November6:49 AM4:25 PM3:41 PM – 4:25 PM44 min9h 36m
December7:22 AM4:13 PM3:25 PM – 4:13 PM48 min8h 51m

The year at a glance

  • Earliest sunset: 4:12 PM on December 9
  • Latest sunset: 8:41 PM on June 20
  • Longest day: 15h 33m on June 21
  • Shortest day: 8h 50m on December 21
  • Golden hour length: about 45 minutes in June, 48 minutes in December
  • Time zone: America/New_York

What is golden hour?

Golden hour is the stretch just after sunrise and just before sunset, when the low sun turns hard daylight into soft, warm, directional light — the most flattering natural light for portraits, real estate, product and landscape photography. Blue hour follows sunset (and precedes sunrise): a short window of deep, even blue that's ideal for twilight real estate shots and skylines. Both windows change with latitude and season, which is why this page computes them live instead of guessing.

Chasing the light for a shoot?

Kanyon Studio is a San Diego photography and video studio — golden hour is our home field. Brand shoots, products, real estate and portraits, planned around exactly this light.