Andalucia Guide > Useful information > Local time

Local time

Before 1 January 1901, the official time in Spain was set by the Madrid Meridian (3º 41' East of Greenwich), although each province of the country had a local time corresponding to its local degree of longitude.

After 1 January 1901, Spain adopted GMT, Greenwich Mean Time, caculated at the international Greenwich Meridian (0º). Consequently, local time (hora local, HL) became universal time (tiempo universal) or simply GMT, without any need to convert between differing time zones.

On 15 April 1918 Spain introduced ‘summer time’ for the first time. During summer time, Spanish time moved forward one hour from GMT.

In a further adjustment, at 11pm on 16 March 1940 Spain adopted the time at the Meridian 15º East of Greenwich, establishing a permanent Spanish time one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.

During the summer, following Greenwich, local time moves forward by one hour, and during the winter it loses one hour to return to Greenwich Mean Time. Below are the hours and dates of the official change between GMT and GMT+1.

From: 2 March at 02:00 (+01:00)

Until: 29 October at 03:00 (-01:00)

Normal opening times of banks are usually between 8-8.30am-2pm Monday-Friday, and never in the afternoons. Some banks open Saturday mornings, from 9am to 1pm, depending on either the particular bank or its situation (in cities more often than the countryside, for example).

The majority of banks also reduce their opening hours during the high summer months of June-August.

Spanish banks are very precise about closing hours. If you arrive at a branch five minutes before it is due to close and need personal attention, you shouldn’t be surprised if the guard refuses you entry.

Commercial hours

Depending on where you are staying and the season you want to visit, you may find a notable difference in commercial hours for shops, offices and other services. Normally, larger commercial centres open between 10am-2pm, although these hours are often extended in shopping centres and malls, tourist zones and local businesses. Most will close for lunch and the siesta between 2pm-5pm, with some minor local variation. Shops will re-open at 5pm (6pm winter time) until 8-9pm Mon-Fri, but not all offices will.