Amsterdam, The Netherlands · UTC+2
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Amsterdam is in the Europe/Amsterdam timezone (CET/UTC+1, DST to UTC+2 late March to late October). The Netherlands’ capital has a population of around 900,000.
Amsterdam runs on Central European Time, UTC+1 in winter and UTC+2 during daylight saving. The IANA identifier is Europe/Amsterdam. But the city sits at roughly 4.9 degrees east longitude, which by strict solar reckoning puts it closer to UTC+0 than UTC+1. When the Netherlands adopted standard time in the late 19th century, it chose Amsterdam Mean Time, which was 19 minutes and 32 seconds ahead of GMT. In 1940, Nazi Germany forced the occupied Netherlands onto Central European Time, and the Netherlands has kept it ever since.
This means Amsterdam’s solar noon, in summer, falls around 1:40pm on the clock. The long summer evenings are extended by both the high latitude (52 degrees north) and the advanced clock. Sunset in late June is after 10pm.
The practical consequence: summer in Amsterdam feels very long. Terrace culture extends well past 9pm. The city’s famous cycling infrastructure means that people are outdoors and active at hours that would be dark in cities further south.
Antwerpen in Belgium shares the same timezone, just to the south. The two cities are closely linked by rail and share the Benelux economic space.
The world’s oldest stock exchange
The city’s financial sector, the Amsterdam Stock Exchange is the oldest in the world, operates on Central European Time. The exchange opened in 1602 to trade shares in the Dutch East India Company.
9am in Amsterdam is 8am in London during European winter.
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Read more about time in The Netherlands →Same time as Amsterdam
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Questions about time in Amsterdam
- What timezone is Amsterdam in?
- Amsterdam is in Central European Time (CET), using the IANA timezone
Europe/Amsterdam. The standard UTC offset is UTC+1 in winter. During daylight saving time (summer), it becomes Central European Summer Time (CEST) at UTC+2. - Does Amsterdam observe daylight saving time?
- Yes. Amsterdam observes daylight saving time. In 2026, clocks spring forward one hour on Sunday, March 29 and fall back one hour on Sunday, October 25. During DST, the UTC offset shifts from UTC+1 to UTC+2.
- What is the current UTC offset for Amsterdam?
- Amsterdam is currently at UTC+2. It is currently observing daylight saving time.
- What is the time difference between Amsterdam and New York?
- Amsterdam is currently 6 hours ahead of New York.
- What is the time difference between Amsterdam and London?
- Amsterdam is currently 1 hour ahead of London. Both cities observe daylight saving time on the same schedule (last Sunday of March and October), so the gap stays consistent year-round.
- What is the time difference between Amsterdam and Los Angeles?
- Amsterdam is currently 9 hours ahead of Los Angeles.
- What is the time difference between Amsterdam and Tokyo?
- Amsterdam is currently 7 hours behind Tokyo. Tokyo does not observe daylight saving time, so this gap changes by 1 hour when Amsterdam transitions to/from DST.
- What is the IANA timezone name for Amsterdam?
- The IANA timezone database identifier for Amsterdam is
Europe/Amsterdam. Use this string in programming languages and APIs: JavaScript (`new Intl.DateTimeFormat('en-US', { timeZone: 'Europe/Amsterdam' })`), Python (`pytz.timezone('Europe/Amsterdam')`), or any IANA-compatible library. - Is CET the same as CEST?
- No. CET (Central European Time, UTC+1) is the standard winter time used by Amsterdam and most of Central Europe. CEST (Central European Summer Time, UTC+2) is the same zone during daylight saving time. The abbreviation changes, but it is the same IANA timezone — the offset shifts by one hour.