What’s the Time in Cape Verde Now? Life in UTC-01:00

Time in Cape Verde Now

On the islands of Cape Verde, time moves to its own rhythm. As of this morning, the clocks on the archipelago read: –:–:–, one hour behind Greenwich Mean Time. The islands observe Cape Verde Time (CVT), fixed at UTC−01:00.

No Seasonal Time Change 

Unlike much of Europe, Cape Verdeans never adjust their clocks forward or back for daylight saving. This decision makes life simpler. In Lisbon or London, the hands of the clock jump twice a year. In Cape Verde, they do not. The country has chosen consistency over seasonal adjustment. Hence, visitors arriving from Europe in summer suddenly find themselves two hours behind home, while in winter the gap is just one hour.

For sailors and travellers, that predictability matters. Passage planning, flight connections, and international calls are easier when you know the time will not change with the season.

Click the map to see it full-size.

On the Edge of Times

There is also a geographical curiosity. The islands sit near the western edge of their natural time zone, close to the 24th meridian. By rights, they might have been set at UTC−2, but instead, they opted for UTC−1, effectively granting themselves an extra hour of daylight in the evenings. It is a subtle but practical choice in a country where daily life flows at an unhurried pace, and where the sun often lingers low over the Atlantic horizon.

Time in Cape Verde: The Steady Rhythm

Time in Cape Verde feels less like a set of digits on a clock and more like a rhythm in daily life. Markets stir slowly in the morning, afternoons stretch long with heat and sea breeze, and evenings spill out onto promenades and beaches. For visitors, it takes only a day or two to notice: the islands are not in a rush, and their time zone seems to underline that fact.

Bibliography

• Time Zone in Cape Verde on Timeanddate.com;
• UTC-01:00 (Map) on Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia;
• Cape Verde Time on Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia;
• Current time in Cabo Verde on Time.is