What time is it in Switzerland?
CET / CEST · Europe/Zurich
Back to SwitzerlandNow in Bern
CET UTC+01:00
UTC+01:00
UTC+02:00 in summerCentral European Standard Time
One zone covers all of Switzerland: Central European Time, UTC+1, with summer time at UTC+2 from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October. Liechtenstein and the German exclave of Büsingen am Hochrhein keep the same clock as Zurich, whose name the time zone database gives to the Swiss entry.
Today
Daylight in Bern today
DayLive
12:00
- Sunrise
- 07:24First light 06:54
- Sunset
- 19:17Last light 19:48
- Day length
- 11 h 54 min−3 min on yesterday
- Solar noon
- 13:21Sun at 41°, its highest
Plan a call
Find an hour that works in Switzerland 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 Switzerland is from other places
Neighbours
- AustriaViennaSame time
- GermanyBerlinSame time
- FranceParisSame time
- ItalyRomeSame time
- LiechtensteinVaduzSame time
Around the world
- London−1 h
- New York−6 h
- Los Angeles−9 h
- São Paulo−5 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 Switzerland
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 |
The Federal Council first put the clocks forward in 1941 and 1942, from the first Monday in May to the first Monday in October. Summer time then lapsed for almost four decades. Voters rejected it in a federal referendum in 1978, by 52.1%, so when most of Western Europe moved its clocks in the spring of 1980 Switzerland stayed where it was, and for about six months it ran an hour behind every neighbour except Liechtenstein. It adopted summer time in 1981, and since 1996 the dates have followed the European Union's rules.
Daylight
Sunrise and sunset through the year in Bern
- Sunrise
- 07:24
- Sunset
- 19:17
- Daylight
- 11 h 54 min
- Change
- −3 min
Longest day of 2026: 17 June, 15 h 53 min.
Computed for 46.95, 7.45 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
- 05.03.26
- Long date
- 5. März 2026
- Week starts
- Monday
- Zone names
- CET / CEST
- Time zone database
- Zurich
History
How the clocks in Switzerland got here
- 1890
- To 1893.Local mean time, UTC+00:29, before the standard zone.
- 1894
- The move from local mean time, UTC+00:29, to UTC+01:00.
- 1895
- To 1940.UTC+01:00 all year, no summer time.
- 1941
- To 1942.UTC+01:00 in winter, UTC+02:00 in summer time.
- 1943
- To 1980.UTC+01:00 all year, no summer time.
- 1981
- To today.UTC+01:00 in winter, UTC+02:00 in summer time.
From the IANA time zone database, Europe/Zurich, as the build machine carries it.
Common questions
Questions about the time in Switzerland
What time zone is Switzerland in?
Central European Time, UTC+1, and Central European Summer Time, UTC+2, in summer. The country has a single zone, which the time zone database names Europe/Zurich. Büsingen am Hochrhein, a German village surrounded by Swiss territory, has shared Zurich's clocks since 1970 and was given an entry of its own, Europe/Busingen, in 2013. Solar time differs by about 18 minutes between the westernmost and easternmost points of Switzerland.
When do the clocks change in Switzerland in 2026?
They went forward on Sunday 29 March 2026, from 02:00 to 03:00, and go back on Sunday 25 October, from 03:00 to 02:00. The next pair falls on 28 March and 31 October 2027. Switzerland is outside the European Union but changes on the same nights as its members.
Why did Switzerland have no summer time in 1980?
Because its voters had turned it down. A federal referendum in 1978 rejected summer time by 52.1%, and in 1980, when most of Western Europe put its clocks forward, Switzerland kept standard time. For about six months it was an hour behind France, Germany, Italy and Austria, with only Liechtenstein level. Büsingen am Hochrhein stayed on Swiss time as well, an hour off from the rest of West Germany. Switzerland introduced summer time the next year, in 1981.
What was Bernese time?
The local mean time of Bern, taken from the Zytglogge clock tower and running 29 minutes and 45.5 seconds ahead of UTC. The telegraph arrived in 1851, and by July 1853 every telegraph and post office in the country kept Bernese time; railway timetables used it by 1873 at the latest. On 1 June 1894 Switzerland replaced it with UTC+1, the offset it still keeps in winter.
Is Switzerland on the same time as its neighbours?
Yes. Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Liechtenstein all keep Central European Time and change their clocks on the same Sundays, so crossing any Swiss border leaves the clock alone. The one exception on record was 1980, the year Switzerland declined summer time after the 1978 referendum.
Will Switzerland stop changing the clocks?
Nothing on record points that way yet. Switzerland is not in the European Union, but its summer time has followed EU rules since 1996. The European Parliament voted on 26 March 2019 to end the seasonal change, and as of March 2026 the Council of the European Union had not approved it, so the rule Switzerland follows has not moved.
What is the time difference between Switzerland and London?
One hour, all year round. Both change their clocks at 01:00 UTC on the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October, so the gap stays fixed through both seasons: 08:00 in London is 09:00 in Zurich, Geneva and Bern, in January as in July.