This is how long the sun shines in the Netherlands! Up to 16:50 hours of daylight a day. (2024)

Average length of day in Amsterdam

The following graph shows the times of sunrise and sunset over the course of the year. The duration of twilight can be seen at the top and bottom edges. The vertical offset between April and October shows the effect of daylight saving time, when the time is set one hour ahead.

Sunrise and sunset in the most important cities of the Netherlands

The cities are ordered by their geographic position from east to west, so in an approximate direction of the sun's course. Since the orbit around the sun is elliptical, sunrise or sunset never happen on a whole longitude at the same time. All data given for April 5th., localtime in the Netherlands

Sunrise and sunset by month for Amsterdam

Where does the sun rise in the Netherlands?

The sun always rises in the east, everywhere and regardless of the country or continent. The easternmost city in the Netherlands is Vlagtwedde in the province of Groningen. There, the sun rises at 6:52 am and sets at 8:15 pm these days. The latest sunset is currently experienced in the west in the city of Sluis (Zeeland) at 20:28.

Duration of the sunset

The distance from the equator and the path of the sun determines not only the time of sunrise and sunset. The farther a country is from the equator, the more oblique the sun's path is to the horizon, causing sunset to last for a different duration. Amsterdam lies on the 52nd degree of northern latitude and is therefore very far away from the equator. While a sunset near the equator lasts only about 20 minutes, in the Netherlands, this period averages 53 minutes. In June, it's about 64 minutes in Amsterdam, while in December it's 42 minutes.

The sun always shines from the south

The capital Amsterdam is located at 52 degrees north latitude and therefore also north of the Tropic. While the sun swings back and forth between the northern and southern tropics throughout the year, it shines on Amsterdam from the south, but is never perpendicular to it. In December, the sun is so far away that even at midday it can only be seen 14 degrees above the horizon. (0 degrees is at the height of the horizon, 90 degrees would be a position directly above Amsterdam.) It reaches its highest point at its zenith, i.e. at midday on June 21st. Then the sun shines down at an angle of 61.1 degrees.

Actual hours of sunshine

The period from sunrise to sunset is the astronomical length of the day. It is therefore independent of whether you can actually see the sun. In addition, significant deviations can be perceived depending on cloud cover or other visual obstructions. For the Amsterdam resp. North-Holland region, we have shown the approximate sunshine duration in the graph here.

International cities for comparison