Current Time in Lisbon
Portugal — Europe/Lisbon
About Time in Lisbon
Lisbon operates on Western European Time (IANA: Europe/Lisbon). During standard time, this is WET at UTC+0, the same as London's GMT. From the last Sunday of March to the last Sunday of October, clocks move forward to Western European Summer Time (WEST) at UTC+1. Lisbon follows the EU DST schedule.
Lisbon is on the same time as London and Dublin, making it the only major Western European continental capital on UTC+0. It is 5 hours ahead of New York during EST, 1 hour behind Paris and Madrid, and 9 hours behind Tokyo. Despite being geographically west of Madrid and Barcelona, Spain uses CET (UTC+1) while Portugal uses WET (UTC+0), creating a 1-hour border crossing time change between the two Iberian neighbors.
Lisbon's decision to remain on WET while Spain adopted CET means that the Portuguese-Spanish border is one of the most traveled land borders in Europe where clocks change by an hour. For Lisbon residents, this means their daily schedule is much more aligned with solar time than their Spanish counterparts — solar noon in Lisbon occurs near 1:00 PM WET, compared to nearly 2:00 PM CET in Madrid. The UTC+0 timezone also gives Lisbon the same business-hour overlap with the US East Coast as London, making it increasingly popular for remote workers serving American companies.
Time Facts
Portugal briefly used CET (UTC+1) from 1966 to 1976 and again from 1992 to 1996, but both times the country switched back to WET after public dissatisfaction with the misalignment between clock time and daylight patterns.
Lisbon's famous Belem Tower, a UNESCO World Heritage Site from which Portuguese explorers departed to discover sea routes around the globe, sits on the same longitude as Reykjavik and Accra — all on UTC+0.
The Lisbon earthquake of 1755, one of history's most devastating, struck at approximately 9:40 AM local time on November 1st (All Saints' Day), when many churches were full — the precise timing was recorded by church clocks that survived the destruction.
Lisbon's Web Summit, one of the world's largest tech conferences, runs on WET/WEST, which gives attendees from the US, Europe, and Africa the best timezone compromise for attending sessions and maintaining contact with their home offices.
Business Hours
Standard business hours in Lisbon are 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM WET (09:00-18:00 UTC during WET, 08:00-17:00 UTC during WEST).