Which New England Wedding Venues Face the Sunset? We Checked 12
Most of New England’s coastal venues face east or south. We checked which way the view faces at 12 venues we have filmed, and where the sun sets.
A ceremony with the sun going down over the water is one of the first things couples ask us about, and plenty of venue listings promise “sunset views”. What they rarely say is which way the view actually faces. In New England that matters more than you might think, because most of the coast faces east or south, towards the sunrise.
The short answer: very few do. Of the twelve venues we have filmed that have a clear view, only two face the sunset: Castle Hill Inn in Newport, across the water, and Fruitlands in Harvard, across the Nashua River valley. Every Boston harbour venue we checked faces east.
Where the sun sets through the season
The sun does not set due west. In Boston it sets at about 303° on the compass in June, between west-northwest and northwest, and swings south as the season goes on: 290° in mid-August, 277° in mid-September, 262° by early October and 238° at midwinter. That is a swing of more than sixty degrees across the year, so a view that catches the sunset in October can miss it in June. For the times themselves, see our month-by-month sunset table.
Which way twelve venues face
| Venue | Faces | June | October |
|---|---|---|---|
| Castle Hill Inn | WSW | Ahead | Ahead |
| Fruitlands Museum | W | Ahead | Ahead |
| The Crane Estate | NNE | Side | Side |
| Misselwood Estate | S | Behind | Side |
| Wychmere Beach Club | S | Behind | Side |
| Wianno Club | SSE | Behind | Side |
| Hyatt Regency Cambridge | SSE | Behind | Side |
| Boston Harbor Hotel | ENE | Behind | Behind |
| The State Room | E | Behind | Behind |
| InterContinental Boston | E | Behind | Behind |
| Chatham Bars Inn | E | Behind | Behind |
| Glen Manor House | E | Behind | Behind |
Boston’s harbour faces east
The harbour lies east of the city, so the waterfront venues look away from the sunset. At the Boston Harbor Hotel, the InterContinental and the harbour windows of the State Room, the sun goes down behind you all season. What you get instead is blue hour: the sky over the water turning deep blue and the lights of the waterfront coming on, which on film is often better than a sunset. The State Room has windows on more than one side, so if you want the sunset itself there, ask which rooms look west over the city.
Across the river, the Hyatt Regency Cambridge looks south-southeast over the Charles. The sun sets behind the hotel in summer and swings round to the side by October, lighting the city across the water as it goes.
The south coast: side light by autumn
Misselwood in Beverly, and the Wychmere Beach Club and the Wianno Club on the Cape, all look south over the sea. In June the sun sets behind them and over your right shoulder. By September and October it has moved round to your right-hand side, which gives you side light: faces with shape to them, and no one squinting.
The Crane Estate is the odd one out. Its view runs north-northeast down the Grand Allée to Ipswich Bay, so the sunset is off to your left all season.
The two that face the sunset
Castle Hill Inn sits on a headland in Newport with water on three sides, and its lawn looks west across the bay. Fruitlands is inland, on a hillside in Harvard; the Trustees, who run it, describe “a spectacular view to the west of Mount Wachusett” over the Nashua River valley, and “some of the most incredible sunsets in the region”.
Facing the sunset has a catch. If the view is behind you at the ceremony, the setting sun is too: beautiful, glowing backlight on film, but in your guests’ eyes for the last hour. Starting your ceremony an hour or more before sunset keeps the sun higher and the light softer, and leaves the sunset itself for portraits.
If you want the sun over the water, look west
The shores that face the sunset are the ones that face west: Newport’s side of Narragansett Bay, Falmouth’s shore of Buzzards Bay, and the bay side of the outer Cape, which looks west across Cape Cod Bay. We have not checked individual venues there, but if a sunset over the water matters to you, that is where to start looking.
Facing away is not a problem
Most of our favourite evening footage comes from venues that face away from the sunset. The low sun lights the view in front of you instead of blinding you, and after it sets the water takes the colour of the sky. The frame at the top of this page is the last light of the day at Glen Manor House, which faces east over the Sakonnet River.
Whatever way your venue faces, the time of sunset on your date is what the whole day hangs on. Our sunset table has it for every month of 2027, or tell us your venue and date and we will tell you where the sun will be.