Updating current time…
CEST
12am
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AST
12am
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6am
9am
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Quick answers

Selected conversion

2:00 pm14:00 CEST (UTC+2), Oct 12, 2026 = 3:00 pm15:00 AST (UTC+3), Oct 12, 2026

CEST is 1 hour behind AST.

CEST and AST examples

These examples always use CEST (UTC+2) and AST (UTC+3). They stay the same when you change the date or time above. The selected conversion may differ when daylight saving time applies.

CEST is 1 hour behind AST.

How the time difference changes

For most of the year, CEST is 1 hour behind AST Arabia. From Oct 25, 2026 to Mar 28, 2027, CET is 2 hours behind AST Arabia.

For most of the year, working hours of 9:00 am to 5:00 pm in CEST correspond to 10:00 am to 6:00 pm in AST Arabia. At other times of the year, working hours of 9:00 am to 5:00 pm in CET correspond to 11:00 am to 7:00 pm in AST Arabia.For most of the year, working hours of 09:00 to 17:00 in CEST correspond to 10:00 to 18:00 in AST Arabia. At other times of the year, working hours of 09:00 to 17:00 in CET correspond to 11:00 to 19:00 in AST Arabia.

Compare CEST time with AST time, including current local time, UTC offsets, time difference, daylight saving changes, working hours, and shareable meeting times.

Time Difference

Central European Summer Time is 1 hour behind Arabia Standard Time.
2:00 pm14:00 in CEST is 3:00 pm15:00 in AST

CEST to AST call time
Best time for a conference call or a meeting is between 9am-4pm09:00-16:00 in CEST which corresponds to 10am-5pm10:00-17:00 in AST

2:00 pm14:00 Central European Summer Time (CEST). Offset UTC +2:00 hours
3:00 pm15:00 Arabia Standard Time (AST). Offset UTC +3:00 hours

2:00 pm14:00 CEST / 3:00 pm15:00 AST

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Hourly time comparison
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Central European Summer Time

Offset: CEST is 2 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

Countries using this time zone: Andorra, Albania, Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Belgium, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Spain, France, Gibraltar, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Sweden, Slovenia, Svalbard & Jan Mayen, Slovakia, San Marino, Vatican City

Principal Cities: The largest city in the CEST time zone is Berlin in Germany, with about 3.426 million people. Other major cities in this time zone include Madrid, Rome, Paris, Hamburg.

German: MESZ - Mitteleuropäische Sommerzeit

Map of the areas on Central European Summer Time (CEST)
CEST part of the year

Today all shaded areas are on CEST.

Daylight Saving: Central European Summer Time (CEST) is a daylight saving/summer time zone. During winter, some places set clocks back one hour and observe Central European Time (CET).

123456789101112Start: Central European Summer Time (CEST) started on Sunday, March 29, 2026 at 2:00 am02:00 local time and clocks were set one hour forward to Sunday, March 29, 2026, 3:00 am03:00. Daylight saving starts annually on the last Sunday of March.

123456789101112End: Central European Summer Time (CEST) ends on Sunday, October 25, 2026 at 3:00 am03:00 local time and clocks are set one hour back to Sunday, October 25, 2026, 2:00 am02:00 local standard time instead. Daylight saving ends annually on the last Sunday of October.

See upcoming clock changes worldwide.

CEST representations, usage and related time zones

W3C/ISO-8601: International standard covering representation and exchange of dates and time-related data
  • +02 - basic short
  • +0200 - basic
  • +02:00 - extended
Email/RFC-2822: Internet Message Format Date Standard, typically used for timestamps in email headers
  • +0200 - sign character (+) followed by a four digit time providing hours (02) and minutes (00) of the offset. Indicates an offset of two hours to the east of the zero meridian.
Military/NATO: Used by the U.S. military, Chinese military and others
  • Bravo - Military abbreviation for CEST
  • B - short form of 'Bravo'
IANA/Olson: Reflects CEST time zone boundaries defined by political bodies, primarily intended for use with computer programs and operating systems
  • Africa/Ceuta
  • Arctic/Longyearbyen
  • Atlantic/Jan_Mayen
  • CET
  • Europe/Amsterdam
  • Europe/Andorra
  • Europe/Belgrade
  • Europe/Berlin
  • Europe/Bratislava
  • Europe/Brussels
  • Europe/Budapest
  • Europe/Busingen
  • Europe/Copenhagen
  • Europe/Gibraltar
  • Europe/Ljubljana
  • Europe/Luxembourg
  • Europe/Madrid
  • Europe/Malta
  • Europe/Monaco
  • Europe/Oslo
  • Europe/Paris
  • Europe/Podgorica
  • Europe/Prague
  • Europe/Rome
  • Europe/San_Marino
  • Europe/Sarajevo
  • Europe/Skopje
  • Europe/Stockholm
  • Europe/Tirane
  • Europe/Vaduz
  • Europe/Vatican
  • Europe/Vienna
  • Europe/Warsaw
  • Europe/Zagreb
  • Europe/Zurich
  • MET
  • Poland
Time zones with the GMT +2 offset:
  • CEST - Central European Summer Time
  • EET - Eastern European Time
  • MESZ - Mitteleuropäische Sommerzeit
  • B - Bravo Time Zone
  • CAT - Central Africa Time
  • IST - Israel Standard Time
  • SAST - South Africa Standard Time
  • WAST - West Africa Summer Time

Arabia Standard Time

Offset: AST is 3 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

Countries using this time zone: Saudi Arabia

Principal Cities: The largest city in the AST time zone is Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, with about 4.697 million people. Other major cities in this time zone include Riyadh, Makkah, Madinah, Dammam.

Daylight Saving: Clocks in Arabia Standard Time (AST) do not change for daylight saving time, so AST stays the same throughout the year. Other time zones may set clocks forward in summer and back in winter; see upcoming clock changes worldwide.

AST representations, usage and related time zones

W3C/ISO-8601: International standard covering representation and exchange of dates and time-related data
  • +03 - basic short
  • +0300 - basic
  • +03:00 - extended
Email/RFC-2822: Internet Message Format Date Standard, typically used for timestamps in email headers
  • +0300 - sign character (+) followed by a four digit time providing hours (03) and minutes (00) of the offset. Indicates an offset of three hours to the east of the zero meridian.
Military/NATO: Used by the U.S. military, Chinese military and others
  • Charlie - Military abbreviation for AST
  • C - short form of 'Charlie'
AST Abbreviation: Several time zones share AST abbreviation and it could refer to these time zones
  • Atlantic Standard Time - UTC -4
  • Arabia Standard Time - UTC +3
Time zones with the GMT +3 offset:
  • EEST - Eastern European Summer Time
  • MSK - Moscow Standard Time
  • AST - Arabia Standard Time
  • C - Charlie Time Zone
  • EAT - Eastern Africa Time
  • FET - Further Eastern European Time
  • IDT - Israel Daylight Time
  • TRT - Turkey Time