Morocco time difference: what time is it in Rabat?

The Morocco time difference is +1 hour from London and +6 hours from New York in winter, and 0 hours and +5 hours in summer (UK and US daylight saving seasons; Morocco also changes its clocks, see below).

In practice, when it is noon in London it is 13:00 in Rabat during UK winter time (GMT) and 12:00 during British Summer Time. When it is noon in New York, it is 18:00 in Rabat during Eastern Standard Time and 17:00 during Eastern Daylight Time. Morocco returns to UTC+0 during Ramadan (7 February to 14 March 2027), which changes these gaps (see below).

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Time in London	In Rabat (UK winter, GMT)	In Rabat (UK summer, BST)
08:00	09:00	08:00
12:00	13:00	12:00
18:00	19:00	18:00
22:00	23:00	22:00

Time in New York	In Rabat (US winter, EST)	In Rabat (US summer, EDT)
08:00 (8 am)	14:00	13:00
12:00 (noon)	18:00	17:00
18:00 (6 pm)	00:00 (next day)	23:00
22:00 (10 pm)	04:00 (next day)	03:00 (next day)

The gap changes more often than the UK/US winter-summer pattern alone would suggest, because Morocco moves its own clocks on different dates. The 2027 table below shows every period.

Clock changes 2026–2027

Morocco changes its clocks, as do the UK and the US. Expected dates in the tz database:

• UK, Sunday 25 October 2026: BST (UTC+1) to GMT (UTC+0)
• US, Sunday 1 November 2026: EDT (UTC−4) to EST (UTC−5) in New York
• Morocco, Sunday 7 February 2027 at 03:00: clocks go back one hour, UTC+1 to UTC+0
• US, Sunday 14 March 2027: EST (UTC−5) to EDT (UTC−4)
• Morocco, Sunday 14 March 2027 at 02:00: clocks go forward one hour, UTC+0 to UTC+1
• UK, Sunday 28 March 2027: GMT (UTC+0) to BST (UTC+1)
• UK, Sunday 31 October 2027: BST (UTC+1) to GMT (UTC+0)
• US, Sunday 7 November 2027: EDT (UTC−4) to EST (UTC−5)

Morocco is a special case: it stays on UTC+1 for most of the year but returns to UTC+0 during the month of Ramadan. The dates above are those scheduled in the IANA database; they depend on the lunar calendar and are set by the Moroccan authorities, so check them shortly before you travel.

When to call Morocco from the UK or the US

To reach someone between 09:00 and 20:00 Rabat time, call between 08:00 and 19:00 London time in UK winter, and between 09:00 and 20:00 during British Summer Time. From New York, call between 03:00 and 14:00 during EST, and between 04:00 and 15:00 during EDT.

On 15 January 2027, office hours (09:00–17:00) overlap for 7 hours with London and for 2 hours with New York. Always state the time zone in your meeting invitations.

Time difference and jet lag: practical tips

With a gap of at most 1 hour from London, the trip does not disrupt your rhythm much; the main trap is forgetting to set your watch or calendar to local time for a booked train, tour or meeting. From North America the gap is larger (+6 hours from New York in winter), so a few simple rules help you adjust to local time:

• Set your watch and phone to local time as soon as you board.
• Align meals and bedtime with local time from the first day.
• Plan a light first day, with no important meetings or long drives.
• Get out in daylight when you arrive and avoid long naps.
• If you take medication at fixed times, ask your doctor how to adapt the schedule to the time difference.

Zone	IANA identifier	Standard time on 15 January 2027	On 15 July 2027	Abbreviation
Rabat, Marrakesh	Africa/Casablanca	UTC+1	UTC+1	—

• Rabat, Marrakesh (Africa/Casablanca): last clock change recorded on Sunday 22 March 2026, from UTC+0 to UTC+1. Morocco stays on UTC+1 all year except during Ramadan, when it returns to UTC+0 (see below).

Clock changes in Morocco in 2027: Ramadan

Dates calculated from the tz database rules for Africa/Casablanca (Rabat, Marrakesh). They differ from those of the UK and the US, so the gap changes several times a year (table below).

