Current Time in France
Metropolitan France uses one time zone; with its overseas regions and territories, France uses 12.
Page text updated Nov 5, 2026. Clock values are computed from the IANA time zone database each time the page is generated (at least hourly). Holiday and country reference data come from snapshots that are refreshed manually.
What time is it in France
It's 4:29 PM CET (UTC+01:00) in France on Thursday, 5 November 2026.
France observes daylight saving time. The next change is on 28 March 2027 at 02:00 local time, to daylight saving time.
Metropolitan France uses one time zone, Central European Time (UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer). Counting its overseas regions and territories, France uses 12 time zones, more than any other country.
- Time zone
- Central European Time
- IANA: Europe/Paris
- UTC offset now
- UTC+01:00 (CET)
- Clock changes
- Clocks go forward 1 hour on 28 March 2027 at 02:00 local time (to CEST, UTC+2).
Times in this text are from when the page was generated (it is regenerated at least hourly). The clocks below update live.
Major Cities
Paris
Marseille
Lyon
Toulouse
How France writes dates and times
- Date format
- DD/MM/YYYY
- day-month-year, e.g. 25/11/2026 · 25 novembre 2026
- Clock
- 24-hour
- e.g. 15:30
- Week starts on
- Monday
- Weekend: Saturday and Sunday
- Calendar
- Gregorian
Formats are the Unicode CLDR conventions for the fr-FR locale, the everyday written standard; individual organisations may differ.
Time facts about France
- A law of 9 March 1911 replaced Paris Mean Time with Paris mean time minus 9 minutes 21 seconds — equal to Greenwich time — without mentioning Greenwich. Source: mm.icann.org
- France moved to German time during the 1940 occupation and never returned to Greenwich-based winter time; Central European Time (UTC+1) has formally been its standard time since September 1945, although Paris lies about 2.3° east of Greenwich. Source: IANA tz database
- The Paris Observatory launched the first telephone speaking clock on 14 February 1933; the service was switched off on 1 July 2022. Source: observatoiredeparis.psl.eu
Upcoming public holidays in France
National holidays only. Holidays observed in individual states or regions are not listed.
- Armistice DayArmistice 1918Wed, 11 November 2026 · in 6 days
- Christmas DayNoëlFri, 25 December 2026 · in 50 days
- New Year's DayJour de l'anFri, 1 January 2027 · in 57 days
- Easter MondayLundi de PâquesMon, 29 March 2027 · in 144 days
- Labour DayFête du TravailSat, 1 May 2027 · in 177 days
Time difference from France
Workday overlap compares 09:00–17:00 on both sides at today's offsets, shown in France time.
| City | Local time | Difference | Workday overlap |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | Thu 3:29 PM | 1 h behind | 7 h (10:00–17:00) |
| New York | Thu 10:29 AM | 6 h behind | 2 h (15:00–17:00) |
| Los Angeles | Thu 7:29 AM | 9 h behind | None |
| Dubai | Thu 7:29 PM | 3 h ahead | 5 h (09:00–14:00) |
| Singapore | Thu 11:29 PM | 7 h ahead | 1 h (09:00–10:00) |
| Tokyo | Fri 12:29 AM | 8 h ahead | None |
| Sydney | Fri 2:29 AM | 10 h ahead | None |
| São Paulo | Thu 12:29 PM | 4 h behind | 4 h (13:00–17:00) |
France at a glance
- Capital
- Paris
- Population
- 66,351,959
- Currency
- euro (EUR)
Questions about time in France
- What time is it in France right now?
- When this page was generated it was 4:29 PM CET (UTC+01:00) in France.
- How many time zones does France have?
- Metropolitan France (including Corsica) uses one time zone, Central European Time: UTC+1, and UTC+2 (CEST) in summer. Counting its overseas regions and territories, France uses 12 time zones, more than any other country. For example, Guadeloupe and Martinique use UTC−4, French Guiana UTC−3, Mayotte UTC+3, Réunion UTC+4, New Caledonia UTC+11 and French Polynesia UTC−10 to UTC−9. The IANA time zone database files the overseas parts under their own country codes, so the clocks on this page are for metropolitan France.
- Does France observe daylight saving time?
- Yes. France observes daylight saving time. The next change is on 28 March 2027 at 02:00 local time, to daylight saving time.
- What is the next public holiday in France?
- The next national public holiday is Armistice Day on Wed, 11 November 2026.