Experts at Bounce have analyzed the list of the most famous sunset hotspots based on their social media popularity, pollution levels, and total number of recommendations, which has led to the Maldives being ranked second.
The Maldives took the second spot for the best sunset skies in the world, scoring 9.07 out of 10 in the ranking.
Maldives secured the rank due to its unique tourism nature, especially the ‘one island, one resort’ concept pushing down the light pollution to 0.219 μcd/m2.
The top ranker, Uluru, scored 9.13 out of 10 for its sunset scenes. Also known as Ayers Rock, it scored high for its seven recommendations across the web, as well as its high number of “sunset” Instagram mentions (19,284 posts) and “sunrise” mentions (10,276 hashtags), which is a total of almost 30,000 posts. Uluru is also blessed with relatively less light pollution at 0.973 μcd/m2.
Haleakalā, also known as the East Maui Volcano, was ranked third scoring 8.86 out of 10. Sunset at the summit of Haleakalā has become increasingly popular in recent years. However, the location is more popular for its sunrise (36,495 Instagram mentions) than its sunset (13,646 Instagram posts). Light pollution in Haleakalā is low at 4.38 μcd/m2 due to high elevation.
Bounce’s study gave further insights, such as;
- Santorini, Greece: the most recommended sunset destination – 16 blogs and articles recommendation
- Bali, Indonesia: the most ‘Instagrammed’ destination – 184,848 sunrise and sunset posts
- Galápagos, Ecuador: the least light-polluted destination – 0.0004 μcd/m2