Bogotá, Colombia · UTC-5 ☆

Bogota, Colombia’s capital, runs on Colombia Time (UTC-5) year-round. No daylight saving time is observed. IANA timezone: America/Bogota.

Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, sits on a high-altitude savanna at 2,600 meters above sea level, making it one of the highest capital cities in the world. It runs on America/Bogota: UTC-5, year-round, with no daylight saving time. Colombia has never observed DST in the modern era.

At roughly 4 degrees north, Bogotá is close enough to the equator that daylight barely varies through the year. Sunrise stays between 5:45am and 6:15am. Sunset falls between 6pm and 6:15pm. The fixed UTC-5 clock aligns well with this natural rhythm. There is no summer with extended evening light, and no winter darkness to compensate for.

The altitude effect

Bogotá’s elevation means it has spring-like weather year-round, despite being in the tropics. Temperatures typically range from 7 to 19 degrees Celsius, with virtually no seasonal temperature variation. What changes is rain. The city has two wet seasons and two dry seasons per year, a tropical highland pattern driven by the Intertropical Convergence Zone passing twice over the equatorial region.

This climate shapes the city’s rhythm in ways that clock time does not. The 4pm rains in wet season are a Bogotá institution. Locals carry umbrellas every day. Traffic slows when the storms hit. The afternoon downpour is a more reliable daily event than any particular hour.

Colombia Time across the country

Colombia uses a single timezone across its entire territory, including the Amazon regions to the south and the Caribbean coast to the north. Cali and Cartagena share Bogotá’s UTC-5. The consistency simplifies national communications and commerce.

The time conversion from Bogotá to London puts London five hours ahead in winter, six in summer when the UK observes BST.

Sources

• IANA Time Zone Database
• IDEAM - Colombian Institute for Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies
• Bogotá Turismo