Europe ¡ Northern Europe ¡ Sovereign state
Current time in Iceland
A single time zone at null.
Friday, June 5, 2026
About Iceland's time
A single time zone.
Iceland keeps things simple with a single timezone (GMT/UTC+0) and no Daylight Saving Time. The island sits just west of what you'd expect for its zone, meaning the sun spends most of the day where clock-watchers wouldn't expect it.
Major cities
Cities of Iceland.
History
How Iceland keeps time.
Iceland standardized on Greenwich Mean Time in 1908, when Reykjavik time was set to GMT+0. At that time the capital operated at roughly GMTâ1:28, an awkward offset that served neither commerce nor communication well. Aligning with GMT brought the country in sync with its key trading and telegraph partners across the Atlantic.
In 1968 Iceland stopped observing Daylight Saving Time after decades of moving clocks forward and back. The northern latitude already meant wildly variable day lengthsâalmost continuous daylight in summer and very short days in winterâso shifting clocks barely changed when people actually saw sunlight. Since then the country has stayed on GMT permanently.
Did you know?
Things about Iceland's time.
Despite using UTC+0, Iceland lies almost entirely west of the prime meridian, squarely in what should be UTCâ1 or even UTCâ2 territory by longitude. Reykjavik sits around 21°W, yet officially matches London time. The result is striking: solar noon in Reykjavik can occur close to 1:30 PM clock time, and the sun takes its time both rising and setting compared with European cities at similar latitudes.
That mismatch gives Icelandic winters an extraâlate dawn while summers stretch into nearâmidnight sunsetsâa feature that many visitors find disorienting but locals treat as perfectly normal.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about Iceland's time zone, daylight saving rules, and how to handle it in software. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].
- What timezone is Iceland in all year?
- Iceland uses Greenwich Mean Time (GMT, UTC+0) throughout the year and does not change its clocks for Daylight Saving Time.
- Does Iceland share its timezone with London?
- In practice, yesâIceland and London both show UTC+0 all year. However, being much farther west, Icelandâs actual sun position is closer to what youâd see in UTCâ1.
- Why does the sun feel out of sync with the clock?
- Icelandâs longitude puts it in a zone thatâs one to two hours behind its official time. This makes the sun appear to âlagâ: it rises and sets later by the clock than you might expect for a GMT location.
- Does Iceland have more than one timezone?
- No. The entire country and its outlying islands use the same single zone, Atlantic/Reykjavik.
- When is sunrise and sunset like in Reykjavik during winter?
- In midwinter the sun may not crest the horizon until around 11:00 local time, and it sets again near 15:30â16:00, giving only a few hours of daylightâeven though the clock shows times associated with more southerly, ânormalâlookingâ days.
- Is videoâcalling from Iceland to Europe easy to schedule?
- For much of the year itâs straightforward because Iceland runs on UTC+0 and does not change its clocks. Still remember that some European countries shift to summer time for part of the year, creating a temporary oneâhour difference.
- Do businesses in Iceland follow European business hours?
- Generally yes, but because of the late winter sunrise, many people donât truly start the âdayâ until several hours after clocks would suggest the sun should be up. Summer work schedules can be very different with nearly endless daylight.
- Is it ever dark all day or light all night?
- Iceland doesnât reach full polar day or polar night, but it comes close. Around the winter solstice there are only about 4â5 hours of daylight, while in late June the sun barely dips below the horizon for several weeks.
Free ¡ Developer API
Time, as JSON.
Every IANA time zone with live offsets, DST status, and the countries and cities that use them â clean, dependable JSON. Sign up free and get an API key in seconds.
countries, cities, convert, DST transitions coming next.
Get your free API key â