Europe · Western Europe · Sovereign state
Current time in Switzerland
A single time zone at UTC+02:00. Currently observing daylight saving time.
Thursday, October 15, 2026
About Switzerland's time
A single time zone.
Switzerland keeps things simple with a single time zone (CET/CEST), and because the country lies west of the 15°E meridian CET is based on, clocks run about 20–35 minutes ahead of the sun.
Next clock change
2026 Sunday · clocks fall back
Clocks fall back by one hour · next week.
Daylight saving schedule
Major cities
Cities of Switzerland.
History
How Switzerland keeps time.
Until the 1850s, Swiss towns kept their own local mean time. In 1853, Switzerland adopted a single national time based on Bern Mean Time, about UTC+00:29:46.
On June 1, 1894, Switzerland switched to Central European Time (CET, UTC+01:00), aligning with Germany, Austria and Italy. The country observed daylight saving time only in 1941 and 1942 during World War II, then every year from 1981 onward to stay in sync with its neighbors.
Did you know?
Things about Switzerland's time.
Switzerland's single time zone creates an interesting solar noon paradox. Because it lies well west of the 15°E meridian CET is based on, clocks show midday when the sun is still visibly east of its highest point. In Zurich, civil twilight lasts until about 10 PM around midsummer.
Convert
Switzerland to the world's clocks.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about Switzerland's time zone, daylight saving rules, and how to handle it in software. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].
- How many time zones does Switzerland have?
- Just one: Central European Time (CET, UTC+01:00), switching to CEST (UTC+02:00) in summer.
- Does Switzerland observe Daylight Saving Time?
- Yes. Clocks move forward one hour on the last Sunday in March and back on the last Sunday in October, matching most of Western Europe.
- Why does the sun set so late in Swiss summers?
- Switzerland sits near the western edge of the CET band, so legal time runs about 20–35 minutes ahead of mean solar time; combined with DST, sunset can be after 9 PM in June.
- Is there any proposal to change Switzerland's time zone?
- No serious proposals exist. Aligning with EU neighbors simplifies transport, finance, and daily life for cross-border commuters.
- Does Swiss time match Germany and France exactly?
- Exactly. All three are on CET/CEST, so no adjustment is needed for travel or calls between them.
- Can I use Swiss time as a reference for scheduling EU meetings?
- Definitely. Zurich is one hour ahead of London, the same as Paris/Berlin, and one hour behind Athens—a convenient midpoint for pan-European meetings.
- Are train schedules tied strictly to CET?
- Yes. Swiss Federal Railways publish all timetables in CET (or CEST in summer), with clocks synchronized to the national time server.
Source: IANA tzdb2026d · Reviewed
Free · Developer API
This country, as JSON.
Its default time zone, zone and city counts and DST summary, from one endpoint.
Also in the API: time zones by coordinates, conversions that flag daylight saving gaps, and abbreviations decoded.
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