These 20 Beaches Have the Best Sunsets, According to TripAdvisor

With summer in full swing, people from all across the United States are flocking to local beaches for fun in the sun. Between the potential for scenic sandy picnics and crashing waves on the shoreline, beach days are one of the most lovely ways to celebrate the season, especially if you stick around until the end of the day and get to capture a picture-perfect sunset for your Instagram grid.

Looking to track down the best beaches to explore this year for some truly stunning sunsets? According to a recent study from Gourmet Marketing, a hotel marketing agency, you ought to start by heading straight to Sunset Beach in Cape May, New Jersey.

Using data pulled from TripAdvisor, the agency analyzed the number of times a “positive sunset” was mentioned in reviewer comments on the travel platform. New Jersey’s aptly named Sunset Beach earned top marks, with about 38 percent of all reviewer comments featuring a special shout-out to its glorious views by dusk. (You might even catch a glimpse of what’s left of the SS Atlantus—an old concrete cargo ship that sank back in the 1920s, about 150 feet off the coast—during low tide.)

But Sunset Beach isn’t the only place to consider if you want to soak up some twilight rays by the water. Researchers looked at other factors—like an area’s overall scenic beauty, as well as its history and local charm—when determining the most noteworthy beaches for breathtaking ambiance by nightfall.

Coming in at No. 2 is Mayflower Beach in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, with about 30 percent of reviewers praising the natural light on display during the sunset period. In fact, the Bay State nabbed two places in the top five, as Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown came in at the No. 3 spot. More than 25 percent of reviewers on TripAdvisor raved about this destination, with some even calling its sundown moments “magical.”

Also featured in the top five is a beach from Washington State. If you head to First Beach, which is located on the Quileute Reservation in La Push, you’ll get to take in a shoreline that feels ripped from the front of a postcard—plus gather up plenty of driftwood by the waterfront. But if you head back to New England—specifically to Dubois Beach in Stonington, Connecticut—you’ll get to relish all the glory that the No. 5 spot in this roundup has to offer. You could even snap some gorgeous harbor panorama shots along the way.

The Best U.S. Beaches for Sunset Views

If you’re craving a few cinematic sunsets this summer, there’s definitely no shortage of vacation-worthy beach destinations to consider. You can check out a list of the top 20 with the best dusk shots down below: