Daylight saving time in Zurich in 2026: the clocks go forward on Sunday, 29 March 2026 and back on Sunday, 25 October 2026. The offset moves from UTC+01:00 to UTC+02:00 when the clocks go forward, and back again when they go back. In 2027 the clocks go forward on Sunday, 28 March 2027 and back on Sunday, 31 October 2027. This page gives the exact dates, what changes for residents, and how Zurich compares with other major cities.
Try the tool: Daylight Saving Time Checker — check whether daylight saving is in effect in Zurich right now, and when it next changes.
Daylight saving dates in Zurich — 2026 and 2027
| Year | Clocks go forward | Clocks go back |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Sunday, 29 March 2026 | Sunday, 25 October 2026 |
| 2027 | Sunday, 28 March 2027 | Sunday, 31 October 2027 |
The dates above are the local dates in Zurich — the day the clocks change in the Europe/Zurich zone. Note the order: in the northern hemisphere the clocks go forward in spring and back in autumn, but in the southern hemisphere it is the other way round — Zurich's dates show which pattern applies here. The transitions are also listed in the data: in 2026 the offset changes on 29 March 2026, 25 October 2026, and in 2027 on 28 March 2027, 31 October 2027.
The offset change
When daylight saving starts, Zurich's offset moves from UTC+01:00 to UTC+02:00 — one hour forward. When it ends, it moves back from UTC+02:00 to UTC+01:00. The change happens at 2am local time in most places that observe it: in spring the clocks jump from 02:00 to 03:00, so the hour from 02:00 to 03:00 does not exist; in autumn they fall back from 02:00 to 01:00, so the hour from 01:00 to 02:00 happens twice.
That missing and repeated hour is the source of most daylight saving bugs. A meeting set for 02:30 on the spring change day does not exist. A flight scheduled to depart at 01:30 on the autumn change day is ambiguous — it could mean the first 01:30 or the second. Airlines, hospitals and computer systems all have special handling for these two hours, and the rest of us should simply avoid scheduling anything for 02:00–03:00 on the change days.
What changes for residents
On the spring change day, the Sun rises and sets an hour later by the clock. The evening gets an extra hour of light — the point of the exercise — and the morning gets an hour darker. The cost is an hour of sleep: the night of the change is an hour shorter, and studies consistently find a spike in road accidents, heart attacks and workplace injuries in the days afterwards. On the autumn change day, the reverse happens: an extra hour of sleep, lighter mornings, and darker evenings.
For business, the change moves the overlap with other cities. Zurich's working day (09:00–17:00 local) is 08:00–16:00 UTC in standard time and 07:00–15:00 UTC in daylight saving time. A standing meeting with London or New York will shift by an hour relative to the other side — unless the other side changes its clocks on the same date, in which case nothing changes. The weeks when the change dates differ are the ones that cause missed meetings: the United States changes three weeks before Europe in spring, and a week after Europe in autumn.
Zurich compared with other cities
How 2026 daylight saving compares in three major cities:
| City | 2026 clocks forward | 2026 clocks back | Standard offset | Daylight offset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zurich | 29 March 2026 | 25 October 2026 | UTC+01:00 | UTC+02:00 |
| London | 29 March 2026 | 25 October 2026 | UTC+00:00 | UTC+01:00 |
| New York | 8 March 2026 | 1 November 2026 | UTC−05:00 | UTC−04:00 |
The comparison shows the two things that matter: whether the city observes daylight saving at all, and — if it does — whether it changes on the same dates as Zurich. Cities that change on different dates have a shifting difference for a few weeks a year; cities that do not observe it at all have a difference that moves when Zurich changes. The daylight saving time 2026 dates guide lists every zone's 2026 dates in one table.
Scheduling around the change
Three rules cover most of the trouble. First, never schedule anything for 02:00–03:00 on 29 March 2026 or 25 October 2026 — the hour does not exist in spring and is ambiguous in autumn. Second, for the three weeks in March when the United States has changed its clocks and Europe has not, check the overlap again — a standing meeting with a European city will be an hour earlier or later than usual. Third, set calendar events in UTC where you can: a UTC event moves correctly when the clocks change, and a local-time event does not always. The meeting planner shows the overlap for any two cities on any date, and the time in Zurich page has the working-hours tables.
Zurich and the clock changes elsewhere
The time difference between Zurich and another city is only constant if both cities change their clocks on the same dates — or if neither changes them at all. The table shows the difference in hours between Zurich and New York and London in four months of 2026. A change between two columns means one of the two cities changed its clocks in between.
| Difference with | January | April | July | October |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | +6h | +6h | +6h | +6h |
| London | +1h | +1h | +1h | +1h |
The classic trap is the three weeks in March: the United States changes its clocks on the second Sunday of March, and Europe does not change until the last Sunday of March, so for those three weeks the New York–London difference is 4 hours instead of 5, and every standing meeting between the two shifts by an hour. Zurich is affected in the same way whenever its own change dates differ from the other side's. The time difference calculator works out the difference for any two cities on any date, and the meeting planner shows the overlap — use them for the weeks around the changes rather than trusting a remembered difference.
Daylight saving in Europe
In Europe, daylight saving is harmonised: almost every country changes on the last Sunday of March and the last Sunday of October, under the European Union's rules. The exceptions are Iceland, which stays on UTC+0 all year, and Russia, Belarus and Türkiye, which have abolished the change and stay on permanent time. The European Parliament voted in 2019 to end the twice-yearly change, but member states have not agreed on whether to stay permanently on summer or winter time, so the change continues for now. Zurich follows the European dates where they apply — and where it does not, the difference with its neighbours shifts for a few weeks a year.
Frequently asked questions
When does daylight saving start in Zurich in 2026?
In 2026 the clocks go forward on Sunday, 29 March 2026 and back on Sunday, 25 October 2026 — the offset moves from UTC+01:00 to UTC+02:00 when the clocks go forward.
When does daylight saving end in Zurich in 2026?
On Sunday, 25 October 2026, when the clocks go back one hour and the offset returns from UTC+02:00 to UTC+01:00.
What is Zurich's UTC offset?
Zurich is on UTC+01:00 in standard time and UTC+02:00 in daylight saving time. Its IANA time zone is Europe/Zurich.
When does daylight saving start in Zurich in 2027?
In 2027 the clocks go forward on Sunday, 28 March 2027 and back on Sunday, 31 October 2027.
What time zone is Zurich in?
Zurich is in the IANA time zone Europe/Zurich, in Switzerland. See the time in Zurich page for the full explanation.
What happens if I schedule a meeting for 02:30 on the day the clocks change in Zurich?
Do not do it. On the spring change day (Sunday, 29 March 2026) the hour from 02:00 to 03:00 does not exist, so 02:30 never happens. On the autumn change day (Sunday, 25 October 2026) the hour from 01:00 to 02:00 happens twice, so 01:30 is ambiguous. Schedule for 03:30 or later on those days, or move the meeting by a day.
Sources
- IANA Time Zone Database, via Node.js Intl (
Intl.DateTimeFormatwithtimeZone) — offsets, daylight saving dates and local times in this article were worked out from the IANA database, not typed from memory. - TimeFlow's own time-zone data (
data/cities.ts,data/dst.ts), computed from the IANA database. - TimeFlow's daylight saving checker — the live tool behind the dates on this page.
- TimeFlow's own daylight saving data (
data/dst.ts), computed from the IANA Time Zone Database. - Time-zone and daylight saving rules are set by governments and can change. For flights, deadlines and meetings that cannot move, confirm the time with an official source.