Current time in Wellington

Time zone in Wellington

Wellington is in New Zealand and uses the Pacific/Auckland time zone. Wellington observes daylight saving time. It uses New Zealand Standard Time (UTC+12:00) in the standard-time part of the year and New Zealand Daylight Time (UTC+13:00) during summer time.

Sunrise and sunset in Wellington

Sun and clock in Wellington

Wellington lies about 5° west of the meridian its time zone is built around, so the sun runs late against the clock. Averaged over the year, solar noon does not arrive until 12:21 in standard time, which makes mornings darker and evenings lighter than the clock alone would suggest. Summer time moves that an hour later still, to about 13:21.

Daylight through the year in Wellington

At 41.3°S latitude, Wellington sees its longest day around the December solstice, when the sun is above the horizon for about 15 h 10 m. The shortest day comes six months later at roughly 9 h 11 m, a swing of about 5 h 58 m between midsummer and midwinter.

Mid-latitude cities like Wellington get the full seasonal cycle, with the longest and shortest days 5 h 58 m apart.

Seasons are reversed south of the equator. On the December solstice, midsummer here, the sun rises in Wellington at about 05:44 and sets at about 20:53; on the June solstice, midwinter, it rises at about 07:47 and sets at about 16:58.

How these figures are worked out

When the clocks change in Wellington

Because Wellington is in the southern hemisphere, its summer time runs across the new year: clocks go forward in September and back in April, the mirror image of Europe and North America.

The next two changes in Wellington:

Of the cities compared further down this page, New York, London and Sydney do change their clocks, so their difference from Wellington moves by an hour twice a year; Dubai, New Delhi, Singapore and Tokyo do not, so those differences never change.

Calling Wellington from another time zone

A working day of roughly 09:00 to 17:00 in Wellington corresponds to 21:00–05:00 UTC. To find the equivalent window where you are, add your own offset to those hours: somewhere on UTC+00:00 would be looking at 21:00–05:00.

Taking a working day as 09:00 to 17:00 in each place:

• New York has no overlap at all: when it is 09:00 there, it is already 02:00 in Wellington, so a call means an early start or a late finish for someone.
• London has no overlap at all: when it is 09:00 there, it is already 21:00 in Wellington, so a call means an early start or a late finish for someone.
• Tokyo overlaps for only 4 hours, from 13:00 to 17:00 Wellington time — late in the day at one end and early at the other.

These windows use the offsets in force on 2026-10-09; where one side observes daylight saving and the other does not, they move by an hour twice a year.

Time difference from your location

Wellington compared with other cities

• Wellington → New York
• Wellington → London
• Wellington → Dubai
• Wellington → New Delhi
• Wellington → Singapore
• Wellington → Tokyo
• Wellington → Sydney

Nearby cities

Other places in this directory that keep Pacific/Auckland time: Auckland. Their clocks match Wellington’s exactly, including any daylight saving change. The nearest listed city on a different zone is Sydney, about 2230 km away on Australia/Sydney, currently 2 h behind Wellington.

• Auckland
• Sydney
• Brisbane
• Melbourne
• Suva
• Adelaide
• Perth
• Denpasar (Bali)

Time zone rules: IANA tz database release 2026c, applied when this page was generated on 2026-10-09. Sun times: NOAA solar equations for 41.29°S, 174.78°E, flat horizon at sea level.

Related tools

• 🌍World Clock Track several cities at once
• 🔄Time Zone Converter Convert times from Wellington
• ⏱Time Difference Calculator Compare Wellington with anywhere
• 🌅Sunrise & Sunset A full month for Wellington