Find the sun ☀️

The sun's out. You want a glass of wine or a cold beer in it. But which terrace is actually in the sun right now? Walk to the wrong one and it's already in shade.

This map solves that. It shows the best outdoor bars, wine bars, cafés and restaurants in Copenhagen, Paris and Amsterdam — and tells you which ones have sun on their terrace at any moment of the day.

How it works

Tap any spot to see whether it's sunny, partial or shaded — live, or for any hour you choose on the time slider. Three things decide it:

• Where the sun is in the sky — its exact direction and height above the horizon, for today's date and time.
• Which way the terrace faces — a west-facing spot catches the evening sun; an east-facing one is done by lunch. Each venue has been mapped individually.
• The buildings around it — Copenhagen's narrow streets cast long shadows. Real OpenStreetMap building data is used to check whether anything blocks the sun at each hour, pre-computed for the whole year so it runs fast on your phone.

What the colours mean

• Sunny — direct sun on the terrace right now
• Partial — sun catches part of the seating, or it's low and raking
• Shade — blocked by buildings, or the sun hasn't reached this side of the terrace yet

What about clouds?

The sun position is exact, but clouds aren't predictable. The live weather strip and the per-spot hourly forecast show the real-sky picture — open any venue to see its sun chance, hour by hour, combining geometry with the weather forecast.

Know a spot that's missing?

Suggestions welcome on Instagram: @jolinnemann — especially hidden courtyards and south-facing terraces nobody's written about yet.

What do the icons in the hourly forecast mean?

• 🏢 Building — a surrounding building is casting shadow on the terrace at that hour
• 🌑 Black circle — the sun hasn't reached this terrace yet, or has already passed it — the terrace faces the wrong direction for that time of day
• ☀️ 🌤 ⛅ ☁️ Sun and cloud icons — the terrace is geometrically in sun; the icon shows the actual weather forecast for that hour

What do the 🟢 Open / 🔴 Closed labels mean?

Most venues show their opening hours — Open · til 23:00 or Closed · opens 16:00 — and closed spots are dimmed in the list. Scrub the time slider and the labels follow, so you can check if a place will be open when you get there. Hours come from OpenStreetMap and hand-checked listings; they can be outdated or change on holidays, so treat them as a guide and tap Google Maps if it matters. Spots with no label just mean the hours weren't known.

Is it free?

Completely. No ads, no sign-up, no account needed — just open it and go.

It says shaded but the terrace looks sunny. Why?

Building heights aren't always in OpenStreetMap — when missing, they're estimated from floor count, which can be off. Terrace orientation is also a judgment call. It's a model, not gospel — trust your eyes when you get there. If the pin's in the wrong spot, the 📍 button in the popup lets you move it.

Why does it ask for my location?

Only to sort the list nearest-first and show a dot on the map. Your coordinates never leave your phone — there's no server behind this. If you decline, the list sorts by sunshine instead.

Does it work offline?

Mostly. The app, the venues, the sun math and the shadow data all work without a connection once it's loaded. Map tiles and the live weather need internet — those won't update until you're back online.

Which cities does it cover?

Copenhagen, Paris and Amsterdam — tap the flag button to switch. Each city has its own hand-curated venues, and the sun position is always calculated for the city you're looking at. More cities may follow.

How accurate is the sun position?

Very. It's calculated from a single point in the centre of the active city — but across a whole city the difference is less than 0.01° in azimuth, far too small to affect whether a building's shadow falls on a terrace.

Know a spot that should be on here?

Send suggestions on Instagram: @jolinnemann — name and address and it'll be added.