Madrid Time Now

What this page shows

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

Madrid changes its clocks twice a year

Here is the part worth knowing about Madrid time. Madrid 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 Madrid 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 Madrid is in, and why the sun runs late

Madrid runs on Central European Time, the same zone as France, Germany, and Italy, one hour ahead of UTC in winter and two hours ahead in summer. The whole of mainland Spain keeps this clock.

Here is the curious part. Spain sits at roughly the same longitude as the United Kingdom and Portugal, both of which keep a clock an hour behind on UTC. By the sun, Spain belongs with them. Yet it runs on Central European Time, an hour ahead. The reason is historical: in 1940 Spain moved its clocks forward to line up with central Europe, and never moved them back. So the country lives permanently an hour ahead of where the sun would naturally place it. That is why the sun sets so famously late in Spain, and part of why daily life, including meals, runs later there than almost anywhere else in Europe.

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

Madrid 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 Madrid 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, Madrid 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 Madrid to other cities

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

A few quick examples

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

Say it is 12 noon in Madrid. 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. Spain 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 keep the late Spanish day in mind when you plan around local life rather than the clock. Because the sun runs behind the clock here, a 6 in the evening call still feels like mid-afternoon in Madrid, and the city does not really wind down to dinner until 9 or later.

A couple of things about Madrid time

Madrid sits at about 40 degrees north, a touch further south than most of the big northern European cities, so its day length swings a little less across the year. Around midsummer there are roughly fifteen hours between sunrise and sunset, and around midwinter a little over nine, a gentler spread than London or Paris.

The bigger quirk, as above, is how far the clock runs ahead of the sun. Madrid actually lies west of the Greenwich meridian, yet keeps a clock an hour ahead of it in winter and two ahead in summer. The result is that the sun is at its highest well into the afternoon by the clock, which is why summer light can linger past 9 in the evening and the whole rhythm of the day sits later than its neighbours.

Other places on the same time

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

• Barcelona time now
• Paris time now
• Rome time now
• Berlin 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 Madrid right now?

The clock near the top of this page is the answer, and it updates every second. Just remember that Madrid 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 Madrid time.

Is Madrid on CET or CEST right now?

Go by the dates. Madrid 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.

Why is Spain an hour ahead of the UK when it is further west?

By the sun, Spain lines up with the UK and Portugal, but in 1940 it moved its clocks forward to match central Europe and never changed back. So Spain keeps Central European Time, an hour ahead, which is why the sun sets so late there.

What time zone is Madrid in?

Central European Time, one hour ahead of UTC, in the winter, and Central European Summer Time, two hours ahead, in the summer. It is the same zone as France, Germany, and Italy.

How many hours ahead of London is Madrid?

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

What is the IANA name for Madrid time?

It is Europe/Madrid 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/Madrid 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. Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), Time Department, which maintains Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the reference Central European Time is measured from. https://www.bipm.org/en/work-programme/time