Spain is preparing for a new time change. This Sunday, October 25, 2026, clocks will have to be set back one hour to make way for winter time, a modification that will allow for 60 more minutes of sleep, but will also cause it to get dark earlier during the coming months.
The adjustment will take place during the early hours from Saturday to Sunday. At 03:00 hours it will again be 02:00 in the Peninsula and Balearic Islands, while in the Canary Islands the change will occur at 02:00, when the clocks will go back to 01:00. In this way, Sunday will have 25 hours.
The modification comes, moreover, at a time of debate about the future of this practice. The change in October 2026 is the last one listed in the official calendar published in the Official State Bulletin (BOE), although its disappearance is not approved and Spain remains obliged to comply with the European regulations that govern time changes.
When is the time change in Spain in October 2026
The change to winter time will take place in the early hours from Saturday, October 24 to Sunday, October 25, coinciding with the last Sunday of the month, as established by Spanish regulations.
The time will be different depending on the territory:
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Peninsula and Balearic Islands: at 03:00 hours it will again be 02:00.
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Canary Islands: at 02:00 hours it will return to 01:00.
Mobile phones, computers, and other devices connected to the internet usually update the time automatically. In contrast, analog clocks, some appliances, and devices that do not have automatic synchronization activated will need to be adjusted manually.
We will sleep one hour more, but it will get dark earlier
The main consequence of the October change is that we will gain one hour during the early hours of Sunday. By setting the clocks back, the same time slot will repeat, so that day will officially have 25 hours instead of the usual 24.
From then on, it will dawn approximately one hour earlier according to the clock, but sunset will also occur earlier. This means there will be less natural light during the last hours of the afternoon, although the total duration of the day will still depend on the time of year.
The change may also temporarily affect rest and daily habits. Although one hour is gained in autumn, the modification of schedules can disrupt the circadian rhythm, the biological clock that regulates sleep and wake cycles.
Will it be the last time change in Spain?
October 25, 2026 is the last date included in the five-year calendar published in the BOE in March 2022, but that does not mean that Spain will stop changing the time from now on.
The Order PCM/186/2022 includes the dates corresponding to the period between 2022 and 2026. However, Royal Decree 236/2002 establishes that these calendars must be published every five years, so their conclusion does not imply the automatic elimination of the system.
In fact, the European Commission has already published a new calendar of time changes for the period 2027-2031, which includes the next adjustment for Sunday, March 28, 2027, and the return to winter time on October 31 of that same year.
Therefore, unless a modification of the European regulation is approved, time changes will continue to be made twice a year.
What happens with the proposal to eliminate the time change
The debate about the elimination of the time change has been open for years in the European Union. In 2018, the European Commission presented a proposal to end seasonal adjustments, after a public consultation in which a large majority of participants expressed support for its elimination.
The European Parliament backed the initiative in 2019 and suggested that the changes disappear in 2021. However, the lack of agreement among member states has prevented the measure from coming into effect.
The Spanish Government renewed the debate in October 2025. Pedro Sánchez then defended the elimination of time changes starting in 2026, arguing that energy savings are limited and that the modifications can have negative consequences for rest and health.
The proposal received support from countries like Finland and Poland, in addition to a favorable reception from the European Commission. However, the EU Council still has not adopted a common position on the reform.
One of the main obstacles is deciding which time should be permanently retained by each country, summer or winter time, and how to coordinate that choice to avoid differences that complicate economic and social relations within the European market.
When will the next time change be
If the current regulation is maintained, the next time change will take place on Sunday, March 28, 2027, when Spain will return to summer time.
On that occasion, the clocks will move forward one hour: at 02:00 it will be 03:00 in the Peninsula and Balearic Islands, while in the Canary Islands it will change from 01:00 to 02:00.
Until the European institutions reach an agreement to modify the system, Spain will continue to adjust its clocks in March and October, as it has been doing for decades.