CET to PST
California is nine hours behind Central Europe for most of the year: 5:00 PM in Berlin or Paris is 8:00 AM in San Francisco and Los Angeles. When Europe and the US are out of step on daylight saving, in March and around late October, the gap is eight hours.
Convert the other way: PST → CET
Practically no shared working day
Nine hours is the widest gap between two major Western business regions. By the time Silicon Valley starts at 9:00 AM, it is 6:00 PM in Munich and Amsterdam. European companies with Californian partners, from German carmakers with Bay Area software labs to Dutch and Swedish tech firms, hold calls at 5:00–7:00 PM CET (8:00–10:00 AM Pacific) and let everything else run asynchronously.
A European who sends a question at 10:00 AM gets the answer after 6:00 PM their time at the earliest, so the habit that works is to batch questions for the California morning and expect replies overnight.
Meeting times that work on both sides
There is no shared office hour. The least painful options:
- 8:00 AM CET11:00 PM PSTearly for CET
- 6:00 PM CET9:00 AM PSTlate for CET
When the gap drops to eight hours
From the second Sunday of March, California is on PDT (UTC−7) while Europe stays on CET (UTC+1) until the last Sunday of March. For those three weeks a 5:00 PM call in Paris is 9:00 AM in Los Angeles. The same happens for one week in late October and early November.
Nonstop flights from Frankfurt or Paris to San Francisco or Los Angeles take about eleven to twelve hours. Leaving at 1:00 PM in Europe, you land around 4:00 PM on the West Coast the same day. For more pairs, the time zone converter compares any two zones.
What time is it in PST when it is … in CET?
Every hour of the day, using today's offsets (daylight saving is applied automatically).
Night (0–5)
- 12:00 AM
- 3:00 PM−1
- 1:00 AM
- 4:00 PM−1
- 2:00 AM
- 5:00 PM−1
- 3:00 AM
- 6:00 PM−1
- 4:00 AM
- 7:00 PM−1
- 5:00 AM
- 8:00 PM−1
Morning (6–11)
- 6:00 AM
- 9:00 PM−1
- 7:00 AM
- 10:00 PM−1
- 8:00 AM
- 11:00 PM−1
- 9:00 AM
- 12:00 AM
- 10:00 AM
- 1:00 AM
- 11:00 AM
- 2:00 AM
Afternoon (12–17)
- 12:00 PM
- 3:00 AM
- 1:00 PM
- 4:00 AM
- 2:00 PM
- 5:00 AM
- 3:00 PM
- 6:00 AM
- 4:00 PM
- 7:00 AM
- 5:00 PM
- 8:00 AM
Evening (18–23)
- 6:00 PM
- 9:00 AM
- 7:00 PM
- 10:00 AM
- 8:00 PM
- 11:00 AM
- 9:00 PM
- 12:00 PM
- 10:00 PM
- 1:00 PM
- 11:00 PM
- 2:00 PM
Daylight saving time
- Central European TimeCET / CEST
UTC+1 in winter, UTC+2 in summer
France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland
- Pacific TimePST / PDT
UTC−8 in winter, UTC−7 in summer
US West Coast
Cities on these zones
Other conversions with these zones
Frequently asked questions
- What time is 5 PM in Berlin in San Francisco?
- 8:00 AM in San Francisco for most of the year, 9:00 AM in the weeks when the US is on daylight time and Europe is not.
- Is there any overlap between European and Californian office hours?
- Not within a 9-to-5 day on both sides. Teams create one with late European calls, 5:00–7:00 PM, and early Californian starts.
- How long is the flight from Frankfurt to Los Angeles?
- About eleven and a half to twelve hours nonstop.
- When is Central Europe eight hours ahead of California?
- Between the second and last Sundays of March and between the last Sunday of October and the first Sunday of November.
- Does Italy use the same time as Germany?
- Yes. Italy, Germany, France, Spain and most of continental Europe share Central European Time.