CST to CEST Converter
Central Time is on daylight saving time: CDT (UTC−5) until Sun, Nov 1.
Mexico City and Saskatchewan stay on CST (UTC−6).
Start by searching for a time zone, city, or town.
Add one or more places to compare local times, adjust the date, and share the result.
Quick answers
Selected conversion
7:00 am07:00 CDT (UTC-5), Oct 18, 2026 = 2:00 pm14:00 CEST (UTC+2), Oct 18, 2026
CDT is 7 hours behind CEST.
CST (US winter time, UTC-6) and CEST examples
These examples always use CST (UTC-6) and CEST (UTC+2). They stay the same when you change the date or time above. The selected conversion may differ when daylight saving time applies.
CST is 8 hours behind CEST.
CST is US Central winter time (early November to mid-March). The rest of the year Chicago uses CDT (UTC-5), one hour later. For Central Time that follows daylight saving time, use CT to CEST. For daylight-time examples, use CDT to CEST.
How the time difference changes
For most of the year, CDT is 7 hours behind CEST. From Oct 25 to Nov 1, 2026, and from Mar 14 to Mar 28, 2027, CDT is 6 hours behind CET. From Nov 1, 2026 to Mar 14, 2027, CST is 7 hours behind CET.
For most of the year, working hours of 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in CDT correspond to 4:00 pm to 1:00 am (next day) in CEST. At other times of the year, working hours of 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in CST correspond to 4:00 pm to 1:00 am (next day) in CET or working hours of 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in CDT correspond to 3:00 pm to 12:00 am (next day) in CET.For most of the year, working hours of 09:00 to 18:00 in CDT correspond to 16:00 to 01:00 (next day) in CEST. At other times of the year, working hours of 09:00 to 18:00 in CST correspond to 16:00 to 01:00 (next day) in CET or working hours of 09:00 to 18:00 in CDT correspond to 15:00 to 00:00 (next day) in CET.
Compare CST time with CEST time, including current local time, UTC offsets, time difference, daylight saving changes, working hours, and shareable meeting times.
Time Difference
Central Daylight Time is 7 hours behind Central European Summer Time.
7:00 am07:00 in CDT is 2:00 pm14:00 in CEST
CDT to CEST call time
Best time for a conference call or a meeting is between 9am-11am09:00-11:00 in CDT which corresponds to 4pm-6pm16:00-18:00 in CEST
7:00 am07:00 Central Daylight Time (CDT). Offset UTC -5:00 hours
2:00 pm14:00 Central European Summer Time (CEST). Offset UTC +2:00 hours
7:00 am07:00 CDT / 2:00 pm14:00 CEST
Choose an hour to update the converter. Day labels such as “next day” or “+1” are relative to the selected date in the first column. Use Up and Down arrow keys, Home or End to move between hours, then Enter or Space to select.
| CDT | CEST |
|---|---|
| 7:00am | |
| 8:00am | |
| 9:00am | |
| 10:00am | |
| 11:00am | |
| 12:00pm | |
| 1:00pm | |
| 2:00pm | |
| 3:00pm | |
| 4:00pm | |
| 5:00pm | |
| 6:00pm | |
| 7:00pm | |
| 8:00pm | |
| 9:00pm | |
| 10:00pm | |
| 11:00pm | |
| 12:00am next day | |
| 1:00am next day | |
| 2:00am next day | |
| 3:00am next day | |
| 4:00am next day | |
| 5:00am next day | |
| 6:00am next day | |
| 07:00 | |
| 08:00 | |
| 09:00 | |
| 10:00 | |
| 11:00 | |
| 12:00 | |
| 13:00 | |
| 14:00 | |
| 15:00 | |
| 16:00 | |
| 17:00 | |
| 18:00 | |
| 19:00 | |
| 20:00 | |
| 21:00 | |
| 22:00 | |
| 23:00 | |
| 00:00 next day | |
| 01:00 next day | |
| 02:00 next day | |
| 03:00 next day | |
| 04:00 next day | |
| 05:00 next day | |
| 06:00 next day |
Central Standard Time
Offset: CST is 6 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
Countries using this time zone: Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, United States
Principal Cities: The largest city in the CST time zone is Mexico City in Mexico, with about 12.294 million people. Other major cities in this time zone include Chicago, Houston, Puebla, Santiago de Querétaro.
French: HNC - Heure Normale du Centre
Spanish: CT - Tiempo Central Estándar, CT - Zona Centro
Today the lighter areas are on UTC−5 (Central Daylight Time).
Daylight Saving: This is a standard time zone. During summer, some places set clocks forward one hour for daylight saving time and observe Central Daylight Time (CDT).
