CST to CEST Converter
Start by searching for a time zone, city, or town.
Add one or more places to compare local times, adjust the date, and share the result.
Quick answers
Selected conversion
9:30 am09:30 CST (UTC-6), Nov 1, 2026 = 4:30 pm16:30 CET (UTC+1), Nov 1, 2026
CST is 7 hours behind CET.
CST (US winter time, UTC-6) and CEST examples
These examples always use CST (UTC-6) and CEST (UTC+2). They stay the same when you change the date or time above. The selected conversion may differ when daylight saving time applies.
CST is 8 hours behind CEST.
CST is US Central winter time (early November to mid-March). The rest of the year Chicago uses CDT (UTC-5), one hour later. For Central Time that follows daylight saving time, use CT to CEST. For daylight-time examples, use CDT to CEST.
How the time difference changes
For most of the year, CDT is 7 hours behind CEST. From Nov 1, 2026 to Mar 14, 2027, CST is 7 hours behind CET. From Mar 14 to Mar 28, 2027, and from Oct 31 to Nov 7, 2027, CDT is 6 hours behind CET.
For most of the year, working hours of 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in CDT correspond to 4:00 pm to 1:00 am (next day) in CEST. At other times of the year, working hours of 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in CST correspond to 4:00 pm to 1:00 am (next day) in CET or working hours of 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in CDT correspond to 3:00 pm to 12:00 am (next day) in CET.For most of the year, working hours of 09:00 to 18:00 in CDT correspond to 16:00 to 01:00 (next day) in CEST. At other times of the year, working hours of 09:00 to 18:00 in CST correspond to 16:00 to 01:00 (next day) in CET or working hours of 09:00 to 18:00 in CDT correspond to 15:00 to 00:00 (next day) in CET.
Compare CST time with CEST time, including current local time, UTC offsets, time difference, daylight saving changes, working hours, and shareable meeting times.
Time Difference
Central Standard Time is 7 hours behind Central European Time.
9:30 am09:30 in CST is 4:30 pm16:30 in CET
CST to CET call time
Best time for a conference call or a meeting is between 9am-11am09:00-11:00 in CST which corresponds to 4pm-6pm16:00-18:00 in CET
9:30 am09:30 Central Standard Time (CST). Offset UTC -6:00 hours
4:30 pm16:30 Central European Time (CET). Offset UTC +1:00 hour
9:30 am09:30 CST / 4:30 pm16:30 CET
Choose an hour to update the converter. Day labels such as “next day” or “+1” are relative to the selected date in the first column. Use Up and Down arrow keys, Home or End to move between hours, then Enter or Space to select.
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Central Standard Time
Offset: CST is 6 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
Countries using this time zone: Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, United States
Principal Cities: The largest city in the CST time zone is Mexico City in Mexico, with about 12.294 million people. Other major cities in this time zone include Chicago, Houston, Puebla, Santiago de Querétaro.
French: HNC - Heure Normale du Centre
Spanish: CT - Tiempo Central Estándar, CT - Zona Centro
Today all shaded areas are on CST.
Daylight Saving: This is a standard time zone. During summer, some places set clocks forward one hour for daylight saving time and observe Central Daylight Time (CDT).
Start: Central Standard Time (CST) started on Sunday, November 1, 2026 at 2:00 am02:00 local time and clocks were set one hour back to Sunday, November 1, 2026, 1:00 am01:00. Standard time starts annually on the first Sunday of November.
End: Central Standard Time (CST) ends on Sunday, March 14, 2027 at 2:00 am02:00 local time and clocks are set one hour forward to Sunday, March 14, 2027, 3:00 am03:00 local daylight time instead. Standard time ends annually on the second Sunday of March.
See USA daylight saving time and upcoming clock changes worldwide.
CST representations, usage and related time zones
- -06 - basic short
- -0600 - basic
- -06:00 - extended
- -0600 - sign character (-) followed by a four digit time providing hours (06) and minutes (00) of the offset. Indicates an offset of six hours to the west of the zero meridian.
- Sierra - Military abbreviation for CST
- S - short form of 'Sierra'
- 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
- Central Standard Time - UTC -6
- China Standard Time - UTC +8
- Cuba Standard Time - UTC -5
- CST - Central Standard Time
- CT - Central Time
- MDT - Mountain Daylight Time
- EAST - Easter Island Standard Time
- GALT - Galapagos Time
- S - Sierra Time Zone
Central European Summer Time
Offset: CEST is 2 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
Countries using this time zone: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Sweden, Switzerland, 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
Today the shaded areas are on UTC+1 (CET).
Daylight Saving: Central European Summer Time (CEST) is a daylight saving/summer time zone, but some places set clocks back one hour during winter and observe Central European Time (CET).
End: Central European Summer Time (CEST) ended on Sunday, October 25, 2026 at 3:00 am03:00 local time and clocks were 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.
Start: Central European Summer Time (CEST) starts on Sunday, March 28, 2027 at 2:00 am02:00 local time and clocks are set one hour forward to Sunday, March 28, 2027, 3:00 am03:00. Daylight saving starts annually on the last Sunday of March.
CEST representations, usage and related time zones
- +02 - basic short
- +0200 - basic
- +02:00 - extended
- +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.
- Bravo - Military abbreviation for CEST
- B - short form of 'Bravo'
- 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
- 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