Lisbon, Portugal · UTC+1
Convert time from Lisbon
Lisbon is the westernmost capital in continental Europe, sitting at 38.7 degrees north on the Tagus estuary, nine degrees of longitude west of the prime meridian. It uses Western European Time: UTC+0 in winter (WET), UTC+1 in summer (WEST). This puts Lisbon one hour behind its neighbor Madrid, despite the two cities being on almost the same longitude.
The discrepancy with Spain is political. Portugal and Spain are geographically close to the same meridian, but Spain uses Central European Time (UTC+1/+2) for political reasons, aligning with France and Germany rather than the sun. Portugal uses its natural time, UTC+0 in winter.
the Atlantic light and the gap with Madrid
This means that in summer, both cities use UTC+1 (Lisbon as WEST, Madrid as CET standard), and they align. In winter, Portugal reverts to UTC+0 while Spain stays at UTC+1. The gap appears and disappears twice a year.
Lisbon at 38 degrees north has moderate seasonal daylight variation: about 9.5 hours in December, 14.5 in June. The Atlantic influence keeps the climate mild. The famous Lisbon light, the quality that has drawn painters and photographers for centuries, has to do with the Atlantic moisture and the city’s particular white-and-blue color palette, reflecting that light differently than any other European city.
La Laguna in the Canary Islands shares the same winter UTC+0 time. 9am in Lisbon is 9am in London in winter, the same clock.
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Questions about time in Lisbon
- What timezone is Lisbon in?
- Lisbon is in Western European Time (WET), using the IANA timezone
Europe/Lisbon. The standard UTC offset is UTC+0 in winter. During daylight saving time (summer), it becomes Western European Summer Time (WEST) at UTC+1. - Does Lisbon observe daylight saving time?
- Yes. Lisbon 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+0 to UTC+1.
- What is the current UTC offset for Lisbon?
- Lisbon is currently at UTC+1. It is currently observing daylight saving time.
- What is the time difference between Lisbon and New York?
- Lisbon is currently 5 hours ahead of New York.
- What is the time difference between Lisbon and Los Angeles?
- Lisbon is currently 8 hours ahead of Los Angeles.
- What is the time difference between Lisbon and Tokyo?
- Lisbon is currently 8 hours behind Tokyo. Tokyo does not observe daylight saving time, so this gap changes by 1 hour when Lisbon transitions to/from DST.
- What is the IANA timezone name for Lisbon?
- The IANA timezone database identifier for Lisbon is
Europe/Lisbon. Use this string in programming languages and APIs: JavaScript (`new Intl.DateTimeFormat('en-US', { timeZone: 'Europe/Lisbon' })`), Python (`pytz.timezone('Europe/Lisbon')`), or any IANA-compatible library.