Thailand Time Now

What this page shows

So you want to know what time it is in Thailand right now. Maybe you have a call with someone there, 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 Thailand and ticks forward every second, so there is nothing for you to work out by hand.

Thailand keeps a single time zone across the whole country, so this clock is good everywhere, from Chiang Mai in the north to the southern beaches. Wherever in the world you are reading from, it keeps itself right on its own, and it is simple, because Thailand time never changes through the year.

Thailand does not change its clocks

Here is the part worth knowing about Thailand time, and it makes things easy. Thailand does not use daylight saving. There is no spring forward and no fall back, so the country 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. Whenever you look, Thailand is at UTC plus 7, and the clock above simply shows that time.

What time zone Thailand is in

Thailand runs on Indochina Time, seven hours ahead of UTC, the single clock used across the whole country. The name points to its reach: this is the time of mainland Southeast Asia, shared with Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, so the whole region keeps a common hour.

One thing that does set Thailand apart is not the clock but the calendar. Thailand officially counts its years by the Buddhist Era, which runs 543 years ahead of the Western count, so a year that is 2026 elsewhere is numbered 2569 on a Thai calendar. The time of day is the standard UTC plus 7 the rest of the region keeps, but the date stamped on an official document or a receipt may look startlingly far in the future at first glance.

Time difference from Thailand to other places

Thailand 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 Thailand between their winter and summer. Here is the quick reference, assuming it is 12 noon in Thailand.

A few quick examples

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

Say it is 12 noon in Thailand. 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 Thailand, so 12 noon here is 5 in the morning in London, and New York, twelve hours behind, is right at midnight. Midday in Thailand 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 Thailand time

Thailand sits in the tropics, running from about 6 degrees north in the south up to 20 in the north, so the length of the day stays fairly even across the country. Bangkok swings from roughly twelve and three quarter hours of daylight in summer to a little over eleven in winter, with the north seeing a touch more variation than the south. There are no long summer evenings or short winter afternoons of the kind the higher latitudes know.

On the clock-against-sun question, Thailand runs a little behind the sun. Indochina Time fits the 105 degree east line, which passes through the east of the country, so most of Thailand sees the sun reach its highest a little after 12 noon by the clock. 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 Thailand on UTC plus 7. Here are some to jump to:

• Bangkok time now, the capital
• Jakarta time now, also UTC plus 7
• Singapore time now, an hour ahead

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

Questions people ask

What time is it in Thailand right now?

The clock near the top of this page is the answer, and it updates every second. Thailand keeps one time zone and does not use daylight saving, so the time shown is always correct, anywhere in the country.

Does Thailand use daylight saving time?

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

Why is the year different in Thailand?

Thailand counts its years by the Buddhist Era, which runs 543 years ahead of the Western count. The clock time is the standard UTC plus 7, but a year that is 2026 elsewhere is numbered 2569 on a Thai calendar.

What time zone is Thailand in?

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

What is the time difference between Thailand and New York?

New York is normally twelve hours behind Thailand, 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 Thailand time?

It is Asia/Bangkok in the IANA time zone database, the time data your phone and your computer use. That single identifier covers the whole country, 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 used across Thailand. 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