Estimate daylight hours, night length, sunrise, sunset, solar noon, and usable hiking daylight from date, latitude, longitude, and time zone. This calculator is useful for hiking, backpacking, camping, trail timing, photography, and outdoor planning.
Date:
Enter the date you want to check. Daylight changes throughout the year because of Earth’s tilt and seasonal sun angle.
Coordinates:
Enter latitude and longitude in decimal degrees. North and east are positive. South and west are negative.
Safety buffer:
Enter how much time you want to subtract before sunset to estimate safer usable daylight for outdoor travel.
A daylight hours calculator helps plan trail start times, turnaround times, camping routines, photography sessions, long day hikes, and backpacking mileage.
For outdoor planning, daylight length should be combined with trail difficulty, route distance, elevation gain, weather, and group pace.
The basic daylight hours formula is:
Daylight Hours = Sunset − Sunrise
Daylight hours are the amount of time between sunrise and sunset for a location on a specific date.
Daylight hours change because Earth is tilted as it orbits the sun. The effect is stronger farther north or south from the equator.
Usable daylight is the amount of daylight you plan to rely on after subtracting a safety buffer before sunset.
Yes. For most hikes, it is safer to finish before sunset. Terrain, weather, navigation, and fatigue can make the last miles slower than expected.