Time in Berlin
Berlin keeps Central European Time (UTC+1) in winter and Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) from the last Sunday of March to the last Sunday of October. In German these are MEZ and MESZ. The clock shows today's local time, sun times and conversions.
- Time zone
- —
- Abbreviation
- —
- UTC offset
- —
- Daylight saving
- —
- Compared with your clock
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- IANA time zone:
- Europe/Berlin
- Country:
- Germany
- Coordinates:
- 52.52° N, 13.40° E
- Clock changes in 2026:
- forward on March 29, 2026 · back on October 25, 2026 (UTC+1 / UTC+2)
Sunrise and sunset in Berlin
Monday, October 19, 2026, local time
- Sunrise
- 7:38 AM
- Sunset
- 6:03 PM
- Day length
- 10 h 24 min
- Solar noon
- 12:51 PM
| Date | Sunrise | Sunset | Day length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon, Oct 19 | 7:38 AM | 6:03 PM | 10 h 24 min |
| Tue, Oct 20 | 7:40 AM | 6:00 PM | 10 h 20 min−4′ |
| Wed, Oct 21 | 7:42 AM | 5:58 PM | 10 h 16 min−4′ |
| Thu, Oct 22 | 7:44 AM | 5:56 PM | 10 h 12 min−4′ |
| Fri, Oct 23 | 7:46 AM | 5:54 PM | 10 h 9 min−3′ |
| Sat, Oct 24 | 7:47 AM | 5:52 PM | 10 h 5 min−4′ |
| Sun, Oct 25 | 6:49 AM | 4:50 PM | 10 h 1 min−4′ |
Approximate times (usually within two minutes), calculated from the city's coordinates with the NOAA solar equations. Hills, tall buildings and unusual air refraction can shift what you see.
Time in Berlin when it is 9:00, 12:00, 17:00 or 21:00 elsewhere
Each cell is the time in Berlin at that hour in the city on the left, using today's offsets.
| When it is … in | 9:00 AM | 12:00 PM | 5:00 PM | 9:00 PM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 3:00 PM | 6:00 PM | 11:00 PM | 3:00 AM+1 |
| London | 10:00 AM | 1:00 PM | 6:00 PM | 10:00 PM |
| Paris | 9:00 AM | 12:00 PM | 5:00 PM | 9:00 PM |
| Dubai | 7:00 AM | 10:00 AM | 3:00 PM | 7:00 PM |
| Mumbai | 5:30 AM | 8:30 AM | 1:30 PM | 5:30 PM |
| Singapore | 3:00 AM | 6:00 AM | 11:00 AM | 3:00 PM |
| Tokyo | 2:00 AM | 5:00 AM | 10:00 AM | 2:00 PM |
| Sydney | 12:00 AM | 3:00 AM | 8:00 AM | 12:00 PM |
Where daylight saving began
Germany introduced Central European Time nationwide on April 1, 1893, based on the 15th meridian east, which runs through Görlitz on the Polish border. On April 30, 1916, in the middle of the First World War, Germany became the first country to move its clocks forward for summer to save coal, and Britain and others followed within weeks.
Summer time came and went several times before West Germany and East Germany both reintroduced it in 1980. Today the official time is kept by the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt in Braunschweig and broadcast by the DCF77 longwave transmitter near Frankfurt, which is what radio-controlled clocks across Europe listen to.
Short winter days in the north
At 52.5° north, Berlin's daylight swings strongly. Around the June solstice the sun rises at about 4:45 AM and sets around 9:30 PM, nearly 16 hours 50 minutes of daylight. In late December sunrise is near 8:15 AM and sunset before 4:00 PM, a day of about 7 hours 40 minutes. Berlin sits east of most of Germany, so its sunrises are around 25 minutes earlier than in Cologne.
Business hours and the transatlantic gap
Offices commonly work from 8:00 or 9:00 to 17:00, and the Xetra trading system in Frankfurt runs from 9:00 to 17:30. London is one hour behind all year. New York is six hours behind most of the year, so 15:00 in Berlin is 9:00 AM on Wall Street, and the overlap ends when Xetra closes at 11:30 AM New York time. For conversions with the UK the CET to GMT table lists every hour.
Time zone converters for Berlin
Frequently asked questions
- Which country first used daylight saving time?
- Germany, together with Austria-Hungary, on April 30, 1916. Clocks were moved forward an hour to save fuel for the war effort.
- What do MEZ and MESZ mean?
- Mitteleuropäische Zeit and Mitteleuropäische Sommerzeit, the German names for Central European Time (UTC+1) and Central European Summer Time (UTC+2).
- How many hours is Berlin ahead of New York?
- Six hours for most of the year and five hours for a few weeks in March and around the end of October, when the US and the EU change clocks on different Sundays.
- Is Munich on Berlin time?
- Yes. All of Germany uses one time zone and changes clocks at the same moment, as do neighboring Austria, Switzerland, Poland and the Czech Republic.