Views like these require #nofilter.

By Marisa Spyker
July 02, 2018
GaryKavanagh/Getty Images

When you see the makings of a perfect sunset, you know you have a pot of Instagram gold in your hands, likely to garner jealous oohs and ahhs and hearts in the double—or triple—digits.

Which means it’s not all that surprising that sunset photos are de rigueur on the photo-sharing platform. According to data from, a whopping 286 million sunset images were uploaded to Instagram around the world in the past year with—no surprise—98 percent of posts showing a sense of joy.

But where in the world are people most obsessed with snapping sunset shots for the ‘Gram? According to research, California tops the list—not only within the U.S., but around the world. In the past 12 months, 5.8 million posts from the Golden State documented the magic hour, with most posts coming from the Los Angeles area (followed by San Diego). To put that in perspective, second in line was the Mediterannean island of Sicily, with just 1.7 million sunset ‘Grams.

Related: Take a Look Inside This Boho-Chic California Airbnb:

With its breathtaking, rugged beaches and 840 miles of western-facing coastline, we’re not surprised California took top honors in sunset obsession. However, we happen to have a thing for gorgeous beach sunsets all over, like this one:

And this one:

Want to see more stunning sunsets? SpaSeekers put together an interactive photo series that showcases where the sun is setting at any given time around the world. Check it out, and be sure to follow us on Instagram, too, to catch our best beach sunset pics from coast to coast.

Here are the top 10 destinations worldwide with the most sunset Instagram photos:

  1. California
  2. Sicily, Italy
  3. Bali, Indonesia
  4. Paris, France
  5. Sydney, Australia
  6. London, United Kingdom
  7. Moscow, Russia
  8. Mumbai, India
  9. Phuket, Thailand
  10. Ibiza, Spain