The Midnight Sun: Places Where the Sun Never Sets

By Ken Jennings

April 12,2015; 6:52AM,EDT

 

 

While December brings the shortest days and earliest sunsets to the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice, which falls on June 21 in 2015-with one exception!-is the day when the sun never sets. From Sweden to Canada, here's how eight towns and cities celebrate the endless twilight.
Stockholm, Sweden
Sunset on the longest day of the year: 10:08 p.m.
Hours of sunlight: 18 hours, 37 minutes
After the long, cold winter, Scandinavians go all out to mark their mild summers, when the skies stay reddish-gold all night. Dining spills outdoors whenever possible. Skansen, the city's giant open-air museum, is open until 10 p.m. on Midsummer Eve, for folk dancing around the Maypole (er, Junepole).

Credit: Robert Harding World Imagery / Alamy
St. Petersburg, Russia
Sunset on the longest day of the year: 11:25 p.m.
Hours of sunlight: 18 hours, 50 minutes
St. Petersburg holds the world's oldest White Nights festival, with a month of ballet and opera performances that can start as late as midnight during the summer solstice. The party culminates in the Scarlet Sails, a massive high school graduation party in which a million people throng the city's embankments to watch spectacular fireworks and a mock pirate battle in the harbor.

Credit: Robert Harding World Imagery / Alamy
Helsinki, Finland
Sunset on the longest day of the year: 10:50 p.m.
Hours of sunlight: 18 hours, 55 minutes
For making it through the dark, gloomy winter, Finnish children are rewarded with months of impossibly flexible bedtimes. Bars and cafés stay open late, and a bike ride or a picnic in the park can start at any hour. On the summer solstice, families typically enjoy a sauna together, followed by a midsummer bonfire.

Credit: Robert Harding World Imagery / Alamy
RELATED:
The Best Cities in the World
15 Places You Won't Believe Exist
The Most Underrated American Cities
Continue Reading on CNTraveler.com >