Current time in Berlin

Central European Time, measured from a meridian on the Polish border

Berlin uses Central European Time (CET, UTC+1) in winter and Central European Summer Time (CEST, UTC+2) in summer; in German they are MEZ and MESZ. The zone is based on the 15° east meridian, which runs through the town of Görlitz on the Polish border, a little east of Berlin. Germany unified its many local and railway times under this standard on 1 April 1893.

The country where summer time began

Germany was the first country to introduce daylight saving time nationwide, on 30 April 1916, to save coal during the First World War. It was dropped after the war and returned from 1940. In 1947 a “high summer time” even put clocks two hours ahead for a few weeks. After a long pause, East and West Germany both reintroduced summer time in 1980, and clocks have changed on the last Sundays of March and October since 1996.

Legal time, broadcast by radio

Germany’s legal time is produced by the atomic clocks of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt in Braunschweig. It is broadcast by the long-wave transmitter DCF77 at Mainflingen, near Frankfurt, whose signal reaches about 2,000 kilometres. Radio-controlled clocks and watches across much of Europe set themselves from it, including the switch to and from summer time, which the signal announces in advance.

Berlin: time zone at a glance

Time zone

Europe/Berlin

Standard time

UTC+1

Daylight saving time

UTC+2

Clock changes in 2026

Sunday, March 29, 2026: forward 1 hour

Sunday, October 25, 2026: back 1 hour

Clock changes in 2027

Sunday, March 28, 2027: forward 1 hour

Sunday, October 31, 2027: back 1 hour

Dates reflect the rules in force when this page was last updated. Governments can change them at short notice.

Plan a meeting in Berlin

Use the actual meeting date. Seasonal clock changes can alter the time difference.

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