What time does it get dark on Halloween 2026?

The clocks go back 1 hour at 2am on Sunday 25 October 2026, so Halloween is the first Saturday evening on GMT. In London the sun sets at 17:49 BST on Saturday 24 October and at 16:35 GMT a week later: most of that jump is the clock change, and the rest is the days drawing in. Sunrise on Halloween is at 06:52 GMT. The rule is from GOV.UK; see when the clocks go back for the exact change and UK sunset times for any other date.

Civil twilight ends when the centre of the Sun is 6° below the horizon: after that, outdoor activities need lights and the brightest stars are visible. The sky keeps darkening for about another hour, through nautical and astronomical twilight. Sunset is when the top of the Sun drops below a flat horizon, allowing for refraction. Times are worked out for each city centre with the NOAA solar equations and rounded to the minute; hills, tall buildings and cloud can make it look dark sooner. NOAA solar calculator.

Cross-check: the US Naval Observatory gives London (51.5074° N, 0.1278° W) a sunset of 16:35 and an end of civil twilight of 17:10 on 31 October 2026 (UT, which is GMT), the same minutes as the table. It also gives moonrise at 21:01, with the Moon 65% lit (waning gibbous), so there is no moonlight between the end of civil twilight and about 21:01. USNO: Sun and Moon data for one day.