Time Zones in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia spans one time zone (UTC+3) among the 2 cities tracked on Live Time Map. None of them observe daylight saving time, so their offsets stay the same all year. See the live local time for each city below, or use the interactive map to compare any of them against your own location.
Saudi Arabia facts
- Currency
- Saudi riyal (SAR)
- Languages
- Arabic
- Calling code
- +966
- Time zones on this site
- 1
Clock time and solar time in Saudi Arabia
A country's clocks are a political choice, not an astronomical one, so they rarely line up with its own sun. Measured against local solar time, the clock in Jeddah runs 23 minutes ahead of the sun, while in Riyadh it runs 7 minutes behind the sun.
That is a spread of 30 minutes between the two ends of Saudi Arabia's tracked cities, all of it the result of longitude rather than of the clock. The wider that gap, the more one shared office schedule means genuinely different amounts of morning light depending on where you are.
How much daylight changes through the year
Daylight is governed by latitude, not by the clock. Riyadh, at 24.7° north, gets 13 hours 40 minutes of daylight on the longest day of the year and 10 hours 36 minutes on the shortest.
Jeddah, at 21.5° north, gets 13 hours 27 minutes of daylight on the longest day of the year and 10 hours 49 minutes on the shortest. So the annual swing between longest and shortest day is 3 hours 4 minutes in Riyadh against 2 hours 37 minutes in Jeddah, within the same country.
Cities in Saudi Arabia
Want to compare a city here against your own location? Open the interactive world time zone map to pin it live.
Frequently asked questions
How many time zones does Saudi Arabia have?
Saudi Arabia uses a single time zone among the cities tracked here: UTC+3.
Does Saudi Arabia observe daylight saving time?
No, none of the cities tracked here observe daylight saving time.
Do clocks in Saudi Arabia match the sun?
Clocks and the sun are not the same thing. In Jeddah the clock runs 23 minutes ahead of local solar time, so midday on the clock is not the moment the sun is highest.
How much does daylight change through the year in Saudi Arabia?
In Riyadh, the longest day of the year has 13 hours 40 minutes of daylight and the shortest has 10 hours 36 minutes.