Time Zones| Zone areas | Time now | January 2026 | July 2026 | Largest cities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azores | --:-- | UTC−1 | UTC | Ponta Delgada |
| Lisbon, Madeira | --:-- | UTC | UTC+1 | Lisbon, Porto, Braga, Amadora |
How many times does Portugal have?
The IANA database lists 3 separate zone areas for Portugal. Grouped by the time they actually show through 2026, that makes 2 different clocks, listed above. The offsets in use run from UTC−1 to UTC in January.
3 of the 3 areas change their clocks during the year. Open an area to see its dates.
Planning across the country
When you fix a call or a broadcast for people in several parts of Portugal, give the time with its zone, or use the converter to show every zone at once.
Where most people are
Measured by the people living in towns of 15,000 or more (GeoNames figures), the busiest clock in Portugal is the one kept in Lisbon, UTC in January: about 6.5 million people, or nearly all of the total across all the zone areas. Next comes the clock of Ponta Delgada (UTC−1) with about 20,000. At the other end, 1 of the 2 clocks covers less than 1% of those people.
A worked example
When it is 9:00 am in Lisbon in January, it is 8:00 am in Ponta Delgada.
The widest gap inside the country
The two clocks that are farthest apart differ by 1 hour in January, and by the same amount in July. On the map, the main cities run from Ponta Delgada at about 25.7° west to Lisbon at about 9.2° west. By the sun alone those two are about 1 hour 6 minutes apart.
The sun across Portugal
Clocks are set by law, but the sun keeps its own time. In Ponta Delgada, the most westerly of the main cities (about 25.7° west), the sun is highest at about 12:43 pm by the clock in January. In Lisbon, the most easterly (about 9.2° west), it is highest at about 12:37 pm. The closer that figure is to 12:00, the better the clock fits the daylight in that city. From north to south the length of the day differs too: around 21 June the sun is up for about 14 hours 53 minutes in Lisbon and about 14 hours 18 minutes in Funchal.
Portugal and the rest of the world
When it is 12:00 noon in Lisbon, it is 5:30 pm in India in January and 4:30 pm in July; 12:00 pm in London; 7:00 am in New York. Other parts of Portugal are earlier or later than that by the amounts in the table at the top of this page.
Clock changes in 2026
In Lisbon the dates are: Sunday 29 March 2026: at 1:00 am clocks go forward 1 hour to 2:00 am; Sunday 25 October 2026: at 2:00 am clocks go back 1 hour to 1:00 am.