Current time in Lisbon

The same time as London, an hour behind Madrid

Lisbon uses Western European Time (WET, UTC+0) in winter and Western European Summer Time (WEST, UTC+1) in summer. It shares the clock with London and Dublin all year. Spain, the only country with which Portugal has a land border, is one hour ahead, so driving from Lisbon to Madrid means changing your watch at the frontier. Portugal’s legal time is kept by the Lisbon Astronomical Observatory.

Four years on Central European Time

In 1992 Portugal moved to Central European Time to match its main trading partners. The experiment was unpopular. Winter mornings stayed dark until almost nine o’clock, so children travelled to school at night, and in summer it was still light at half past ten in the evening. The expected energy savings did not appear either. In 1996 the country went back to Western European Time and has stayed there.

Madeira with Lisbon, the Azores an hour behind

Clocks go forward at 01:00 on the last Sunday of March and back at 02:00 on the last Sunday of October, at the same instant as in the rest of the European Union. Madeira follows Lisbon exactly. The Azores, about 1,400 kilometres out in the Atlantic, are one hour behind the mainland all year, on UTC−1 in winter and UTC+0 in summer. New York is five hours behind Lisbon for most of the year.

Lisbon: time zone at a glance

Time zone

Europe/Lisbon

Standard time

UTC+0

Daylight saving time

UTC+1

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 Lisbon

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

How accurate is this clock?

Our clock follows your device. Enable automatic time in your settings; this site does not independently synchronize with an atomic clock.