Dubrovnik sunset times by month, with golden hour and blue hour

In short: Sunset in Dubrovnik ranges from about 16:14 in early December to 20:30 in the last week of June. In the boating season it is 19:13 on 1 April, peaks at 20:30 in late June, and falls to 18:06 by mid-October and 16:42 on 31 October, after the clocks go back.

The sun goes down over the sea in Dubrovnik at 19:13 on 1 April, at 20:30 in the last week of June and at 16:42 on 31 October, once the clocks have gone back. Below are the times for every month of the year, with golden hour and blue hour, and what each part of the season looks like from the water.

All times here are local Dubrovnik time (Central European Summer Time, CEST, from late March to late October, and Central European Time, CET, the rest of the year). They are worked out for Marina Frapa in Gruž, but sunset differs by only seconds anywhere in the city.

Sunset times in Dubrovnik, month by month

The 1st and 15th of every month in 2027. “Golden hour from” is when the sun drops below 6 degrees; “blue hour until” is the end of civil twilight, when the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon.

For any other date, the homepage shows tonight’s sunset and the next seven evenings, and the season timetable lists every fortnight from April to October.

The longest and shortest evenings

The latest sunsets of the year come in the last week of June, at 20:30, give or take a minute, from about 24 to 30 June. The earliest come in early December, at about 16:14. The shortest day of the year, 21 December, is not the earliest sunset: the evenings have already started to stretch by then, while the mornings keep getting darker into January.

Between those two points the time moves fastest around the equinoxes. In late September the sun sets about a minute and three-quarters earlier each evening; in late June it barely moves for a week.

The clock change: why late March and late October jump an hour

Croatia follows the EU rule for summer time: clocks go forward at 02:00 on the last Sunday of March and back at 03:00 on the last Sunday of October. In 2027 that means 28 March and 31 October. In 2026 the clocks went back on 25 October.

Sunset jumps with the clock. On 27 March 2027 the sun sets at 18:08 CET; the next evening, at 19:09 CEST. At the other end, the sun goes down at 17:44 on 30 October and at 16:42 on 31 October. If your trip straddles the change, check the date you are actually going out on the water: the final week of October has the earliest sunsets of the whole boating season.

Golden hour and blue hour in Dubrovnik

Golden hour is the stretch before sunset when the sun sits low, under 6 degrees. In Dubrovnik it lasts between about 37 and 43 minutes depending on the date, longest around midsummer. The light turns warm and comes in almost flat, which is why the limestone walls and Fort Lovrijenac glow at this time of day.

Blue hour is the half hour after sunset, strictly called civil twilight. Here it lasts between about 29 and 35 minutes. The sky keeps its colour, the strongest reds often arrive 10 to 20 minutes after the sun has gone, and the city lights come on along the walls and in Gruž.

If you are taking photos, plan to be in position at the start of golden hour and stay until blue hour ends. That is roughly the shape of every one of our evening routes.

How much does sunset change from one day to the next?

Never by more than about 1 minute 50 seconds during the boating season. The fastest change comes around the September equinox, when each evening is nearly two minutes shorter than the one before; the slowest is in the last week of June, when the time stays at 20:30 for days. So if you check today’s time and plan for tomorrow, you will be within two minutes.

The exception is the night of the clock change, when sunset jumps by an hour.

Sunset during the Dubrovnik Summer Festival

The festival runs every year from 10 July to 25 August, with evening performances in the Old Town squares and forts. Across those dates the sunset moves from 20:27 on 10 July to 19:34 on 25 August, so an evening boat trip and a late performance can share the same night: the boats are back at Marina Frapa about half an hour after sunset at the latest.

When to go: the boating season, month by month

April: sunsets just after 19:00, cool evenings and a sun that still sets over open sea. Bring a warm layer for the ride back.

May and June: evenings lengthen quickly. From late April the sun starts to drop behind the line of the Elaphiti islands when you watch from the water, and behind the hills of Lapad if you watch from right under the Old Town walls. Our guide to where the sun sets in Dubrovnik explains why.

July and August: the latest, warmest evenings. Sunset is between about 19:50 and 20:30, and civil twilight lasts until between 20:20 and 21:05.

September: the sun sets over open sea again and nearly two minutes earlier each night. On 24 September it goes down due west.

October: early, golden evenings: sunset at 18:30 on the first of the month, 18:06 by the 15th, and 16:42 on the last night of the season after the clock change.

Boat departure times by date

Every one of our routes leaves a fixed number of minutes before that evening’s sunset, rounded down to the quarter hour, so you are on the water for golden hour whatever the date: 50 minutes before for the Golden Hour Express, 75 minutes for Sunset & City Walls and 105 minutes for Koločep Swim & Sunset.

Boarding is 15 minutes before each departure at Marina Frapa. When you pick a date on the booking page, it shows that exact evening’s departure, sunset and return times, and the same times are printed on your e-ticket.

How these times are calculated

The times come from the solar position equations published by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, computed for the coordinates of our meeting point and converted to local time with the EU summer-time rule. “Sunset” here means the moment the top edge of the sun touches the horizon, allowing for the way the atmosphere bends light near the horizon, which is the definition almanacs and weather services use.

Checked against published tables, these times agree to within about a minute. They also change by less than a minute from one year to the next, so the 2027 table works for the rest of 2026 and for 2028 too.

Two things can make the sunset you see differ from the table. Hills or islands on the horizon hide the sun early, which matters a lot in Dubrovnik in summer. And haze or cloud low on the horizon can swallow the last minutes. For the weather, the Croatian meteorological service, DHMZ, publishes forecasts for the Adriatic.

Plan your evening

Check tonight’s sunset time on the homepage, or the full timetable for your dates. If you’d like to watch it from the water, the three routes leave from Marina Frapa at the right minute for each evening, and the best places to watch the sunset guide covers the land options too.