Cyprus time zone: the time difference from the UK, and when the clocks change

Cyprus is two hours ahead of the UK, and that does not change at any point in the year. The island uses Eastern European Time (UTC+2) in winter and Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3) in summer, and it changes its clocks at exactly the same moment as Britain. The next change is on Sunday 25 October 2026, when the clocks go back an hour in both countries and the two-hour gap stays put.

That covers most searches. What the converter sites leave out is everything around it: the one winter when the north of the island ran on a different time from the south, why Turkey is an hour ahead of Cyprus from late October, the weeks when the gap to America shrinks, and what the October change does to your evenings. At least one page that ranks for this question gets the basic answer wrong, claiming Cyprus is three hours ahead of the UK in summer. It is not.

If you are working out when you will actually land, our guide to how long the flight to Cyprus takes does the arithmetic from each UK airport.

Cyprus time compared at a glance

The figures below are how far Cyprus is ahead of (or behind) each place, worked out from the IANA time zone database that phones and computers use.

Place	Summer (late March to late October)	Winter (late October to late March)
UK and Ireland	Cyprus 2 hours ahead	Cyprus 2 hours ahead
France, Germany, Spain, Italy	Cyprus 1 hour ahead	Cyprus 1 hour ahead
Greece	Same time	Same time
Turkey	Same time	Turkey 1 hour ahead
Dubai	Dubai 1 hour ahead	Dubai 2 hours ahead
New York	Cyprus 7 hours ahead	Cyprus 7 hours ahead (6 for a few weeks, see below)
Los Angeles	Cyprus 10 hours ahead	Cyprus 10 hours ahead (9 for a few weeks)

The pattern is simple. Anywhere else in the EU or in Britain keeps a fixed gap with Cyprus, because European clocks all move at 01:00 GMT on the last Sunday of March and the last Sunday of October. Places outside that system drift by an hour twice a year.

When the clocks change in Cyprus

Change	Date	In Cyprus	In the UK
Clocks go back	Sunday 25 October 2026	04:00 becomes 03:00	02:00 becomes 01:00
Clocks go forward	Sunday 28 March 2027	03:00 becomes 04:00	01:00 becomes 02:00

Because both changes happen at the same instant, there is not even an hour overnight when the gap is one or three hours. Phones and laptops set to update automatically handle it without you doing anything. If a device ever looks an hour out, check its time zone setting reads Nicosia or Cyprus. You may also see “Famagusta” offered as a separate zone: it exists because of the 2016 split described below, and today it keeps exactly the same time as Nicosia.

The EU has discussed ending the twice-yearly change for years. The European Commission proposed scrapping it in 2018 and the European Parliament backed the idea in 2019, but member states have never agreed which time to keep, and the Council of the EU has not set a timetable. For now the change carries on as normal.

Are there two time zones in Cyprus?

No, but there were for one winter, and it is why “are there two time zones in Cyprus?” still turns up as a common question.

In September 2016, Turkey decided to stay on summer time permanently. The administration in the north of Cyprus followed, and when the Republic put its clocks back on 30 October 2016, the north did not. For the next five months, Nicosia was split into two time zones by the buffer zone. The Cyprus Mail reported at the time that the Turkish Cypriot leader justified it by flights, because aircraft into the north arrive only from Turkey. Plenty of Turkish Cypriots disliked it, especially those who crossed daily to work in the south. A bicommunal couple even organised a New Year’s Eve party to celebrate midnight twice, first in the north and then in the south an hour later.

It lasted one winter. After public pressure, the north brought winter time back on 29 October 2017, and the Cyprus Mail reported that the island would be “united in time” again. The global time zone database that phones rely on records exactly that history: a separate Asia/Famagusta zone on UTC+3 from September 2016 until 29 October 2017, then back to the same rules as Nicosia.

So if you are crossing the Green Line for a day in north Nicosia or Kyrenia, your watch does not need touching.

Turkey is an hour ahead in winter

Turkey did not go back to clock changes, and it still runs on UTC+3 all year. That means:

• From late March to late October, Turkey and the whole of Cyprus show the same time.
• From late October to late March, Turkey is one hour ahead of Cyprus.

This catches people out on two kinds of trip. If you are connecting through Istanbul in winter, your onward departure time is in Turkish time, an hour later than it would be in Cyprus. And if you are flying into Ercan in the north, every flight comes from Turkey, so the departure time on your booking is Turkish time and the arrival is Cyprus time. Our guide to north or south Cyprus explains why most UK visitors fly into Larnaca or Paphos instead.

The weeks when America is six hours behind

The United States also changes its clocks, but on different dates: the first Sunday of November and the second Sunday of March. For a few weeks each year, Cyprus has moved and New York has not.

Period	Cyprus ahead of New York	Cyprus ahead of Los Angeles
Most of the year	7 hours	10 hours
25 October to 1 November 2026	6 hours	9 hours
14 March to 28 March 2027	6 hours	9 hours

If you are booking calls or flights across the Atlantic in those windows, check the time rather than relying on memory.

What the time difference means on holiday

Add two hours to the flight. A 4 hour 40 minute flight leaving Gatwick at 08:00 lands at about 14:40 Cyprus time. Departure and arrival times on boarding passes are always local, so the time on your ticket for the flight home is Cyprus time.

The UK working day is 11:00 to 19:00 in Cyprus. If you need to call a bank, an airline or the office at home, that is your window. A late-night call to someone in the UK at 23:00 their time is already 01:00 the next day for you.

Cyprus uses the 24-hour clock in official notices. The urban taxi tariff is a good example: the day rate runs from 06:01 to 20:30 and the night rate starts at 20:31.

How the October change affects your evenings

The clock change matters most for anyone planning a sunset. We calculated sunrise and sunset for Paphos using the standard NOAA solar formula, with London alongside for comparison, all in local time.

Date	Paphos sunrise	Paphos sunset	London sunset (UK time)
2 October 2026	06:45	18:33	18:35
24 October 2026	07:03	18:04	17:48
25 October 2026	06:04	17:03	16:46
21 December 2026	06:53	16:42	15:53
21 June 2027	05:37	20:06	21:21

Two things stand out. On 25 October, sunset in Paphos jumps from just after six to just after five, so a sunset walk at Paphos harbour or Aphrodite’s Rock needs to start an hour earlier from that day. And in midsummer, Cyprus gets dark much earlier than Britain: sunset in Paphos is around 20:06 in late June, while London is still light past 21:00. Further east, in Ayia Napa and Protaras, the sun sets about six minutes earlier than in Paphos all year.

If you are travelling after the change, our guides to Cyprus in November and Cyprus in winter cover what the shorter days mean for beaches, walking and day trips.

The short version

Set your watch two hours forward when you land in Cyprus and leave it there. The UK and Cyprus change their clocks on the same night, the north of the island has kept the same time as the south since October 2017, and the only places where the gap moves are outside Europe: Turkey in winter and the US for a few weeks in spring and autumn. For the rest of your pre-trip checklist, start with our Cyprus holiday guide.

Sources: time zone rules and offsets from the IANA time zone database, whose notes on Cyprus record the 2016 to 2017 split in the north; north Cyprus time history from the Cyprus Mail, 30 October 2016 and 17 October 2017; EU clock-change proposal status from the Council of the EU; taxi tariff hours from Visit Cyprus. Sunrise and sunset times are our own calculations for Paphos (34.78°N, 32.42°E) and central London and may differ from published tables by a minute.

Hero image: sunset over Paphos seen from near the town hall, photographed by Jules Verne Times Two, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped.