Sunrise and sunset in Cape Town
In Cape Town today, the sun rises at 06:23 and sets at 18:49. Day length: 12 h 26 min. Golden hour today: 06:08–06:56 in the morning and 18:16–19:04 in the evening.
Thursday, October 1 2026 · South Africa
Thursday, October 1 2026 · Times in South Africa Standard Time (UTC+2)
Sunrise 06:23 · Sunset 18:49 · Day length 12 h 26 min
Twilight
| Event | Time | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 04:59 | |
| Nautical dawn | 05:29 | |
| Civil dawn | 05:58 | |
| Sunrise | 06:23 | E 94° |
| Solar noon | 12:36 | 59.4° |
| Sunset | 18:49 | W 265° |
| Civil dusk | 19:14 | |
| Nautical dusk | 19:44 | |
| Astronomical dusk | 20:13 |
Golden and blue hour
| Event | Begins | Ends |
|---|---|---|
| Morning blue hour | 05:58 | 06:08 |
| Morning golden hour | 06:08 | 06:56 |
| Evening golden hour | 18:16 | 19:04 |
| Evening blue hour | 19:04 | 19:14 |
Month table: October 2026
| Date | Civil dawn | Sunrise | Solar noon | Sunset | Civil dusk | Day length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu, Oct 1 | 05:58 | 06:23 | 12:36 | 18:49 | 19:14 | 12 h 26 min |
| Fri, Oct 2 | 05:57 | 06:22 | 12:36 | 18:50 | 19:15 | 12 h 28 min |
| Sat, Oct 3 | 05:56 | 06:21 | 12:35 | 18:50 | 19:16 | 12 h 30 min |
| Sun, Oct 4 | 05:54 | 06:19 | 12:35 | 18:51 | 19:16 | 12 h 32 min |
Daylight through the year
- Daylight
- Civil twilight
- Nautical twilight
- Astronomical twilight
- Night
Each column is one day. Yellow shows daylight, the blue shades show civil, nautical and astronomical twilight, dark blue is night. Steps in spring and autumn are daylight saving time changes.
Sun path
- Selected day
- June solstice
- December solstice
The sun’s path across the sky seen from above: the centre is straight overhead, the edge is the horizon. Solid: selected day. Dashed: June and December solstices.
Calculated with Astronomy Engine, an open-source library verified against the US Naval Observatory and NASA JPL. How we calculate
Sun facts in Cape Town
Cape Town lies at 33.9249° S, 18.4241° E, 25 m above sea level, in the Africa/Johannesburg time zone.
The longest day of 2026 is December 21, with 14 h 25 min of daylight.
The shortest day is June 21, with only 9 h 54 min.
The earliest sunset (17:44) is on June 12 and the latest sunrise (07:52) on June 30: neither falls on the shortest day, because of the equation of time.
At noon, the sun climbs to 80° above the horizon in June but only 33° in December.
In June, Cape Town gets 5 h 49 min less daylight than Trieste; in December the difference is 5 h 44 min the other way.
No daylight saving time; clocks stay the same all year.
About the sun in Cape Town
Cape Town lies at about 33.9° S, below Table Mountain, which rises directly behind the city to the south. The mountain shades parts of the city in the late afternoon in winter (June and July). Sunsets over the Atlantic are best seen from Signal Hill, Camps Bay and Bloubergstrand, where Table Mountain catches the evening light.