Longyearbyen

Main settlement of Svalbard, Norway, high in the Arctic. See Norway (Literary).

At a glance

Source	Author	Role	In one line
How long could you drive towards the sunset?	xkcd’s What If?	backdrop	The paved road nearest a pole, and still only a sunset of under an hour.
Can you drive west to lengthen the sunset?	xkcd’s What If?	backdrop	The same benchmark in the video version.

The closest road that qualifies is probably in Longyearbyen, on the island of Svalbard, Norway.

Role: backdrop
In the article: To keep up with the Sun you want to be as near a pole as possible, but there are no paved roads near either; Longyearbyen is the closest, and its longest sunset lasts just under an hour. The answer then turns to northern Scandinavia, where on the right day the day-night line reverses direction and a carefully chosen drive can stretch a sunset to about 95 minutes.
Why it matters: Longyearbyen is the first test case and the benchmark the better route beats; the real answer isn’t tied to one named place.

The closest road that qualifies is probably in Longerbian on the island of Spalbard, Norway. The longest sunset there lasts just under an hour.

Role: backdrop
In the video: The video version of the same question: the transcript garbles the name (‘Longerbian on the island of Spalbard’), but it is again the nearest paved road to a pole, where the longest sunset lasts just under an hour, before the answer moves on to northern Scandinavia.
Why it matters: The benchmark case the better route beats.
Real vs. fictional: The auto-transcript misspells the name; Longyearbyen, Svalbard is clearly meant.