Somewhere, the Sun Is Setting

Live webcams let you look out of a window on the other side of the planet - a beach in Mallorca, a square in Paris, a frozen fjord in Norway - right now, as it happens. WorldViewStream brings together more than 2,000 live webcams in over 120 countries, and around them we have built pages that answer one simple question: what is worth watching at this very moment?

Where is the sun setting right now? Is the aurora up over Tromsø tonight? Where is it snowing? Which city is about to see the New Year fireworks? This guide walks you through every page on the site, what each one does and when to open it.

Contents

• Browse live webcams by country and category
• Sunset webcams
• Sunrise webcams
• Northern lights webcams
• Snow webcams
• New Year countdown webcams
• Trending and new cameras
• Random camera
• Guess the Country game
• Random Street View, walks and travel guides
• Which page should you open?
• FAQ

Browse live webcams by country and category

The live webcams by country catalogue is the heart of the site. Pick a continent, then a country, region and city, and you get every camera we stream from that place, with a map. If you already know where you want to look, the search bar at the top of every page finds a city or a camera in a second.

If you care more about what you see than where, open webcams by category. There are more than 40 topics, for example:

• Beach webcams - surf, sand and sunsets over the sea
• City panoramas - skylines and old towns from above
• Airport webcams - landings and take-offs for plane spotters
• Animal webcams - nests, zoos and wildlife
• Railway webcams - trains, stations and level crossings
• Live walks - streets filmed by people walking through them

Found a camera you love? Sign in and add it to your favorites, so it is one click away the next time you visit.

Sunset webcams: watch the sun go down live

Somewhere on Earth the sun is always setting. The sunset webcams page follows that line around the globe and lists the live cameras where the sun is going down right now, from golden hour to blue hour. A timeline shows where it sets next, so you can jump from one coast to the next and watch several sunsets in one evening.

A sunset is only as good as the sky, so the list does not rank cameras by time alone. It reads the local forecast for clouds, fog and rain and puts the cameras with the clearest view on top - a beach in Spain under a clean sky beats a city lost in drizzle.

Tip: the most colourful minutes often come just after the sun disappears. Keep a camera open for 15-20 minutes after sunset.

Sunrise webcams: watch the sun come up

The sunrise webcams page works the same way in reverse: it shows the live cameras where the sun is rising right now, from blue hour to golden hour, and where it rises next. It is the perfect page for night owls - while it is midnight where you are, it is dawn over the Pacific or in Asia.

Northern lights webcams and the Kp index

Seeing the aurora borealis in person means a trip to the far north and a lot of luck with the weather. The northern lights webcams page gives you the next best thing: live cameras in Norway, Iceland, Finland, Canada and other northern places where the aurora may be on screen right now.

The page uses data from the US NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center:

• The Kp index now - the number aurora hunters check first, with a 3-day outlook, so you know which nights look promising.
• The aurora nowcast - where the auroral oval actually is over the next hour or so.

A high Kp alone does not mean you will see anything: the camera also has to be in the dark and under a clear sky. That is why each camera on the list gets its own chance, worked out from the nowcast over its location, how dark it is there and the local cloud cover. When a strong geomagnetic storm is on, a banner on the homepage tells you.

Tip: the best months are September to March, when nights in the north are long and dark. In June and July the midnight sun makes the aurora impossible to see in most of Scandinavia.

Snow webcams: where it is snowing right now

Waiting for the first snow of the season, or checking conditions before a ski trip? The snow webcams page lists live cameras where it is snowing right now, from the Alps to Scandinavia and Canada, and a second list of places where snow is expected within the next day.

• The list is built from the hourly forecast of MET Norway, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, and refreshes every hour.
• It follows the winter: cameras in the northern hemisphere from October to April, in the southern hemisphere from May to September.
• Ski resort and mountain cameras are always included, even closer to the equator, because altitude brings snow where latitude alone would not.

