Where to watch the sunset

The bays face west, the plants light up as the sun goes down, and a refinery skyline at dusk is the strangest beautiful thing in Texas. Here's where to stand.

The Hyatt terrace, on the marina. The one with a drink in your hand. The sun sets behind the ship channel and the plants come on across the water while you watch — orange sky, then a city of lights that isn't there in daytime. Forty minutes either side of sunset; the rail is the seat; nobody checks whether you're a guest.

Bayland Park. The sunset comes straight down the bay at you, the boats are coming in, and the folding-chair crowd on the shoreline has been doing this for years. Free, open till ten, bring your own chair and something cold. The bridge is on your left.

The Nature Center. The west end of the peninsula, the bridge across the water turning to silhouette, the herons heading in. The gates close thirty minutes after sunset, so this is the sunset you leave right after.

The Lynchburg Ferry, mid-channel. On a weekday it runs till eight, which in summer is sunset. Cross west with the sun ahead of you and the monument's star catching the last light. A few minutes across, free, and the best-timed sunset in the county if you hit it.

The Fred Hartman, westbound. No stopping, so it's a forty-second sunset at sixty miles an hour with the plants below. The drive, not the view. Someone else drives.

Thompson's Fish Camp. On the east bay, so the sunset is behind you and the light is on the water in front — the golden hour, not the sunset itself. Shrimp on the table, boats at the dock. The photographers' choice.

Yepez Vineyard. Between the vines with a glass; the sun goes down over the fields and it doesn't feel like Baytown at all, which is the point on a Sunday.

Bicentennial Park and Town Square. The downtown version: the light on the brick of Texas Avenue, then Art Alley lit up. A walk, not a view.

When. October and November, when the air clears and the norther's blown the haze out. Summer sunsets are hazy and late; winter ones are clear and early, and a January sunset from Bayland with a jacket on is the best of the year. Check the time on the weather pill on the homepage; it's there every day.

En español. Dónde ver el atardecer en Baytown: la terraza del Hyatt sobre la marina (las plantas se encienden al otro lado del canal), el parque Bayland (gratis, lleve silla), el Centro de Naturaleza (cierra al anochecer), el ferry de Lynchburg a media travesía, Thompson's para la hora dorada, el viñedo Yepez el domingo. Octubre y noviembre son los mejores meses; enero, el más claro.