The broad implementation of LED light sources in public lighting has become arevolution in the last years. Their low power consumption and good performance makeLED an optimal solution in most of outdoor applications. In addition, the white lightemitted by the vast majority of the LED used in public lighting and their good colorrendering allow pedestrians and drivers enjoy of more comfortable cities at night,especially commercial zones and city centre. However, the regulations on lightpollution, that in some countries have been developed in parallel to the introduction ofLED lighting, present strong constrains to white light due to Rayleigh scattering. Theseregulations request filtering of blue wavelengths in some rural areas, and thus they limitthe projects to high pressure sodium sources or amber LEDs, whose prices are higherand performances lower than for white LEDs. In this work, the pros and contras ofwhite and amber LED lighting in rural areas are analyzed and compared through realsimulations and considerations based on efficiency and light pollution. Importantconclusions for installations in rural and protected areas are presented.