Bangkok Time Now

What this page shows

So you want to know what time it is in Bangkok right now. Maybe you have a call with someone in Thailand, a flight to catch, a match kicking off on local time, or someone to reach before their evening is over. That is what the clock at the top of this page is for. It shows the current time in Bangkok and ticks forward every second, so there is nothing for you to work out by hand.

Wherever in the world you are reading this from, the clock tracks Bangkok and keeps itself right on its own. And Bangkok time is simple, because it never changes through the year, as the next section explains.

Bangkok does not change its clocks

Here is the part worth knowing about Bangkok time, and it makes things easy. Thailand does not use daylight saving. There is no spring forward and no fall back, so Bangkok stays on the same clock all year round, Indochina Time, seven hours ahead of UTC.

Sitting in the tropics, where daylight changes little through the year, Thailand has no real reason to shift its clocks for the seasons. So there are no change dates to track here. Whenever you look, Bangkok is at UTC plus 7, and the clock above simply shows that time.

What time zone Bangkok is in

Bangkok runs on Indochina Time, seven hours ahead of UTC, held every day of the year. The name is a good clue to its reach: this is the clock of mainland Southeast Asia, shared not just by Thailand but by Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, so Bangkok keeps the same hour as Hanoi, Phnom Penh, and Vientiane.

That places Bangkok one hour behind the big UTC plus 8 cities to the east, like Singapore and Hong Kong, and an hour ahead of the Indian subcontinent to the west, near the middle of Asia's spread of zones. As a major hub for travel and business across the region, Bangkok sits at a convenient point on the clock for reaching most of Asia within a normal working day.

Time difference from Bangkok to other cities

Bangkok never changes its clocks, so the gap to other fixed-offset places stays the same all year. The places that do use daylight saving, like London and New York, shift by an hour against Bangkok between their winter and summer. Here is the quick reference, assuming it is 12 noon in Bangkok.

A few quick examples

Let us run a few, so you can see how this works.

Say it is 12 noon in Bangkok. Singapore and Hong Kong are an hour ahead at 1 in the afternoon, and Tokyo is two hours ahead at 2 in the afternoon. Mumbai is an hour and a half behind at 10:30 in the morning.

Now the long hauls west. In the winter, London is seven hours behind Bangkok, so 12 noon here is 5 in the morning in London, and New York, twelve hours behind, is right at midnight. Midday in Bangkok lands in the small hours across Europe and the Americas.

Because those places use daylight saving and Thailand does not, the gap shifts by an hour in their summer. London moves to six hours behind and New York to eleven. So for a call that has to land just right, check the live clock rather than the rule of thumb.

A couple of things about Bangkok time

Bangkok sits in the tropics, at about 14 degrees north, so the length of the day stays fairly even through the year. Around midsummer there are roughly twelve and three quarter hours between sunrise and sunset, and around midwinter still a little over eleven, a gentle swing with no long evenings or short afternoons to speak of.

On the clock-against-sun question, Bangkok runs a little behind the sun. Indochina Time fits the 105 degree east line, and Bangkok sits some way west of it, so the sun reaches its highest a little after 12 noon by the clock, at around quarter past twelve in the middle of the year. It is a modest lean, and a steady one, since the clock never shifts.

Other places on the same time

A few places keep the same time as Bangkok on UTC plus 7. Here are some to jump to:

• Jakarta time now, also UTC plus 7
• Thailand time now, the country as a whole
• Singapore time now, an hour ahead

And if it is the global reference Bangkok is measured from that you are after, see UTC Time Now.

Questions people ask

What time is it in Bangkok right now?

The clock near the top of this page is the answer, and it updates every second. Thailand does not use daylight saving, so Bangkok stays on the same time all year, and the time shown is always correct.

Does Bangkok change its clocks for daylight saving?

No. Sitting in the tropics, where daylight barely changes, Thailand has no need to, and Bangkok keeps Indochina Time, UTC plus 7, all year with no seasonal change.

Why is Bangkok an hour behind Singapore?

Bangkok is on UTC plus 7 and Singapore on UTC plus 8, so Singapore is one hour ahead, all year, since neither uses daylight saving.

What time zone is Bangkok in?

Indochina Time, seven hours ahead of UTC, held all year. It is the same clock as Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

What is the time difference between Bangkok and New York?

New York is normally twelve hours behind Bangkok, or eleven when New York is on summer time. The gap shifts because New York uses daylight saving and Thailand does not.

What is the IANA name for Bangkok time?

It is Asia/Bangkok in the IANA time zone database, the time data your phone and your computer use. It holds a steady UTC plus 7, and it is what drives the live clock on this page.

References

1. Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Time Zone Database (the tz database), home of the Asia/Bangkok identifier. https://www.iana.org/time-zones
2. National Institute of Metrology (Thailand), NIMT, which keeps and disseminates Thailand's standard time. https://www.nimt.or.th
3. Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), Time Department, which maintains Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the reference Indochina Time is measured from. https://www.bipm.org/en/work-programme/time