Spain moves its clocks twice a year: one hour forward on the last Sunday of March and one hour back on the last Sunday of October. For 2027 the dates are 28 March, with 2:00 a.m. turning into 3:00 a.m. on the mainland, and 31 October, with 3:00 a.m. turning back into 2:00 a.m. The Canary Islands change at the same instant but are always one hour behind, so there the change is from 1:00 to 2:00 and from 2:00 to 1:00. The table has a row for each.

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Next clock change in Spain

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

All clock changes 2026–2028: Madrid

The Rule, and "One Hour Less in the Canaries"

Mainland Spain, the Balearic Islands, Ceuta and Melilla are on Central European Time in winter and Central European Summer Time from the end of March to the end of October. The Canary Islands are on Western European Time, the same as Portugal and Britain, which is why Spanish radio announces the hour with the words una hora menos en Canarias. The dates are set by a European Union directive and published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado. Both parts of the country change at 1:00 a.m. Universal Time, so the whole of Spain moves in the same second: at 2:00 a.m. in Madrid it is 1:00 a.m. in Las Palmas.

Why Spain Is on Berlin's Time

By the sun, Spain belongs in the same zone as Portugal and Britain: the Greenwich meridian passes through Aragon and the Valencian coast. Spanish clocks were on Greenwich time until 16 March 1940, when a government order moved them one hour forward, in line with Germany and occupied France, and they were never moved back. The result is that Spain lives about an hour ahead of its sun in winter and two hours ahead in summer, and far more in Galicia, where the midsummer sun sets around 10:15 p.m. This is often given as one reason for late Spanish mealtimes and bedtimes. A parliamentary commission recommended a return to Greenwich time in 2013, but no government has acted on it.

Spain and the Debate About Ending the Change

Spain has been one of the countries pressing the European Union to stop the changes. In October 2025 the Spanish government asked the Council to take the question up again, arguing that the energy saving no longer exists and that the change disturbs sleep. No decision followed in time for 2026, and the directive remains in force, so the clocks changed in 2026 and will change in 2027. If the changes do end, Spain will face a second question that most countries do not have: whether to stay on Central European Time or go back to the western zone. Opinion is divided by geography, with the Balearic Islands and the Mediterranean coast favouring long summer evenings and the north-west suffering dark winter mornings.

Born in Spain? The 1940 Change and Your Birth Chart

For a birth chart the date that matters most is 16 March 1940. Before it, Spanish birth times are in Greenwich time, with summer time in some years from 1918; during the Civil War the two sides even kept different clocks. After it, they are an hour ahead. Summer time then came and went: it was used in the 1940s, dropped from 1950 to 1973, and has been continuous since 1974. So a July birth in 1965 is one hour ahead of Greenwich and a July birth in 1985 is two hours ahead. Births in the Canary Islands are always one hour behind the mainland. Each of those hours is fifteen degrees of Ascendant. Our natal chart calculator follows the whole sequence, from Greenwich time through the 1940 decree to the separate clock of the Canary Islands.

Frequently asked

When does the time change in Spain in 2027?

In the early hours of Sunday 28 March 2027, when 2:00 a.m. becomes 3:00 a.m., and of Sunday 31 October 2027, when 3:00 a.m. becomes 2:00 a.m. In the Canary Islands it is one hour earlier on the clock.

Do the clocks go forward or back in October?

Back. In October 3:00 a.m. becomes 2:00 a.m. and the night is an hour longer; in March the clocks go forward and an hour is lost.

Is Spain going to stop changing the clocks?

Spain has asked the European Union to end the changes, but the rule is set for all member states together and has not been changed, so the clocks still change in 2027.

Clock changes by country