Greece time now, live flip clock
Greece keeps one time zone, Eastern European Time, EET, UTC+2, in winter. From late March to late October it keeps Eastern European Summer Time, EEST, UTC+3. The clock above shows Greece's time live, with seconds, and switches with the Greek clocks.
Time zone in Greece
Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Piraeus and Heraklion keep the same time. So do Crete, Rhodes, Corfu and every other Greek island.
- EET, UTC+2
- EEST, UTC+3
- Athens, Thessaloníki, Pátra, Piraeus
When the clocks change in Greece
Clocks in Greece change twice a year.
Sunday 25 October 2026
4:00 AMto3:00 AM
Sunday 28 March 2027
3:00 AMto4:00 AM
How many hours ahead or behind Athens
On 24 October 2026, London is 2 hours behind Athens.
| City | Difference from Athens |
|---|---|
| London | 2 hours behind |
| New York | 7 hours behind |
| Berlin | 1 hour behind |
| Istanbul | Same time |
| Cairo | Same time |
| Melbourne | 8 hours ahead |
| Toronto | 7 hours behind |
| Dubai | 1 hour ahead |
| Your time zone | Detected after this page loads |
How Greek time is kept
- The official time
- EIM
- Greek law defines the national time as the time scale the Hellenic Institute of Metrology keeps. The institute, EIM, keeps it on three atomic clocks in its time and frequency laboratory. The same law defines Greek time as the national time plus whole hours. That gives EET, UTC+2 in winter and EEST, UTC+3 in summer.
- Two changes a year, with the EU
- 1 h
- The clocks go forward one hour on the last Sunday in March. They go back one hour on the last Sunday in October. Both changes happen at one in the morning by Greenwich Mean Time, so every EU member moves together. Greek law applies summer time through ministerial decisions. A proposal to end the twice-yearly change has passed the European Parliament and still awaits the Council.
- Athens mean time, then the wars
- EET
- Athens kept its own mean time until the middle of the First World War. Greece then moved to Eastern European time. The National Observatory of Athens determined the official time until the sixties, with a meridian telescope. Under occupation in the Second World War, Greece spent about three years on Central European time. From the mid-seventies Greece changed its clocks every summer, on dates it chose itself. The EU rules took over when Greece joined.
- Neighbours on the same clock and on others
- 0 h
- Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania keep the same time as Greece in every month. Turkey keeps one time in every season. So Istanbul is 1 hour ahead of Athens in winter. In summer Istanbul and Athens show the same time. Egypt changes its clocks on its own dates, so Cairo matches Athens for most of the year.
Questions about time in Greece
What time zone is Greece in?
Greece keeps Eastern European Time, EET, UTC+2, in winter and its summer time, EEST, UTC+3, in summer. Athens, Thessaloniki, Crete and every island share this one time. By Greek law, the Hellenic Institute of Metrology keeps the national time it rests on.
When do the clocks change in Greece?
Greek clocks go forward one hour on the last Sunday in March. They go back one hour on the last Sunday in October. Greece uses the European Union's common dates, so it changes with the rest of the EU. The cards above show the next two changes in Greek local time.
What is the time difference between Greece and the UK?
London is 2 hours behind Athens through the whole year. Britain and Greece change their clocks on the same nights, so the gap holds in winter and summer alike. Berlin is 1 hour behind Athens on the same terms. A nine o'clock start in Athens is seven o'clock in London.
What is the time difference between Greece and New York?
New York is 7 hours behind Athens for most of the year. For a few weeks each March, and for one week in late October, the gap is an hour smaller. The United States changes its clocks on different Sundays from Europe. Toronto keeps New York's time, so the same gap applies there.
What is the time difference between Greece and Australia?
Melbourne is 8 hours ahead of Athens for most of October and for a week around the start of April. Through the Greek summer the gap is one hour less. Through the Greek winter it is one hour more, because Melbourne is then on its summer time. The two countries change their clocks in opposite seasons.
Time zone names for developers
| IANA zone | Standard time | Daylight saving time |
|---|---|---|
| Europe/Athens | EET, UTC+2 | Yes |
Sources
We checked each fact on this page against these sources on 2 October 2026. Times, offsets and clock changes come from the time zone database.