• Sunday 7 February 2027 at 03:00 (local time): clocks go back one hour (UTC+1 → UTC+0), at the same moment as 02:00 on 7 February in London and 21:00 on 6 February in New York.
• Sunday 14 March 2027 at 02:00 (local time): clocks go forward one hour (UTC+0 → UTC+1), at the same moment as 02:00 on 14 March in London and 21:00 on 13 March in New York.

2027 period	Rabat vs London	Rabat vs New York
1 January – 6 February	+1 h	+6 h
7 February – 13 March	0 h	+5 h
14 – 27 March	+1 h	+5 h
28 March – 30 October	0 h	+5 h
31 October – 6 November	+1 h	+5 h
7 November – 31 December	+1 h	+6 h

Sunrise and sunset in Rabat in 2027

Local sunrise and sunset times on the 15th of each month in Rabat (34.03° N, 6.84° W), including the Ramadan clock change. They help you time your exposure to daylight, the main lever for resetting your body clock on arrival.

15th of the month	Sunrise	Solar noon	Sunset	Day length	Sunrise / sunset in London time
January	08:33	13:37	18:41	10 h 08	07:33 / 17:41
February	07:12	12:41	18:11	10 h 59	07:12 / 18:11
March	07:38	13:36	19:35	11 h 57	06:38 / 18:35
April	06:57	13:27	19:58	13 h 02	06:57 / 19:58
May	06:26	13:24	20:21	13 h 55	06:26 / 20:21
June	06:16	13:28	20:40	14 h 24	06:16 / 20:40
July	06:27	13:33	20:40	14 h 12	06:27 / 20:40
August	06:49	13:32	20:15	13 h 26	06:49 / 20:15
September	07:10	13:23	19:35	12 h 24	07:10 / 19:35
October	07:32	13:13	18:54	11 h 22	07:32 / 18:54
November	08:00	13:12	18:24	10 h 24	07:00 / 17:24
December	08:25	13:22	18:19	9 h 54	07:25 / 17:19

The longest day in the table is 15 June (14 h 24 between 06:16 and 20:40), the shortest 15 December (9 h 54).

In the other destinations covered by our guides, daylight varies with latitude and position within the time zone:

Destination	Time zone	Daylight on 15 January 2027	Daylight on 15 July 2027
Marrakesh	Africa/Casablanca	08:32 – 18:51	06:37 – 20:39

Jet lag: how flight direction affects you in Morocco

• From the UK: the gap is at most 1 hour (+1 h in UK winter, 0 h during BST), so there is no real jet lag. Any tiredness comes from the journey, not from the change of time zone.
• From New York (flying east): you « lose » 6 hours in winter (EST) and 5 hours in summer (EDT); your arrival day is shortened and you need to go to bed earlier than your body clock expects.
• Your usual night at home (23:00 – 07:00) corresponds to 00:00 – 08:00 in Rabat from London in UK winter (23:00 – 07:00 during BST), and to 05:00 – 13:00 in Rabat from New York during EST (04:00 – 12:00 during EDT): this is when your body will want to sleep for the first few days.
• Daylight on arrival: in Rabat, the sun rises around 08:33 and sets around 18:41 in mid-January, and around 06:27 and 20:40 in mid-July (table above). After flying east, seek morning light and avoid it late in the day; after flying west, make the most of late-afternoon light to stay awake until the evening. This is the standard advice for shifting your body clock.

Plan your trip to Morocco

• Our complete Morocco travel guide: highlights, itineraries and budget
• Best time to visit Morocco: month-by-month weather and the best season
• Time differences around the world: every country in our guides

Frequently asked questions

Our sources

• Sunrise and sunset: algorithm from the NOAA Solar Calculator (Global Monitoring Laboratory), applied to the capital’s coordinates (Natural Earth, Wikidata or Wikipedia): Destination de Voyage calculation.
• IANA Time Zone Database (tz database), version 2026b, consulted on 13 October 2026: time zones, rules and clock-change dates. Future dates may be changed by local authorities.
• UK clock changes: GOV.UK, When do the clocks change? (UK summer time from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October).
• US daylight saving time: NIST, Daylight Saving Time (from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November).
• Live time: calculated by your browser (Intl API), which relies on the same IANA database.
• Our methodology

Updated November 2026.