today
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Pick your date: the sunset, the golden hour, the blue hour and your hour at Filisur, Landwasser Viaduct, in local time.
Times are Filisur local time (Europe/Zurich), worked out from the sun’s position for this place (the NOAA method), good to about a minute on a flat horizon. Golden hour is the last hour before sunset; blue hour runs from sunset to the end of civil twilight.

Six stone arches in the snow, a lit train crossing them at dusk, and then the cliff swallows it whole, warm windows and all.
In the reel: A couple sits together in a lit carriage window as their train crosses a snowy stone-arched viaduct toward a cliff tunnel at night, with starry snow-capped Alps and a glowing lakeside village below.
The bridge and the tunnel are real: the Landwasser Viaduct on the Rhaetian Railway's Albula line, 65 m high, six limestone arches from 1902, curving straight into the cliff a kilometre out of Filisur. There is no lake and no lakeside village; Filisur sits in a gorge, the trains are electric, and the only light on the bridge after dark is the train's own windows. Stand on the Hennings platform above the tunnel to watch the hourly IR 38 cross at eye level, and ride it back from St. Moritz after dark for the couple in the window.
December to February for snow. The plan is pinned to Friday 8 to Sunday 10 January 2027: two days after the new moon for stars, the hotel open again (its site says it closes in November and from 1 to 20 December) and the Glacier Express back in its winter season from 5 December.
The hour: Blue hour, 16:52–17:26 on 9 January 2027 (sunset 16:52, civil dusk ends 17:26; on 21 December 16:35 and 17:11; our own calculation, flat horizon, and the gorge goes dark sooner). Trains cross the viaduct about two minutes before the hour and two minutes after it: 16:57 in from Chur, 17:02 out to Chur, then the Bernina Express at about 17:28 (SBB timetable, read Oct 2026). Stars from 18:04, when nautical dusk ends.
Avoid: November and the first three weeks of December, when the hotel's own site says it is closed. The full moons of 24 December 2026 and 22 January 2027 if you want stars. Counting on the Viaduct Shuttle (14 May to 25 October 2026 only) or on the Glacier Express for the night frame: it crosses in daylight.
The 15th of each month, local time.
| date | sunrise | golden hour | sunset | blue hour ends |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2026 | 07:38 | 17:34 | 18:34 | 19:05 |
| Nov 2026 | 07:23 | 15:47 | 16:47 | 17:20 |
| Dec 2026 | 07:58 | 15:33 | 16:33 | 17:08 |
| Jan 2027 | 08:01 | 15:59 | 16:59 | 17:33 |
| Feb 2027 | 07:25 | 16:45 | 17:45 | 18:16 |
| Mar 2027 | 06:34 | 17:26 | 18:26 | 18:56 |
| Apr 2027 | 06:34 | 19:08 | 20:08 | 20:40 |
| May 2027 | 05:47 | 19:48 | 20:48 | 21:24 |
| Jun 2027 | 05:27 | 20:16 | 21:16 | 21:56 |
| Jul 2027 | 05:42 | 20:11 | 21:11 | 21:49 |
| Aug 2027 | 06:18 | 19:32 | 20:32 | 21:05 |
| Sep 2027 | 06:58 | 18:33 | 19:33 | 20:04 |
the weekly note: one place and its hour, one story, one tip. a tap in the first mail confirms it.