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Cairo vs London Time Difference
Cairo and London usually sit two hours apart, with Cairo ahead — narrowing briefly to one hour each spring since Egypt and the UK shift daylight saving on different dates.
Cairo
Africa/Cairo
London
Europe/London
Calculating the live gap…
A gap shaped by two different daylight saving calendars
Cairo and London typically sit two hours apart, with Cairo ahead — a comfortable, easily-managed gap for cross-region business. It briefly narrows to one hour each spring, in the four-to-five-week window after the UK has sprung forward (last Sunday in March) but before Egypt's own daylight saving begins (last Friday in April). A similar short mismatch can occur in autumn depending on the exact dates each year.
The most turbulent daylight saving history on this site
Egypt's relationship with daylight saving time has been unusually unstable: introduced in 1940, dropped in 1945, resumed in 1957, abolished in 2011, briefly reinstated in 2014 with a Ramadan exception, cancelled again in 2015, cancelled a third scheduled restart just days before it was due to begin in 2016, and finally restored in 2023. London's own DST history, by contrast, has been essentially unchanged for decades — making this pairing an interesting study in contrast between one of Europe's most stable DST calendars and one of the world's most volatile.
A workable window for business
With a gap of only one to two hours, Cairo and London share a wide overlap through the middle of the working day, making this one of the more forgiving pairings for scheduling calls between the Middle East/North Africa region and Western Europe.
Best time to call, hour by hour
The table below runs through a full Cairo day and shows the matching London time for each hour, based on today's live gap.
| Cairo time | London time | Both in business hours? |
|---|---|---|
| Calculating… | ||
Most of the standard workday is highlighted — Cairo and London share a comfortable overlap through the middle of the day.
How we calculate this page: both live clocks, the current gap, the DST transition dates, and the hour-by-hour overlap table are all computed directly from the IANA Africa/Cairo and Europe/London time zone data via your browser on every page load — nothing here is a fixed, hard-coded figure.
Frequently asked questions
What is the time difference between Cairo and London?
Usually two hours, with Cairo ahead, narrowing to one hour for a few weeks each spring when the UK has started daylight saving but Egypt hasn't yet.
Why does the Cairo-London gap briefly narrow each spring?
The UK starts daylight saving on the last Sunday in March, while Egypt's daylight saving doesn't begin until the last Friday in April — a gap of roughly four to five weeks in which the UK has sprung forward but Cairo hasn't, temporarily narrowing the usual two-hour difference to one hour.
Does Egypt observe daylight saving time?
Yes, since 2023, after a turbulent history of adopting and abolishing it repeatedly since 1940. Clocks currently move forward the last Friday in April and back the last Thursday in October.
What is the best time to call between Cairo and London?
Roughly 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in Cairo overlaps comfortably with London's business day for most of the year.
Is Egypt the only African country with daylight saving time?
As of the mid-2020s, yes — Egypt is currently the only African country observing daylight saving time, which is part of why its own DST calendar doesn't line up neatly with any single trading partner's.
How do I convert Cairo time to London time?
Subtract two hours most of the year, or one hour during the brief spring mismatch window. For a guaranteed-accurate conversion on any specific date, use the time zone converter on WatchTime Online.
Need a different pairing? Try the meeting planner or see all cities on the world clock.