IANA tz database · zone identifier

Europe/Budapest

The IANA tz database identifier for Central European Standard Time in Hungary. Store this string — not the abbreviation, not the offset — and your timestamps stay correct forever.

UTC+02:00Abbreviation CESTObserves daylight saving
Time in Europe/Budapest☾ Night
01:03:24
Thursday, October 15, 2026
Offset
UTC+02:00
Abbreviation
CEST
DST
Active

Current offset

UTC+02:00

standard UTC+01:00 · daylight UTC+02:00

Abbreviation

CEST

the daylight-saving form

DST behaviour

Observes

changes clocks twice a year

Country

🇭🇺 Hungary

ISO 3166: HU · view country page →

Using this identifier

The string to put in your code.

Europe/Budapest is the identifier to use in code and config for this region. Every modern language, database, and OS resolves it through the same tz database, so the examples here behave identically everywhere.

Avoid storing CEST or +02:00 — abbreviations are ambiguous and fixed offsets can't follow rule changes.

// format a date in this zone
new Intl.DateTimeFormat('en-US', {
timeZone: 'Europe/Budapest',
dateStyle: 'full', timeStyle: 'long'
}).format(new Date());

Offset & DST behaviour

Two offsets,
every year.

Europe/Budapest alternates between CET (UTC+01:00) and CEST (UTC+02:00). Right now it is on CEST; clocks fall back on 25 October 2026.

The year at a glance

CET · UTC+01:00CEST · UTC+02:00CET · UTC+01:0029 Mar · +1h25 Oct · −1h Jan 2026 Dec

Technical record

The database entry, in full.

source: IANA tz database · release 2026d

IdentifierEurope/Budapest
ISO country codeHU🇭🇺 Hungary
Reference coordinates47.50°N, 19.08°Etz database reference point
Standard offsetUTC+01:00abbreviation CET
Daylight offsetUTC+02:00abbreviation CEST
tzdb release2026ddata current as of this IANA release

Where it applies

All of Hungary, one clock.

Looking for travel-friendly info? See Budapest or Central European Standard Time.

🇭🇺
Hungary

9.6M people, one time zone. The whole country resolves to Europe/Budapest.

Country page →
🇭🇺 Budapest
01:03
01:03:24 · CEST
pop. 1.7MCET
🇭🇺 Pest
01:03
01:03:24 · CEST
pop. 1MCET
🇭🇺 Buda
01:03
01:03:24 · CEST
pop. 510KCET

Related identifiers

Nearby in the database.

Same zone group · Central European Standard Time

other identifiers keeping CET

Same offset · UTC+02:00

other zones keeping this offset right now

Frequently asked questions

Answers specific to this identifier — generated from the database record. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].

What UTC offset is Europe/Budapest?
Europe/Budapest is currently UTC+02:00 (CEST). It alternates between UTC+01:00 in winter and UTC+02:00 in summer.
Does Europe/Budapest observe daylight saving time?
Yes. Clocks fall back at the next transition on 25 October 2026, as they do twice every year.
Which country uses Europe/Budapest?
Hungary. The identifier covers the whole country.
Is Europe/Budapest the same as CET?
Europe/Budapest is one of the IANA zones that keeps Central European Standard Time (CET). Use Europe/Budapest in software — CET is a human-friendly label, not a valid identifier.

Free · Developer API

This zone, as JSON.

Its live offset, abbreviation, DST status and next clock change, plus its coordinates and country, from one endpoint.

GET /v1/timezones Live

Also in the API: time zones by coordinates, conversions that flag daylight saving gaps, and abbreviations decoded.

Get your free API key → All endpoints Plans and pricing

Moving off WorldTimeAPI? Our drop-in replacement needs no key.

// this identifier, resolved live
GET /v1/timezones/Europe/Budapest
{
"data": {
"iana": "Europe/Budapest",
"observes_dst": true,
"country": { "code": "HU", "name": "Hungary" },
"current": {
"utc_offset": "+02:00",
"abbreviation": "CEST",
…
},
…
}
}