End: Central Standard Time (CST) ended on Sunday, March 8, 2026 at 2:00 am02:00 local time and clocks were set one hour forward to Sunday, March 8, 2026, 3:00 am03:00 local daylight time instead. Standard time ends annually on the second Sunday of March.
Start: Central Standard Time (CST) starts on Sunday, November 1, 2026 at 2:00 am02:00 local time and clocks are set one hour back to Sunday, November 1, 2026, 1:00 am01:00. Standard time starts annually on the first Sunday of November.
See USA daylight saving time and upcoming clock changes worldwide.
CST representations, usage and related time zones
- -06 - basic short
- -0600 - basic
- -06:00 - extended
- -0600 - sign character (-) followed by a four digit time providing hours (06) and minutes (00) of the offset. Indicates an offset of six hours to the west of the zero meridian.
- Sierra - Military abbreviation for CST
- S - short form of 'Sierra'
- America/Bahia_Banderas
- America/Belize
- America/Chicago
- America/Chihuahua
- America/Costa_Rica
- America/El_Salvador
- America/Guatemala
- America/Indiana/Knox
- America/Indiana/Tell_City
- America/Knox_IN
- America/Managua
- America/Matamoros
- America/Menominee
- America/Merida
- America/Mexico_City
- America/Monterrey
- America/North_Dakota/Beulah
- America/North_Dakota/Center
- America/North_Dakota/New_Salem
- America/Ojinaga
- America/Rainy_River
- America/Rankin_Inlet
- America/Regina
- America/Resolute
- America/Swift_Current
- America/Tegucigalpa
- America/Winnipeg
- CST6CDT
- Canada/Central
- Canada/Saskatchewan
- Mexico/General
- US/Central
- US/Indiana-Starke
- Central Standard Time - UTC -6
- China Standard Time - UTC +8
- Cuba Standard Time - UTC -5
- CST - Central Standard Time
- CT - Central Time
- MDT - Mountain Daylight Time
- EAST - Easter Island Standard Time
- GALT - Galapagos Time
- S - Sierra Time Zone
Central European Summer Time
Offset: CEST is 2 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
Countries using this time zone: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Sweden, Switzerland, Vatican City
Principal Cities: The largest city in the CEST time zone is Berlin in Germany, with about 3.426 million people. Other major cities in this time zone include Madrid, Rome, Paris, Hamburg.
German: MESZ - Mitteleuropäische Sommerzeit
Today all shaded areas are on CEST.
Daylight Saving: Central European Summer Time (CEST) is a daylight saving/summer time zone. During winter, some places set clocks back one hour and observe Central European Time (CET).
Start: Central European Summer Time (CEST) started on Sunday, March 29, 2026 at 2:00 am02:00 local time and clocks were set one hour forward to Sunday, March 29, 2026, 3:00 am03:00. Daylight saving starts annually on the last Sunday of March.
End: Central European Summer Time (CEST) ends on Sunday, October 25, 2026 at 3:00 am03:00 local time and clocks are set one hour back to Sunday, October 25, 2026, 2:00 am02:00 local standard time instead. Daylight saving ends annually on the last Sunday of October.
CEST representations, usage and related time zones
- +02 - basic short
- +0200 - basic
- +02:00 - extended
- +0200 - sign character (+) followed by a four digit time providing hours (02) and minutes (00) of the offset. Indicates an offset of two hours to the east of the zero meridian.
- Bravo - Military abbreviation for CEST
- B - short form of 'Bravo'
- Africa/Ceuta
- Arctic/Longyearbyen
- Atlantic/Jan_Mayen
- CET
- Europe/Amsterdam
- Europe/Andorra
- Europe/Belgrade
- Europe/Berlin
- Europe/Bratislava
- Europe/Brussels
- Europe/Budapest
- Europe/Busingen
- Europe/Copenhagen
- Europe/Gibraltar
- Europe/Ljubljana
- Europe/Luxembourg
- Europe/Madrid
- Europe/Malta
- Europe/Monaco
- Europe/Oslo
- Europe/Paris
- Europe/Podgorica
- Europe/Prague
- Europe/Rome
- Europe/San_Marino
- Europe/Sarajevo
- Europe/Skopje
- Europe/Stockholm
- Europe/Tirane
- Europe/Vaduz
- Europe/Vatican
- Europe/Vienna
- Europe/Warsaw
- Europe/Zagreb
- Europe/Zurich
- MET
- Poland
- CEST - Central European Summer Time
- EET - Eastern European Time
- MESZ - Mitteleuropäische Sommerzeit
- B - Bravo Time Zone
- CAT - Central Africa Time
- IST - Israel Standard Time
- SAST - South Africa Standard Time
- WAST - West Africa Summer Time