Time in Saint Barthelemy — regions, cities and time zones
Saint Barthélemy runs on Atlantic Standard Time, UTC−4, for the whole island and the whole year. There is no daylight saving. Gustavia, the capital and main harbour, keeps the same clock as every other part of the island.
Saint Barthelemy
Capital Gustavia · North America · ISO BL / BLM
Gustavia, Saint Barthelemy
Friday, 4 September 2026
UTC−4 · America/St_Barthelemy
Time and sun data for Gustavia, Saint Barthelemy
The sun in Gustavia
Sunrise 05:59 Solar noon 12:12 Sunset 18:25 Daylight 12 h 26 min Night 11 h 34 min Civil twilight 05:37 – 18:47
States and regions (1)
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Other parts of Saint Barthelemy
01:07
UTC−4 · America/St_Barthelemy
28 cities · largest Gustavia
Current time in Gustavia
Gustavia is the capital, the port, and the centre of everything that happens on Saint Barthélemy. The island is a French overseas collectivity of about 25 square kilometres in the Caribbean, so one time zone is not a policy decision so much as an inevitability.
The harbour clock matters here more than in most places. Gustavia is a yachting port, and arrival and departure windows, customs hours and charter schedules all run against local UTC−4.
Fixed offset, moving neighbours
Saint Barthélemy never changes its clocks, but the gap to other places does change — always because of what they do. The pattern is worth learning once: Against mainland France: five hours behind in the European winter, six in the European summer.
Against New York: one hour ahead in the North American winter, level in summer when the US moves forward. Against UTC: four hours behind, without exception. Against Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and most of the eastern Caribbean: identical, all on UTC−4 year-round.
The island has one hour and keeps it. Everyone else in the Atlantic spends March and October rearranging themselves around it.
Around the island
Saint Barthélemy is divided into quarters rather than administrative regions of any size — Gustavia, Saint-Jean, Lorient, Corossol, Flamands and the rest. The whole island can be crossed in a short drive, and naturally every quarter uses the same time.
What varies is not the clock but the light. The island's steep terrain means beaches on different coasts lose the sun at noticeably different moments. West-facing Flamands and Colombier hold the evening light longest; the eastern side goes into shadow earlier. Sunset time for the island is a single published figure, but where you stand determines what you actually see.
Season and daylight
At roughly 17 degrees north, Saint Barthélemy sees only modest variation in day length across the year — an hour or so between the longest and shortest days, rather than the dramatic swing of temperate latitudes. Combined with a fixed offset, this makes the daily rhythm remarkably stable.
The high season for visitors runs through the northern winter, which is also when the island is closest in time to the US East Coast — an hour ahead rather than level. Anyone coordinating with New York or Miami over the winter months should add that hour rather than assume the summer alignment.
Questions and answers
- Does Saint Barthélemy change its clocks?
- No. The island stays on UTC−4 all year, even though mainland France observes daylight saving.
- What is the time difference with Paris?
- Five hours in the European winter and six hours in the European summer, with Gustavia behind in both cases.
- Is Saint Barthélemy the same time as Saint Martin?
- Yes. Both islands use UTC−4 year-round, so the short hop between them involves no clock change.