Of course, not every country within this area operates on CET, but for those that lie on its edges, the sun can rise and set at odd times. As a result, CET today is a very broad time zone indeed, encompassing some territories that wouldn’t pass as “Central European” by any definition.įrom the westernmost point of mainland Spain to the easternmost point of Svalbard, Norway, it spans over 42 degrees - nearly three times as far as a natural solar time zone does. During World War II, clocks in these countries were moved one hour ahead in alignment with the time in Germany, and they simply never went back. There is a somewhat practical reason behind this. No, they’re an hour ahead on UTC+1, or Central Europen Time (CET). “Central” European TimeĬape Touriñán in Galicia is the westernmost point of mainland Spain - ShutterstockĪccording to solar time, Spain, Andorra, France, Monaco, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands should share UTC - the time zone in the other Western European nations of the UK, Ireland and Portugal. At the risk of sounding too philosophical, Xinjiang truly is a place where time is relative. This results in two different times existing in separate communities, but coexisting in one society, and you can imagine the extent of confusion it must cause. The westernmost autonomous region of Xinjiang has its own unofficial time zone - UTC+6 - but even this is largely adhered to only by the Uyghur ethnic group, which makes up a mere 50% of Xinjiang’s population. Working hours in Western China are later, as the sun doesn’t typically rise in the region until 10:00. Of course, though, the consequences of this are far from simple. A territory that, given its expanse and the earth’s curvature, should operate on five different time zones, China keeps things simple by observing UTC+8 (the natural, solar time in Beijing) everywhere, all year round. While some countries love dissecting themselves into as many time zones and DST-observance regulations as they can get away with, the same can’t be said for China. The Bayanbulak Grassland National Nature Reserve in Xinjiang, where time is relative - Shutterstock Party in Tweed Heads before heading up to the center of the city in time to count down to midnight all over again, just one hour later. If you love the thrill of celebrating New Year, Gold Coast is your perfect destination. In practice, and wisely, the airport chooses to operate exclusively on Queensland time. Theoretically, flights departing in the summer months leave the terminal in one time zone and take off from the ground in another. The Queensland-New South Wales border actually cuts Gold Coast Airport almost precisely in half, runway and all. Only, Tweed Heads is immediately over the border in the state of New South Wales, which - you guessed it - does observe DST.
Its suburb of Coolangatta is immediately adjacent to the town of Tweed Heads, and it’s reasonable to say that all these settlements are part of one large metropolitan area. The city of Gold Coast sits in the far southeastern corner of Queensland - a state of Australia that chooses not to observe DST. New Year is double the fun in Gold CoastĬelebrate New Year twice in Gold Coast - Shutterstock If you took a summer road trip through these reservations and their enclaves and exclaves, you’d have to set your clock forward and backward a total of six times. And in turn, there’s a small Navajo exclave in the east of the Hopi Reservation which, yes, observes DST in accordance with the rest of the Navajo Nation. The Hopi Reservation, comprised of two enclaves within the Navajo Nation, conforms with Arizona by not observing DST. This is in keeping with the parts of the reservation that spill over into neighboring Utah and New Mexico, meanwhile, it means that the land area of around 71,000 square kilometers is one hour ahead of the rest of Arizona in the summertime. Sounds sensible enough.īut then there are the Native American reservations in Arizona, one of which, the Navajo Nation in the state’s northeast corner, does observe DST. The reason for this is that it’s such a hot place, and putting the clocks forward in the summer would make Arizona evenings even warmer and more uncomfortable. Arizona is the only mainland US state that chooses not to observe daylight saving time (DST) - it operates on UTC-7 all year round and has done since 1968.