Where to be at golden hour: 12 places across seven lands

In India and Nepal the useful light is short. On the plains the sun climbs fast, and by 9 am the stone looks flat and white; in the mountains it is harsh by mid-morning. The hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset are when sandstone glows, rivers turn to metal and faces soften. A private journey lets us put you in the right place at those hours, with a car waiting, rather than at a monument at noon because a coach timetable says so.

The twelve places below are the ones we return to. Times shift through the year, so we check sunrise and sunset for your dates; in December, for example, sunrise in Varanasi is at about 6.45 am and sunset in Udaipur at about 5.50 pm.

The Taj Mahal opens about 30 minutes before sunrise, and the first visitors through the gates see the marble turn from grey to pink to white within the hour. Stand on the platform by the main gateway for the full view down the water channel, then walk to the side. For sunset, cross the Yamuna to Mehtab Bagh, the Mughal garden directly opposite, where the Taj sits above the river in warm side light. The monument is closed on Fridays, and winter fog can hide it at dawn from mid-December to January.

The ghats of Varanasi face east across the Ganges, so they are lit full on at sunrise. Take a private rowing boat from Dashashwamedh or Assi before dawn and drift as the light reaches the steps, the bathers and the temple spires. The evening aarti has its own light, from the lamps, but for photography sunrise is the hour.

Udaipur is built for the evening. A boat on Lake Pichola in the last hour, or a table at Ambrai Ghat on the western shore, puts the City Palace and the Lake Palace in warm side light, with the Aravalli hills turning blue behind. In Jodhpur, late afternoon light falls on the walls of Mehrangarh and the blue houses below it; walk the Rao Jodha Desert Rock Park beside the fort, or photograph from a rooftop in the old city.

In Jaisalmer the fort is built of yellow sandstone and earns its golden name in the last hour of the day. Watch it from Vyas Chhatri, the hill of cenotaphs near the fort, or catch the sunrise over Gadisar lake. October to March is the season; in summer the light is hard and the heat makes waiting outside a trial.

At 3,500 m and above, the air is so clear that midday light flattens everything; the hours around sunrise and sunset bring the mountains back into relief. Shanti Stupa, the white Buddhist stupa above Leh completed in 1991 with Japanese support, looks over the town and the Indus valley to the Stok range. Drive up, or climb the steps, an hour before sunset and wait as the light leaves Leh Palace and the old town.

At Pangong Tso, about 4,250 m up, the lake changes colour through the day, but the hour after sunrise is the quietest, with still water and the far ridges lit pink. It is cold, near freezing at dawn even in August, so dress for it. Both places are at their best from June to September; road openings and permits change, so check current status before you travel.

From Sarangkot, a ridge at about 1,600 m above Pokhara, the first light reaches Machhapuchhre, the fishtail peak, and the Annapurna range in turn: first the summits, then the snowfields, then the lake below. It is about 30 minutes by car from Lakeside, so leave before 5.30 am in spring and autumn. Clear mornings are most likely from October to November and February to April; in the monsoon the peaks can stay hidden for days.

In Bhaktapur, come early. Before the day visitors arrive, the squares belong to people doing puja, carrying water and drying grain, and the low sun reaches deep into Taumadhi Square and the Nyatapola temple. Stay at Dwarika's Resort Dhulikhel, about 45 minutes away, and be in the square by 6.30 am.

Kerala and Goa face west, so their light is the evening. At Fort Kochi the Chinese fishing nets, cantilevered frames of teak and bamboo said to have arrived with traders from China centuries ago, rise and fall against the sun as it sets over the harbour mouth. Stand on the beach walk beside the nets and ask your guide to arrange to watch one being worked. On the backwaters at Kumarakom, the same hour turns Vembanad Lake to copper and the coconut palms to silhouettes.

In Goa, climb to Chapora fort above Vagator in the hour before sunset for the long view down the coast and across the river to Morjim. The walls are rough laterite and the path is short but steep. In the south, the curve of Palolem beach does the same work, with fishing boats drawn up on the sand. November to March gives the clearest skies.

Majuli sits in the Brahmaputra in Assam, reached by ferry from Nimati Ghat near Jorhat, and it is flat, wide and full of water. In the last hour the river and the wetlands turn gold, fishermen pole their boats home and the light catches the satras, the Vaishnavite monasteries that have shaped the island since the 16th century. Find a bank facing west and wait. November to March is the season, with dry tracks and clear evenings; ferries depend on river levels, so check current status before you travel.

Our ten-night photography journey from Majuli to the Khasi Hills, from ₹3,25,000 per person, is planned around these hours, as is our nine-night Light on the plain journey through Uttar Pradesh, from ₹3,35,000 per person.

A few rules save trouble at the best spots, and your guide will know the local ones.

Light changes with the season as well as the hour. From late October to January, smoke and winter haze can settle over the northern plains, which flatters a red sunset but dulls distant views; just after the monsoon, in late September and early October, the air is at its clearest. In Ladakh the sharpest skies of the year often come in September. We build at least one spare morning into every photography journey, so a single cloudy dawn does not cost you the picture you came for.

• Tripods are not allowed inside the Taj Mahal complex; check current status before you travel
• Drones need permissions in India and Nepal and are banned at most monuments and in border areas
• Ask before photographing people, and never photograph cremations at the Varanasi ghats
• Some monuments charge a camera or video fee, so carry cash
• Carry spare batteries: the cold at altitude drains them quickly