World Clock Guide: How to Find the Current Time Anywhere in the World

What time is it right now in London, Paris, New York and Sydney?

Take 12:00 UTC on a winter weekday in January and run it through the offsets. London is on Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+0), so it is 12:00. Paris is on Central European Time (UTC+1), so it is 13:00. New York is on Eastern Standard Time (UTC−5), so it is 07:00 in the morning. Dubai never changes its clocks (UTC+4), so it is 16:00. Sydney is on Australian Eastern Daylight Time (UTC+11), so it is 23:00 — nearly midnight while London eats lunch.

Notice that only the offset mattered, not the city name. Two cities with the same offset always show the same time — Paris and Berlin are both UTC+1 in winter — while two cities in the same country can differ, as Sydney and Perth do. When you plan across dates as well as times, for example counting the days between a departure and a return, our Date Calculator handles the calendar maths.

How do I calculate the time difference between two cities?

Subtract one city's UTC offset from the other's. London in winter is UTC+0 and Dubai is UTC+4, so Dubai is 4 hours ahead: when it is 10:00 in London, it is 14:00 in Dubai. In summer London moves to British Summer Time (UTC+1) while Dubai stays put, so the gap shrinks to 3 hours — 10:00 in London is 13:00 in Dubai.

Some pairs never change. London and New York are always 5 hours apart: in winter it is UTC+0 versus UTC−5, in summer UTC+1 versus UTC−4, and the difference stays 5 either way. London and Sydney swing much more: 11 hours apart in January (UTC+0 versus UTC+11) but only 9 hours apart in July (UTC+1 versus UTC+10), because the two hemispheres run daylight saving in opposite halves of the year.

The rule of thumb: if both cities observe daylight saving, or neither does, the gap is constant; if only one does, the gap changes by an hour twice a year. That is why a meeting time that worked in March can be wrong in November.

What are the UTC offsets of the world's major cities?

The standard offsets below come from the IANA time zone database. "None" in the daylight-saving column means the clocks never change, so the offset — and the gap to any other fixed-offset city — is the same all year.

When does daylight saving time start and end?

Daylight saving is not global — most of Asia and Africa never observe it — and the regions that do follow different rules:

• Europe (EU rule): clocks go forward on the last Sunday of March and back on the last Sunday of October. In 2026 that is 29 March to 25 October.
• United States and Canada: clocks go forward on the second Sunday of March and back on the first Sunday of November. In 2026 that is 8 March to 1 November.
• Australia (south-east): clocks go forward on the first Sunday of October and back on the first Sunday of April — the opposite half of the year from the northern hemisphere.
• New Zealand: clocks go forward on the last Sunday of September and back on the first Sunday of April.

The US and EU change on different weekends, so for about three weeks each spring and one week each autumn the London–New York gap is 4 hours instead of the usual 5. If you schedule recurring international meetings, re-check them in those changeover weeks.

What is the difference between GMT and UTC?

For everyday use, none: they show the same time. The difference is what they are. GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) is a time zone, used as the civil time in the UK and several other countries in winter. UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) is the international time standard itself, kept by atomic clocks, from which every time zone's offset is measured. Aviation, computing and science use UTC; saying "the meeting is at 14:00 UTC" is unambiguous everywhere, while "14:00 GMT" technically names a zone. In practice you can treat them as interchangeable.

What are five common time-zone mistakes?

• Forgetting daylight saving — converting with the winter offset in July (or the reverse) puts you an hour out. Check the table's daylight-saving column first.
• Assuming the gap never changes — London to Dubai is 4 hours in winter but 3 in summer, because only one side moves its clocks.
• Mixing up EST and EDT — "Eastern Time" in New York is UTC−5 in winter (EST) and UTC−4 in summer (EDT). The three-letter abbreviation tells you which offset applies.
• Ignoring the date line — flying or calling across the Pacific can change the date, not just the hour. Sydney can be a full calendar day ahead of Honolulu.
• Scheduling in the changeover weeks — the US and Europe switch clocks on different weekends, so recurring meetings shift by an hour for a few weeks each spring and autumn.