Netherlands time now, live flip clock
The Netherlands keeps Central European Time, CET, UTC+1, in winter and Central European Summer Time, CEST, UTC+2, in summer. Its Caribbean islands keep a different time. The clock above shows the Netherlands' time live, with seconds.
Time zone in the Netherlands
All of the European Netherlands shares a single time. Amsterdam, the capital, matches The Hague, where parliament and government sit. Across the borders, Belgium and Germany keep this time too.
- CET, UTC+1
- CEST, UTC+2
- Amsterdam
When the clocks change in the Netherlands
Clocks in the Netherlands change twice a year.
Sunday 25 October 2026
3:00 AMto2:00 AM
Sunday 28 March 2027
2:00 AMto3:00 AM
How many hours ahead or behind Amsterdam
On 12 October 2026, London is 1 hour behind Amsterdam.
| City | Difference from Amsterdam |
|---|---|
| London | 1 hour behind |
| New York | 6 hours behind |
| Toronto | 6 hours behind |
| Los Angeles | 9 hours behind |
| Paramaribo | 5 hours behind |
| Jakarta | 5 hours ahead |
| Dubai | 2 hours ahead |
| Sydney | 9 hours ahead |
| Your time zone | Detected after this page loads |
Dutch time in law and history
- Central European time, set by law
- CET
- A Dutch act on legal time names Central European time as the country's legal time. The same act lets the government set a summer period by decree. During that period, Central European Summer Time applies. The government's own guide calls the standard time winter time.
- The autumn hour that runs twice
- 1 h
- A government decree puts the EU summer-time directive into Dutch rules. Summer time starts on the last Sunday in March, at two in the morning. It ends on the last Sunday in October, at three in the morning. The clocks then go back to two, so that hour happens twice. The time act has a rule for it. An official document giving a time in that last summer hour must say it is summer time.
- From Amsterdam time to Central European time
- 20 min
- A law from the start of the twentieth century made Amsterdam's mean solar time the legal time. The law named no meridian, but the Westertoren in Amsterdam was the usual reference. That put Dutch time about nineteen and a half minutes ahead of Greenwich. In the late thirties the gap was rounded to exactly twenty minutes. Early in the Second World War the clocks moved to Central European time. A law of the fifties repealed the older time laws. As it reads today, it names Central European time as legal time. Summer time first ran during the First World War. After a long break from the mid-forties, it returned in the late seventies.
- Who keeps Dutch time
- VSL
- VSL, the national metrology institute in Delft, sets and maintains the official Dutch time. Its public clock is linked directly to the national time standard. VSL says that clock is fully aligned with legal time in the Netherlands. VSL offers traceability to a time reference it calls UTC(VSL). It also calibrates European contributions to Coordinated Universal Time.
Questions about time in the Netherlands
What time zone is the Netherlands in?
The Netherlands is on Central European Time, CET, UTC+1, in winter. In summer it keeps Central European Summer Time, CEST, UTC+2. A Dutch act makes Central European Time the legal time. Amsterdam and The Hague share it with Belgium and Germany. The Caribbean islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba keep a different time.
When do the clocks change in the Netherlands?
Dutch summer time starts on the last Sunday in March, when clocks gain an hour. It ends on the last Sunday in October. Every EU country changes on those Sundays. The government brought summer time back in the seventies to match its neighbours. The European Parliament has voted to end the change. The Council has not taken its position.
What is the time difference between the Netherlands and the UK?
Whatever the season, London runs 1 hour behind the Netherlands. British and Dutch clocks move at the same moment each spring and autumn. Noon in Amsterdam is eleven in the morning in London.
What is the time difference between the Netherlands and the US?
For most of the year, New York is 6 hours behind the Netherlands. Los Angeles is 9 hours behind Dutch time. The United States moves its clocks earlier in spring and later in autumn than the Netherlands does. In the weeks between those changes, each difference drops by one hour.
What time is it in Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba?
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba are special municipalities of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. They keep AST, UTC-4, in every month, with no clock changes. In the Dutch winter they are 5 hours behind Amsterdam. In the Dutch summer the gap grows by one hour. The islands have a country page of their own on this site.
Time zone names for developers
| IANA zone | Standard time | Daylight saving time |
|---|---|---|
| Europe/Brussels | CET, UTC+1 | Yes |
Sources
We checked each fact on this page against these sources on 8 October 2026. Times, offsets and clock changes come from the time zone database.