What time is it in France?
CET / CEST · Europe/Paris
Back to FranceNow in Paris
CET UTC+01:00
UTC+01:00
UTC+02:00 in summerCentral European Standard Time
Metropolitan France keeps Central European Time, UTC+1, and moves to Central European Summer Time, UTC+2, between the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October. With its overseas departments and territories the Republic runs on 12 time zones, 13 counting its claim in Antarctica, and of those only Saint Pierre and Miquelon changes its clocks, on the North American dates rather than the European ones.
Today
Daylight in Paris today
DayLive
12:00
- Sunrise
- 07:45First light 07:13
- Sunset
- 19:37Last light 20:09
- Day length
- 11 h 53 min−3 min on yesterday
- Solar noon
- 13:41Sun at 39°, its highest
Plan a call
Find an hour that works in France and elsewhere
The two rows are the same day, hour for hour. Pick a city, then an hour, and the line between the rows marks the office hours both sides share.
Time difference
How far France is from other places
Neighbours
- AndorraAndorra la VellaSame time
- BelgiumBrusselsSame time
- BrazilBrasília−5 h
- SwitzerlandBernSame time
- GermanyBerlinSame time
- SpainMadridSame time
- ItalyRomeSame time
- LuxembourgLuxembourgSame time
- MonacoMonacoSame time
- NetherlandsAmsterdamSame time
- SurinameParamaribo−5 h
Around the world
- London−1 h
- New York−6 h
- Los Angeles−9 h
- Moscow+1 h
- Dubai+2 h
- Delhi+3:30 h
- Beijing+6 h
- Tokyo+7 h
- Sydney+8 h
Clock changes
When the clocks change in France
Next change
Sunday, 25 October 2026
Clocks go back one hour: at 03:00 it becomes 02:00 CET, UTC+01:00. The night is an hour longer.
| Year | Clocks go forward | Clocks go back |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 29 March 02:00 → 03:00 | 25 October 03:00 → 02:00 |
| 2027 | 28 March 02:00 → 03:00 | 31 October 03:00 → 02:00 |
| 2028 | 26 March 02:00 → 03:00 | 29 October 03:00 → 02:00 |
| 2029 | 25 March 02:00 → 03:00 | 28 October 03:00 → 02:00 |
| 2030 | 31 March 02:00 → 03:00 | 27 October 03:00 → 02:00 |
Summer time came to France in 1916, one hour ahead of the Greenwich time the country had adopted in 1911, and was kept every summer until 1940; from 1923 it ran from the last Saturday in March to the first Saturday in October. In the summer of 1940 the German authorities put the occupied north on UTC+2 while the south stayed on UTC+1, and Vichy moved the whole country to UTC+2 in May 1941 so that railway timetables matched. There was no clock change from 1946 to 1975. The oil crisis brought summer time back in 1976, and since 1996 it has ended on the last Sunday in October.
A French public consultation in 2019, not binding, found about 59% in favour of keeping summer time all year, 37% for winter time and 4% with no preference. The European Parliament then voted on 26 March 2019 to end seasonal changes from 2021. That directive still needs the Council of the European Union, which had not given its approval by March 2026, and so France moves its clocks in March and October as before.
Daylight
Sunrise and sunset through the year in Paris
- Sunrise
- 07:45
- Sunset
- 19:37
- Daylight
- 11 h 53 min
- Change
- −3 min
Longest day of 2026: 19 June, 16 h 11 min.
Computed for 48.86, 2.35 at sea level with the NOAA solar equations, to the nearest minute, taking no account of hills.
Writing the time
- Clock
- 24-hour
- Short date
- 05/03/2026
- Long date
- 5 mars 2026
- Week starts
- Monday
- Zone names
- CET / CEST
- Time zone database
- Paris
History
How the clocks in France got here
- 1890
- To 1910.Local mean time, UTC+00:09, before the standard zone.
- 1911
- The move from local mean time, UTC+00:09, to UTC+00:00.
- 1912
- To 1915.UTC+00:00 all year.
- 1916
- To 1939.Clocks on UTC+00:00, UTC+01:00 at different times of the year.
- 1940
- Clocks on UTC+00:00, UTC+01:00, UTC+02:00 at different times of the year.
- 1941
- Summer time kept through the winter: UTC+02:00 all year.
- 1942
- UTC+01:00 in winter, UTC+02:00 in summer time.
- 1943
- To 1945.UTC+01:00 in winter, UTC+02:00 in summer time.
- 1946
- To 1975.UTC+01:00 all year, no summer time.
- 1976
- To today.UTC+01:00 in winter, UTC+02:00 in summer time.
From the IANA time zone database, Europe/Paris, as the build machine carries it.
Common questions
Questions about the time in France
What time zone is France in?
Metropolitan France is on Central European Time, UTC+1, in winter and Central European Summer Time, UTC+2, in summer, listed in the time zone database as Europe/Paris. The overseas parts of the Republic each keep their own time: Réunion is on UTC+4 all year, Martinique and Guadeloupe on UTC−4, French Polynesia mostly on UTC−10.
When do the clocks change in France in 2026?
Sunday 29 March 2026 at 02:00, when clocks in metropolitan France jumped to 03:00, and Sunday 25 October at 03:00, when they fall back to 02:00. The 2027 change forward is on 28 March, and the one back on 31 October. Both happen at 01:00 UTC, the same instant across the European Union.
How many time zones does France have?
Twelve, or thirteen with Adélie Land, the French claim in Antarctica on UTC+10. They run from UTC−10 in the Society, Tuamotu and Austral islands of French Polynesia to UTC+12 in Wallis and Futuna, and include the half hour of the Marquesas Islands, UTC−09:30. Between those two ends sit French Guiana on UTC−3, Mayotte on UTC+3, the Kerguelen Islands on UTC+5 and New Caledonia on UTC+11.
Do the French overseas territories change their clocks?
Only Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which follows Canada and the United States: forward on the second Sunday in March, back on the first Sunday in November. In 2026 that meant 8 March and means 1 November, so the usual four hours between Paris and Saint-Pierre shrank to three from 8 to 28 March and do so again from 25 to 31 October. Every other overseas territory keeps one offset all year.
Why is France on Central European Time and not on Greenwich time?
Geographically the country sits close to Greenwich: the Paris meridian is about 2°20′ east of it, and Paris mean time, used for the whole country from 1891, ran 9 minutes 21 seconds ahead. France took Greenwich time in 1911. The German occupation moved it an hour or two ahead from 1940, and after the war a planned return to Greenwich time on 18 November 1945 was cancelled on 5 November. UTC+1 has stayed the legal time since, so winter time is in effect a year-round summer time and summer time a double one.
Will France stop changing the clocks?
Not yet. A French consultation in 2019 came out for permanent summer time, UTC+2, and the European Parliament voted that March to end seasonal changes. The directive still waits on the Council of the European Union, where progress has been blocked, and until it passes metropolitan France keeps the two changes a year, each at 01:00 UTC.
What is the time difference between France and the United Kingdom?
Paris is always one hour ahead of London. Both switch on the last Sundays of March and October at the same instant, 01:00 UTC, so the gap holds in every season: 12:00 in London is 13:00 in Paris. The gap dates from 1945: the British went back to Greenwich time on 7 October that year, and France called off its own return a month later.