There are several time zones in the European Union. The major ones are the following. They all use daylight saving time in the summer:
| Timezone | Countries | Standard Time | Dailight Savings Time | Time and Date |
| Azores Time | The Azores (Portugal) | AZ | AST | 9:29:45 PM |
| Western European Time | Ireland, Portugal (except Azores), and the Canary Islands (Spain) | WET | WEST | 10:29:45 PM |
| Central European Time | Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France (except overseas territories), Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain (except Canary Islands) and Sweden | CET | CEST | 11:29:45 PM |
| Eastern European Time | Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Cyprus | EET | EEST | 12:29:45 AM |
In the map below you can observe seven different timezone, according to various colors per different countries. Note that in the table below you can find also the Summer time UTC time differences in Europe, and more details for each color. This map is based on a Wikipedia map.
Color | Timezone | Abbr | Offset | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Light Blue | Western European Time / Greenwich Mean Time | WET / GMT | UTC | Iceland |
| Blue | Western European Time / Greenwich Mean Time | WET / GMT | UTC | Portugal (including Madeira);United Kingdom (London);Republic of Ireland; Faroe Islands; Canary Islands |
| Western European Summer Time / British Summer Time / Irish Standard Time | WEST / BST / IST | UTC+1 | ||
| Red | Central European Time | CET | UTC+1 | Most of western Europe; Scandinavia; Central Europe; Central southern Europe; Western Balkans |
| Central European Summer Time | CEST | UTC+2 | ||
| Yellow | Eastern European Time / Kaliningrad Time | EET | UTC+2 | Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia) |
| Ochre | Eastern European Time | EET | UTC+2 | Finland; Baltic states;Ukraine; Moldova;Romania; Bulgaria; Greece |
| Eastern European Summer Time | EEST | UTC+3 | ||
| Green | Moscow Time / Turkey Time | MSK/TRT | UTC+3 | Belarus; Most of western Russia;Turkey; Abkhazia; South Ossetia |
| Turquoise | Armenia Time / Azerbaijan Time / Georgia Time / Samara Time | AMT/ AZT/ GET / SAMT | UTC+4 | Parts of western Russia; Armenia; Azerbaijan; Georgia |
⬤ ⬤ ⬤ ⬤ Pale colours: Standard time observed all year
⬤ ⬤ ⬤ Dark colours: Summer time observed
European Summer Time begins in the Europe on the last Sunday of March and concludes on the last Sunday of October. This is due to the fact that during the warmer months, clocks are advanced so that darkness falls later.
European Summer Time causes changes in the names and acronyms used to identify the current local time in each time zone.
For example: Central European Time (CET) changes to Central European Summer Time (CEST), or Western European Time (WET) switching to Western European Summer Time (WEST), and so on.
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 31 March 2024 | 27 October 2024 |
| 30 March 2025 | 26 October 2025 |
| 29 March 2026 | 25 October 2026 |
| 28 March 2027 | 31 October 2027 |
| 26 March 2028 | 29 October 2028 |
| 25 March 2029 | 28 October 2029 |
Continue reading: When is Daylight Saving?