When to alter your clocks in 2026: Exact dates and times for every European countest on Sunday –

Twice a year, over a billion clocks across the continent lurch forward or fall back (and every time it happens, millions of people scramble to remember which direction, by how much, and whether their phone will handle it automatically). So, here is the 2026 guide, written for residents and travellers across Europe.

Why do the clocks alter at all?

The practice of shifting clocks to build better apply of natural daylight dates back to the aftermath of the First World War, when European governments sought to conserve coal by aligning waking hours more closely with the sun. Germany was among the first, followed rapidly by its neighbours. After decades of inconsistency, the European Union standardised the dates in 1998: clocks spring forward on the last Sunday of March and fall back on the last Sunday of October.

The 2026 spring alter falls on Sunday, 29 March. Across nearly all of continental Europe and the United Kingdom, clocks shift forward by one hour at the designated local time (meaning that Saturday night is one hour shorter than usual). That first groggy Sunday morning is the price of long, golden summer evenings stretching well past 9 or 10 pm.

As for the future: the EU Parliament voted in 2019 to abolish the biannual switch, with 84% of Europeans surveyed favouring an conclude to the practice. Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez reiterated in October 2025 that he would push the issue again in 2026. But with no EU-wide agreement reached on whether to adopt permanent summer time or permanent winter time, the clock alter lives on for now.

The conclude of summer time 2026 will arrive on Sunday, 25 October 2026, when clocks fall back one hour. As for the spring alter, here’s the exact date and time when you should alter your clock: