Time Difference Between London and Paris
Paris is 1h ahead of London all year. Both cities observe daylight saving time and change their clocks together, so the gap never moves.
London clocks move forward on the last Sunday of March and back on the last Sunday of October. Paris clocks move forward on the last Sunday of March and back on the last Sunday of October. The figure above holds for the whole year. It does not come from the offset on the day the site was built. The live clocks use the current time.
Working Hours Overlap
For each hour of London's working day (9:00-18:00), here is the corresponding local time in Paris. Rows highlighted green fall within standard working hours (9:00-18:00) in both cities. Each block is one part of the year, so the table does not change with the day this page was built.
| London | Paris | Both working hours? |
|---|---|---|
| 9 AM | 10 AM | Yes |
| 10 AM | 11 AM | Yes |
| 11 AM | 12 PM | Yes |
| 12 PM | 1 PM | Yes |
| 1 PM | 2 PM | Yes |
| 2 PM | 3 PM | Yes |
| 3 PM | 4 PM | Yes |
| 4 PM | 5 PM | Yes |
| 5 PM | 6 PM | No |
| 6 PM | 7 PM | No |
Best Time to Meet
- 9 AM-5 PM in London (10 AM-6 PM in Paris) works for both sides. It falls within 9 AM-6 PM in both time zones.
How the Difference Changes
The difference between London and Paris holds all year. Both cities change their clocks on the same dates, so the gap never moves.
Working Across London and Paris
Paris is one hour ahead of London all year, and the two cities change their clocks on the same days, the last Sunday of March and the last Sunday of October. The hour does not shrink in the weeks when New York has already sprung forward. 9 AM in London is 10 AM in Paris. A full shared day is the normal case. The meeting that fails is the one placed on top of lunch. Memorize the one hour once. It is still true in winter, and it is still true in the weeks when New York has already changed.
French offices still protect the middle of the day more than British ones. A 12:30 PM slot in London is 1:30 PM in Paris, which is lunch, not a mild inconvenience. Book 11 AM London (noon in Paris) or 3 PM London (4 PM in Paris) and you get people at desks. August is the other French fact. A lot of Paris offices run thin for weeks, in a way London does not, even though London also takes summer leave. A project plan that assumes August is an ordinary build month on the Paris side is the plan that slips. The US mismatch weeks do not move this pair. They move any third city in America relative to both.
The train is about two hours and twenty minutes from city center to city center, which is why people treat the trip as no trip. One hour of clock change will not touch you. What will touch you is arriving for a 1 PM Paris lunch meeting that was entered as 1 PM London. Eat first, or move the meeting. The flight is shorter in the air and longer once you add the airports, so the train is the sane default unless you are connecting onward.
London
London uses the Europe/London time zone. Standard time is UTC, and daylight saving time is UTC+1.
Paris
Paris uses the Europe/Paris time zone. Standard time is UTC+1, and daylight saving time is UTC+2.