CEST
Central European Summer Time
GMT +2
CST
Central Standard Time
GMT -6

Time Difference

Central European Summer Time is 8 hours ahead of Central Standard Time
5:00 pm17:00 in CEST is 9:00 am09:00 in CST

CEST to CST call time
Best time for a conference call or a meeting is between 4pm-6pm in CEST which corresponds to 8am-10am in CST

5:00 pm17:00 Central European Summer Time (CEST). Offset UTC +2:00 hours
9:00 am09:00 Central Standard Time (CST). Offset UTC -6:00 hours

5:00 pm17:00 CEST / 9:00 am09:00 CST

CEST CST
12am (midnight) 4pm
1am 5pm
2am 6pm
3am 7pm
4am 8pm
5am 9pm
6am 10pm
7am 11pm
8am 12am (midnight)
9am 1am
10am 2am
11am 3am
12pm (noon) 4am
1pm 5am
2pm 6am
3pm 7am
4pm 8am
5pm 9am
6pm 10am
7pm 11am
8pm 12pm (noon)
9pm 1pm
10pm 2pm
11pm 3pm
0:00 16:00
1:00 17:00
2:00 18:00
3:00 19:00
4:00 20:00
5:00 21:00
6:00 22:00
7:00 23:00
8:00 0:00
9:00 1:00
10:00 2:00
11:00 3:00
12:00 4:00
13:00 5:00
14:00 6:00
15:00 7:00
16:00 8:00
17:00 9:00
18:00 10:00
19:00 11:00
20:00 12:00
21:00 13:00
22:00 14:00
23:00 15:00

Central European Summer Time

Offset: CEST is 2 hours ahead Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and is used in Europe

Countries: It is used in following countries: 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 timezone is Berlin from Germany with population about 3.426 million people. Other major cities in the area are Madrid, Rome, Paris, Budapest

German: MESZ - Mitteleuropäische Sommerzeit

CEST Time Zone Geo Map
CEST timezone map

Daylight Saving: Central European Summer Time (CEST) is a daylight saving/summer timezone, however during winter some places switch clocks for one hour back and observe Central European Time (CET).

Daylight saving time clock moves forward for one hour from 2am to 3amStart: Central European Summer Time (CEST) started on Sunday, March 30, 2025 at 2:00 am local time and clocks were set one hour forward to Sunday, March 30, 2025, 3:00 am. Daylight saving starts annually the on last Sunday of March

Daylight saving time clock moves back for one hour from 3am to 2amEnd: Central European Summer Time (CEST) ends on Sunday, October 26, 2025 at 3:00 am local time and clocks are set one hour back to Sunday, October 26, 2025, 2:00 am local standard time instead. Daylight saving ends annually the on last Sunday of October

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 two hour and zero minutes time differences 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

Central Standard Time

Offset: CST is 6 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and is used in Central America

Countries: It is used in following countries: Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador, United States

Principal Cities: The largest city in the CST timezone is Mexico City from Mexico with population about 12.294 million people. Other major cities in the area are Chicago, Houston, Iztapalapa, Ecatepec

Daylight Saving: Central Standard Time (CST) is not adjusted for daylight saving therefore CST remains the same through out the year. This means, unlike some time zones where the clock is set forward by one hour every summer and backward by one hour during winter to adjust for daylight saving, Central Standard Time remains the same

CST representations, usage and related time zones

W3C/ISO-8601: International standard covering representation and exchange of dates and time-related data
  • -06 - basic short
  • -0600 - basic
  • -06:00 - extended
Email/RFC-2822: Internet Message Format Date Standard, typically used for timestamps in email headers
  • -0600 - sign character (-) followed by a four digit time providing hours (06) and minutes (00) of the offset. Indicates six hour and zero minutes time differences to the west of the zero meridian.
Military/NATO: Used by the U.S. military, Chinese military and others
  • Sierra - Military abbreviation for CST
  • S - short form of 'Sierra'
IANA/Olson: Reflects CST time zone boundaries defined by political bodies, primarily intended for use with computer programs and operating systems
  • America/Bahia_Banderas
  • America/Belize
  • America/Chicago
  • America/Chihuahua
  • America/Costa_Rica
  • America/El_Salvador
  • America/Guatemala
  • America/Indiana/Knox
  • America/Indiana/Tell_City
  • America/Knox_IN
  • America/Managua
  • America/Matamoros
  • America/Menominee
  • America/Merida
  • America/Mexico_City
  • America/Monterrey
  • America/North_Dakota/Beulah
  • America/North_Dakota/Center
  • America/North_Dakota/New_Salem
  • America/Ojinaga
  • America/Rainy_River
  • America/Rankin_Inlet
  • America/Regina
  • America/Resolute
  • America/Swift_Current
  • America/Tegucigalpa
  • America/Winnipeg
  • CST6CDT
  • Canada/Central
  • Canada/Saskatchewan
  • Mexico/General
  • US/Central
  • US/Indiana-Starke
CST Abbreviation: Several time zones share CST abbreviation and it could refer to these time zones
  • Central Standard Time - UTC -6
  • China Standard Time - UTC +8
  • Cuba Standard Time - UTC -5
  • Colombia Standard Time - UTC -5
Time zones with the GMT -6 offset:
  • CST - Central Standard Time
  • CT - Central Time
  • MDT - Mountain Daylight Time
  • EAST - Easter Island Standard Time
  • GALT - Galapagos Time
  • S - Sierra Time Zone