What time zone is Morocco in, and does it change with daylight saving?

Morocco's time zone catches a lot of travellers out, so it's worth getting straight. Since October 2018 the country has stayed on GMT+1 permanently — that is, one hour ahead of London for most of the year, and in line with continental Western Europe like Paris or Madrid during their summer. Before 2018 Morocco switched clocks twice a year like Europe; now it simply holds at +1, which makes planning calls and flights more predictable.

The one exception is Ramadan. During the holy month, Morocco temporarily drops back to GMT (one hour earlier) to ease the long daily fast, then springs forward again when Ramadan ends. Because the Islamic calendar is lunar, Ramadan shifts about eleven days earlier each year, so the exact dates of this brief change move annually. If you're travelling around Ramadan, double-check your phone is showing the right local time and confirm any tour or transfer pickups, because this is precisely when scheduling confusion creeps in.

Relative to where my guests usually fly from: Morocco is normally the same as the UK in winter and one hour ahead in the UK's winter months, on the same clock as much of Western Europe through their summer, around five hours ahead of US Eastern time, and eight ahead of US Pacific. Those gaps are small enough that jet lag from Europe is negligible and from North America very manageable — most people are on local rhythm within a day.

Practically, your smartphone will update automatically the moment you land, so you rarely need to do the maths yourself. The thing to watch is the Ramadan shift and the fact that Moroccan daily life has its own rhythm regardless of the clock — shops and sites may keep different hours, especially around midday and during religious observance. Build a little flexibility into your schedule and the time zone itself will never be a problem.