What is CEST Time?
You need to keep in mind that CEST Time zone is an identifier for a time offset that is 2 hours ahead of the
UTC time zone.
This time pattern is maintained using highly accurate atomic clocks matched to the Earth's rotation.
In this section, you will learn key facts about this time zone and stay well informed.
The IANA time zone identifier for CEST Time is Etc/GMT-2.
Please be aware that this time zone is observed during
Daylight Saving Time (DST) in the spring, summer, and autumn months.
During the winter months, clocks went back one hour to the
UTC+1 offset and
CET is observed.
About This Time Pattern
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Time Offset: UTC+2, UTC+02:00
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Abbreviation: Central European Summer Time
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DST Began: Last Sunday in March, 01:00 UTC (clocks go forward one hour).
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DST Ends: Last Sunday in October, 01:00 UTC (clocks went back one hour).
What is CEST Time Zone?
This time zone is a time offset that adds 2 hours to
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
In the map above we highlight the entire region covered by this time zone.
Its main cities and territories are:
In the map above we highlight the entire region covered by the time zone.
This time offset is also observed during standard time and daylight saving time for various geographic regions.
You need to be very careful finding these time zones that may have different names and abbreviations, but have the same UTC offset:
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Central Africa Time (CAT)
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Eastern European Time (EET)
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Heure Avancée d'Europe Centrale (HAEC)
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Israel Standard Time (IST)
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Kaliningrad Time (KALT)
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Middle European Summer Time (MEST)
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South African Standard Time (SAST)
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West Africa Summer Time (WAST)
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Bravo Time Zone (B)
CEST Time Zone Countries
This time zone is used in the following countries:
In the United Kingdom, this time zone is present in the territory of Gibraltar.
In Spain this time zone is used throughout the country, except for the Canary Islands.
There were proposals to abandon summer time in Europe from 2021, possibly by moving winter time up by an hour and keeping that time through the year.
Current CEST Time with seconds according to the official atomic clock.