The page is about falling snow. A mountain view can stay white for weeks after a snowfall, so if you just want snowy landscapes, ski resort cameras are a good place to look.

New Year countdown webcams

New Year does not arrive once - it arrives 24 times or more, one time zone after another. The New Year countdown webcams page shows a live countdown to midnight in every time zone, from New Zealand and the Pacific islands to Hawaii, and the cameras where the fireworks start next.

Start in the morning with Auckland and Sydney, move to Tokyo and Dubai in the afternoon, catch Europe in the evening and finish with New York and Honolulu. It is the easiest way to see in the New Year a dozen times on 31 December.

Trending live webcams and new cameras

Not sure what to watch? See what everyone else is watching. The trending live webcams page ranks cameras by real views, updated every few minutes. Switch between the cameras that are rising right now and the leaders of the day and the week. When something happens - a volcano erupts, a storm hits the coast, a rocket launches - this is where you will see it first.

The new live webcams page shows the 24 latest additions on a map and in a list. We add and update cameras regularly, so check back for fresh views.

Random camera: let the world surprise you

The random webcam page sends you to a random place on Earth with a live camera. One click and you are on a harbour in Croatia, the next one takes you to a street in Japan. Narrow it down by category if you only want beaches or only mountains, or turn on auto mode and let the cameras change by themselves - a calm, ever-changing window on the world for a second screen or a TV.

Guess the Country: a geography game with live webcams

If you like GeoGuessr, you will like Guess the Country. You see a live camera somewhere in the world and pick the right country out of four. Road signs, cars, the architecture, the weather and the light are all clues - and because the picture is live, no two rounds are ever the same.

The game rewards playing well and playing often:

• XP, levels and ranks - every right answer earns experience, with a bonus for fast answers.
• Streaks - keep answering correctly to grow your streak.
• Hints - stuck? A hint can help you narrow it down.
• Daily quests and achievements - small goals that change every day, and badges to collect.
• Leaderboard - see how you compare with other players.
• Battles - invite your friends and see who knows the world best.

You can play as a guest right away. Sign in to keep your progress, level and achievements.

Random Street View, walks and travel guides

Live webcams show the world as it is now; these pages help you go and see it yourself.

• Random Street View drops you into Google Street View at a random trail, park or sight from our walking guides - a new place every click.
• Walks are guides to parks, nature trails, castles and landmarks, many of them in Latvia and Slovakia, with maps and points of interest.
• Travel guides are day-by-day itineraries with practical tips, such as 7 days in Montenegro.

And here on the blog we write about the most popular webcams in different countries, places to visit and things to do.

Which page should you open?

Frequently asked questions

Are the webcams on WorldViewStream really live?

Yes. Every camera streams in real time from its location. We check the streams regularly and remove or fix the ones that stop working. If you see a broken camera, you can report it right from the player.

Is WorldViewStream free?

Yes, every webcam, page and the Guess the Country game are free to use. You only need an account to save favorites and keep your game progress.

Where can I watch the northern lights live?

Open the northern lights webcams page. It lists cameras in Norway, Iceland, Finland, Canada and other northern regions, with the current Kp index and each camera's chance of showing the aurora based on NOAA's forecast, darkness and clouds.

How do I find a webcam where the sun is setting right now?

The sunset webcams page always shows the cameras where the sun is going down at this moment, with the clearest skies first, and where it sets next.

How often are the lists updated?

Trending cameras update every few minutes, the snow list every hour and the northern lights data every 10 minutes. The sunset, sunrise and New Year pages follow the clock and change minute by minute.

I own a webcam. Can it appear on WorldViewStream?

Yes. See the webcam owners page and contact us - we are always looking for new views.

Start exploring

The world never stops: right now the sun is setting somewhere, it is snowing somewhere else, and somewhere a crowd is counting down to midnight. Open the trending cameras to see what is happening, or hit the random camera and see where you end up.