Austria's summer time in 2027 starts in the night to Sunday 28 March, when the clock jumps from 2:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m., and is over on Sunday 31 October, when 3:00 a.m. is turned back to 2:00 a.m. Those are the last Sundays of March and October, the two nights on which the whole European Union changes.

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Next clock change in Austria

Local time in each place. Computed from the IANA time zone database.

All clock changes 2026–2028: Vienna

The Rule in Austria

Austria is on Central European Time in winter, one hour ahead of Universal Time, and on Central European Summer Time, two hours ahead, for seven months of the year. The basis in Austrian law is the Zeitzählungsgesetz, the Time Counting Act of 1976, and the dates themselves come from the European Union directive on summer time. The change is made at the same instant across the Union: 1:00 a.m. Universal Time. In spring the hour from 2:00 to 3:00 does not exist. In autumn it happens twice, and Austrian railways deal with that by holding night trains at a station for an hour so that they arrive on timetable. Legal time is distributed by the Federal Office of Metrology and Surveying in Vienna.

From 1916 to 1980: An Interrupted History

Austria-Hungary introduced summer time together with Germany on 30 April 1916; Austria used it until 1918 and once more in 1920. It returned in 1940, when Austria was part of the German Reich, and continued under the occupying powers until 1948. Then, for more than thirty years, Austrian clocks did not move. The oil crisis of 1973 revived the idea, the 1976 Act made it legally possible, and summer time was reintroduced in 1980, in the same year as in Germany and a year before Switzerland. Since 1996 the end date has been the last Sunday in October everywhere in the Union; before that Austria, like its neighbours, went back at the end of September.

Sunrise at Half Past Four: What the Change Does in Austria

Because Vienna lies well to the east within its time zone, the effect is easy to see. Without summer time the sun would rise in Vienna before 4:00 a.m. in June and set before 8:00 p.m. With it, sunset in midsummer is close to 9:00 p.m. In the west, in Vorarlberg, the sun rises and sets about half an hour later than in Vienna by the clock all year, so evenings there are longer still. This east-west difference is one reason the question of which time to keep permanently is hard: permanent summer time would mean winter sunrises around 9:00 a.m. in Bregenz, and permanent winter time would mean very early summer dawns in Vienna. Surveys in Austria have shown a majority for ending the change but no agreement on which clock to keep.

Born in Austria? What to Check for a Birth Chart

Anyone born in Austria between 1949 and 1979 was born on Central European Time whatever the season, since there was no summer time in those years. Summer births from 1980 onward are an hour ahead. Births between 1940 and 1948 need care: the dates changed from year to year, and in 1945 they were not the same in every occupation zone. Because the Ascendant advances one degree every four minutes, a missed summer-time hour puts every house cusp in the wrong place. Enter the time as the birth record shows it; our natal chart calculator applies whichever rule Vienna had on that day.

Frequently asked

When is the clock change in 2027 in Austria?

Summer time starts on Sunday 28 March 2027 at 2:00 a.m., which becomes 3:00 a.m., and ends on Sunday 31 October 2027 at 3:00 a.m., which becomes 2:00 a.m.

Since when has Austria had summer time?

Continuously since 1980. It was also used from 1916 to 1918, in 1920 and from 1940 to 1948.

Will Austria abolish the clock change?

Austria cannot do so alone. The dates are set by a European Union directive, and although the European Parliament voted in 2019 to end the changes, the member states have not agreed on a replacement.

Clock changes by country