Paris uses Central European Time (UTC+1) in winter and Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) in summer. Geographically, though, the city lies at 2.35° East — much closer to Greenwich than to the 15° East meridian that CET is based on. Solar noon in Paris therefore falls around 12:50 p.m. in winter and close to 2:00 p.m. in summer, which is why late-June evenings stay light until almost 10 p.m.
France adopted Paris Mean Time as its legal time in 1891. In 1911 it switched to "Paris Mean Time retarded by 9 minutes 21 seconds" — Greenwich time, without naming Greenwich. During the German occupation in 1940 the clocks were moved to Central European Time, and France kept that offset after the war. Summer time returned in 1976, after the oil crisis.
Paris has a special connection to world time: the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), based in Sèvres just outside the city, combines readings from hundreds of atomic clocks around the world to calculate International Atomic Time and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
In 2019 the European Parliament voted to end seasonal clock changes, but EU member states have not agreed on how to do it, so clocks still change on the last Sundays of March and October. For scheduling, remember that lunch between noon and 2 p.m. is still widely respected, and that business slows considerably in August, when many companies close for summer holidays.
| City | January | July |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 03:00(−9 h) | 03:00(−9 h) |
| New York | 06:00(−6 h) | 06:00(−6 h) |
| São Paulo | 08:00(−4 h) | 07:00(−5 h) |
| London | 11:00(−1 h) | 11:00(−1 h) |
| Dubai | 15:00(+3 h) | 14:00(+2 h) |
| Mumbai | 16:30(+4 h 30 min) | 15:30(+3 h 30 min) |
| Singapore | 19:00(+7 h) | 18:00(+6 h) |
| Tokyo | 20:00(+8 h) | 19:00(+7 h) |
| Sydney | 22:00(+10 h) | 20:00(+8 h) |
Paris uses Central European Time (CET, UTC+1) in winter and Central European Summer Time (CEST, UTC+2) from late March to late October.
Paris is 1 hour ahead of London all year, because France and the UK change their clocks on the same dates.
Yes. Clocks move forward to CEST (UTC+2) on the last Sunday in March and back to CET (UTC+1) on the last Sunday in October.
Paris is 6 hours ahead of New York for most of the year. For a few weeks in March and around the end of October the gap is 5 hours, because the US and Europe change clocks on different dates.