Berlin Time Now

What this page shows

So you want to know what time it is in Berlin right now. Maybe you have a call with someone in Germany, a flight to catch, a match kicking off on Berlin 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 Berlin 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 Berlin and keeps itself right on its own, even across the days when the clocks change. Whether Berlin is on its winter or its summer setting at the time, the clock shows the correct local time.

Berlin changes its clocks twice a year

Here is the part worth knowing about Berlin time. Berlin does not stay on the same clock all year. It uses Central European Time, CET, through the winter, and moves an hour ahead to Central European Summer Time, CEST, for the summer.

So there are two settings behind Berlin time:

• CET, Central European Time. One hour ahead of UTC, written UTC plus 1. The winter setting, from late October to late March.
• CEST, Central European Summer Time. Two hours ahead of UTC, written UTC plus 2. The summer setting, from late March to late October.

The clock above follows whichever one is in force, so you do not have to track it yourself. The section further down spells out the dates if you ever need to work it out for a particular day.

What time zone Berlin is in

Berlin runs on Central European Time, the zone shared by a broad band of countries from Spain across to Poland. In the winter that is one hour ahead of UTC, and in the summer it springs forward to two hours ahead. The whole of Germany keeps this one clock, with no regional differences.

Germany is the most populous country in this zone by a comfortable margin, so in a quiet way Berlin sits near the population heart of Central European Time. When people picture the clock that runs across the middle of Europe, this is very much one of the cities they have in mind. Neighbours like France, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy keep exactly the same time.

How to tell if Berlin is on CET or CEST right now

Berlin changes its clocks on two Sundays a year, and across the European Union those dates are fixed by law, Directive 2000/84/EC on summer-time arrangements. Every member state changes together:

• Spring forward. On the last Sunday of March, the clocks jump ahead one hour. CET becomes CEST, and Berlin goes from UTC plus 1 to UTC plus 2.
• Fall back. On the last Sunday of October, the clocks drop back one hour. CEST becomes CET again, at UTC plus 1.

So the rule is short. From the last Sunday of March to the last Sunday of October, Berlin is on CEST. The rest of the year, late October round to late March, it is on CET. Place today between those two Sundays and you have your answer.

Time difference from Berlin to other cities

The cities that share Europe's daylight saving schedule stay a fixed distance from Berlin all year, while the ones that do not change their clocks can shift by an hour between Berlin's winter and summer. Here is the quick reference, assuming it is 12 noon in Berlin.

A few quick examples

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

Say it is 12 noon in Berlin. London is an hour behind all year, so 11 in the morning there. In the winter, New York is six hours behind, making it 6 in the morning on the US East Coast, while Mumbai is four and a half hours ahead at 4:30 in the afternoon.

Now a call to New York, which has one small catch. Germany and the US both change their clocks, but not on the same dates, so for a couple of short windows in spring and autumn the usual six hour gap briefly narrows to five. For anything that has to land exactly in those weeks, trust the live clock over the rule of thumb.

And one for Asia. Tokyo is eight hours ahead of Berlin in winter, so a 9 in the morning start in Berlin is already 5 in the evening in Tokyo. The overlap between Germany and Japan is narrow, so those calls tend to sit early in the Berlin morning.

A couple of things about Berlin time

Berlin sits well to the north, at about 52 and a half degrees of latitude, further north than London or Paris, so the length of the day swings hard across the year. Around midsummer there are nearly seventeen hours between sunrise and sunset, with the sky barely fully dark at night, while around midwinter that drops to under eight hours and it is dark by the late afternoon.

On the clock-against-sun question, Berlin comes out fairly honest. It sits not far west of the meridian that Central European Time is built on, so in winter the sun is at its highest close to 12 noon by the clock, give or take. The long, light summer evenings come mostly from the high latitude rather than the clock running ahead.

Other places on the same time

Plenty of cities keep the same time as Berlin on Central European Time. Here are a few to jump to:

• Frankfurt time now
• Vienna time now
• Paris time now
• Rome time now

For the country as a whole, see Germany time now. And if it is the time zone itself you are reading up on rather than the city, the summer side is at CEST Time Now, and the global reference it is measured from at UTC Time Now.

Questions people ask

What time is it in Berlin right now?

The clock near the top of this page is the answer, and it updates every second. Just remember that Berlin changes its clocks, so it shows CET through the winter and CEST through the summer, switching over on its own. Either way, the time shown is the correct Berlin time.

Is Berlin on CET or CEST right now?

Go by the dates. Berlin is on CEST from the last Sunday of March to the last Sunday of October. The rest of the year, from late October round to late March, it is on CET. Find where today falls between those two Sundays and you will know.

What time zone is Berlin in?

Central European Time, one hour ahead of UTC, in the winter, and Central European Summer Time, two hours ahead, in the summer. The whole of Germany keeps the same clock, as do France, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy.

How many hours ahead of London is Berlin?

One hour ahead, all year. Berlin and London both change their clocks, but on the same dates, so the one hour gap between them never changes.

What is the time difference between Berlin and New York?

New York is normally six hours behind Berlin. The two change their clocks on slightly different dates, so for a couple of short windows in spring and autumn the gap narrows to five hours.

What is the IANA name for Berlin time?

It is Europe/Berlin in the IANA time zone database, the time data your phone and your computer use. It carries both the CET and CEST offsets along with the rule for switching between them, 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 Europe/Berlin identifier. https://www.iana.org/time-zones
2. Directive 2000/84/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on summer-time arrangements, which sets the last Sundays of March and October as the change dates across the EU. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2000/84/oj
3. Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Germany's national metrology institute and the keeper of legal time for Germany. https://www.ptb.de