Time zone
Central European Time
UTC offset
UTC+1 / UTC+2
Daylight saving
Yes — March & October
Country
France 🇫🇷
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🌅 Sunrise, Sunset & Golden Hour in Paris
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Fun facts about London time 🕐
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Paris should geographically be on the same timezone as London (GMT), but France uses CET instead. Blame Napoleon — and then the German occupation of 1940.
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Because Paris clocks run an hour ahead of solar time, the sun doesn't set until 10 PM in summer. This is why Parisians eat dinner at 9 PM — the sun is still up.
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The Eiffel Tower at golden hour — warm amber light turning the iron lattice deep copper — is one of the world's most photographed moments, every single evening.
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France switched to German time during the WWII occupation and simply never switched back. Paris has been permanently one hour ahead of the sun ever since.
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Claude Monet was obsessed with painting the same subjects in different light throughout the day — golden hour in Paris inspired dozens of his most famous works.
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France technically has 12 time zones due to its overseas territories — more than any other country on Earth. Metropolitan Paris is just one of them.
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London has two time zones per year — GMT in winter and BST in summer. The city has been confusing international call schedulers since 1847.
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Railway companies forced Britain to standardize to London time in 1847. Trains: accidentally inventors of time zones.
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British pubs used to have strict closing times set by the government during WWI to keep factory workers sober. Time literally controlled drinking.
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When London observes GMT, it shares its timezone with Iceland, Ghana, Senegal and Portugal. Quite the eclectic group.
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The speaking clock — a phone service that tells you the time — was invented in Paris in 1936. People called it so much it still exists today. Just dial 123.
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