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Time in Latvia — regions, cities and time zones

Latvia uses Eastern European Time, UTC+2 in winter and UTC+3 on summer time. Riga sets the hour for the whole country — there is only one zone, and the clocks move twice a year with the rest of the European Union.

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Capital Riga · Europe · ISO LV / LVA

Riga, Latvia

Friday, 4 September 2026

UTC+3 · Europe/Riga

Time and sun data for Riga, Latvia

The sun in Riga

Sunrise 06:33 Solar noon 13:24 Sunset 20:16 Daylight 13 h 43 min Night 10 h 17 min Civil twilight 05:52 – 20:56

States and regions (122)

Current time in Riga

Latvia uses Eastern European Time, UTC+2 in winter and UTC+3 on summer time. Riga sets the hour for the whole country — there is only one zone, and the clocks move twice a year with the rest of the European Union.

Winter time and summer time

The switch follows the standard EU rule. Clocks go forward on the last Sunday in March and back on the last Sunday in October, and the change happens at the same instant across the Union, which means Latvia performs it at 03:00 local in spring and 04:00 local in autumn rather than at a round 02:00. The practical effect is that Latvia is always exactly one hour ahead of Central European Time and never drifts relative to Berlin or Warsaw.

Both offsets have names worth knowing when reading timetables or server logs: EET, UTC+2 — Latvian winter time, roughly late October to late March. EEST, UTC+3 — Latvian summer time, roughly late March to late October. Europe/Riga — the time zone identifier to use in software rather than a fixed offset.

Daylight at this latitude

Latvia sits far enough north that the seasonal difference in daylight is dramatic, and this is really what summer time is for. Midsummer evenings in Riga stay usable long past supper; December afternoons are dark by the time most offices close. The clock offset changes by one hour, but the length of the day changes by many more, which is why locals talk about seasons rather than about time zones.

In Riga the clock shifts by an hour in March; the daylight has already shifted by several, and it did not ask anyone's permission.

Regions and their clocks

Latvia's historic regions — Kurzeme in the west, Zemgale to the south, Vidzeme in the northeast, Latgale in the southeast, and the Riga area in the middle — share one time zone without exception. Daugavpils in the far southeast sees the sun rise earlier than Liepāja on the Baltic coast, but both read the same figure on the clock.

Neighbours are worth remembering because they differ. Estonia and Lithuania keep the same EET/EEST pair as Latvia, so Baltic travel involves no adjustment. Crossing into Poland or flying to Germany moves you back an hour. Crossing the eastern border moves you into a zone that does not use summer time at all, so the gap there depends on the month.

Questions and answers
What time zone is Latvia in?
Eastern European Time. That is UTC+2 for most of the winter half of the year and UTC+3 during summer time.
When do Latvian clocks change?
Forward on the last Sunday of March, back on the last Sunday of October, in step with the rest of the European Union.
Is Riga the same time as Vilnius and Tallinn?
Yes. All three Baltic capitals use the same zone and change clocks on the same dates, so there is no difference between them at any point in the year.

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