Cyprus is an island in Asia, over 2000 miles away from England. Its eastern part is located at the longitude close to Moscow. What time is it now in Cyprus? Is there a time change on the island? Does Northern Cyprus have the same time zone? All of that in today’s short post.
(very bold) Attempts at changing time in Northern Cyprus
Cyprus has been divided into Southern Cyprus and Northern Cyprus under Turkish control since 1974. In 2016, the authorities of the Turkish northern part decided to also divide the island into two time zones. On the 30th of October of the same year, the Turkish part was to stay in summer time. This caused literal chaos in all logistical systems and all organisational work between the two parts of the island. Residents all collectively agreed that it was a bonkers change and, despite the efforts of the Turkish authorities to keep it, northern Cyprus returned to the previous time zone after more than a year in a limbo.
Time in Cyprus
In 1878, Sandford Fleming proposed the introduction of 24 time zones. On average, one time zone changes every 15 degrees of longitude. Given the eastern location of the island, we can expect Cyprus to be in a zone where we’ll add hours to the time we currently have.
The island is in the EET (UTC +2) zone, along with countries such as Greece, Ukraine and Finland. It also changes to UTC +3 daylight saving time along with other European Union countries. This means that Cyprus is always two hours ahead of the UK.
If it is currently 14:00 in London in November, it will now be 16:00 in Cyprus.
If it is currently 00:00 in London in July, it will now be 02:00 in Cyprus, simple as that.
Time passes faster in winter
When flying to Cyprus for winter holidays in November, December or January, remember that though the temperatures may not suggest so, the days end very quickly. We recommend getting up at very early morning hours to enjoy the warm sun as much as you can. The optimal strategy for us was to go get breakfast at around 7am and explore or sit at the beach till 4pm, as it was already getting dark at that point. It’s the ideal time to go get dinner and stroll through the lamp-lit Cypriot streets.
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