The Best Place in the World to Watch a Sunset, According to New Research

If you're the type of person who stops everything they're doing come dusk to watch the sun dip below the horizon, we've got some new research for you. 

Bounce, a company specializing in luggage storage, conducted new research to determine the world's most beautiful destinations to watch a sunset. And, according to the company, the U.S. dominated the list — with several appearances in the top 10 — but a remote destination in Australia took home the top spot. 

To come to its conclusion, the company began by creating a list of destinations mentioned in media outlets for their spectacular sunset views. Then, it searched  Instagram using the search terms "name of destination" with "sunrise" and "sunset" (like #SantoriniSunset) to find the total number of posts using these terms. The company also used the Light Pollution Map to collect the artificial light pollution in every destination. Those that scored below a certain point were removed from the ranking. Then, the scores were normalized for each factor to create a score out of 10 for each destination.

And after all that hard work, Uluru, the massive sandstone formation found in the center of Australia, took the No. 1 spot.

“Uluru scored top marks for its sunset scenes with a score of 9.13 out of 10,” the findings explained. “Uluru lies in the heart of the Northern Territory’s arid ‘Red Center’ and its nearest town is Alice Springs. The rock is sacred to Indigenous Australians and is thought to have started forming around 550 million years ago.” 

The Maldives came in at second place thanks to the archipelago’s white-sand beaches and azure waters that perfectly frame a golden sunset, followed by Haleakalā, Hawaii, otherwise known as the East Maui Volcano, which scored an 8.86 out of 10 for its spectacular sunsets over the lush landscape. However, as the company noted, it would have ranked much higher on a list of best sunrises as it had more posts mentioning “sunrise” on social media (36,495 mentions) rather than sunsets (13,646 mentions).

As for other superlatives, the findings note that Santorini, Greece, is the most recommended sunset destination, with 16 blogs and articles dedicated to its glory (including ours), while Bali, Indonesia, is the most Instagrammed spot if you combine sunrises and sunsets, with 184,848 posts mentioning the morning and evening spectacles.

See the full list of destinations that made the list of best places to see a sunset at usebounce.com.