Current time in Lyon, France
The current local time in Lyon is shown below. Lyon observes CET in winter and CEST during daylight saving time.
Daylight saving time
Sunrise & sunset today
Timezone facts
Lyon in context
Lyon stands at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers in east-central France, around 470 kilometres south-east of Paris and 320 kilometres north-west of Marseille. The Métropole de Lyon authority counts around 1.4 million residents, with the wider urban catchment closer to 2.3 million. As the historic capital of the silk trade and now the seat of regional government for Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the city has retained both a substantial old town and a dense modern centre on the peninsula between the two rivers.
Timezone history of Lyon
France uses Central European Time in winter and Central European Summer Time in summer, in step with most of mainland western Europe. The country's geography would place it closer to UTC than to UTC+1, but France adopted Berlin time during the Second World War occupation and never reverted. EU member states debated abolishing the seasonal change in 2018 and 2019 without reaching a final decision, so the last Sunday of March and last Sunday of October transitions remain.
Working hours in Lyon
Lyon's working day runs to French national norms: typically 09:00 to 18:00, with a long lunch break between 12:00 and 14:00 that the city's bouchons and brasseries take seriously. The 35-hour workweek enshrined in law since 2000 means many offices condense Friday afternoons, and most employees take a substantial summer break in August, when smaller shops and even some professional services close for two to three weeks. Eleven fixed public holidays sit on top of that, with the largest cluster in spring between Easter and Pentecost.