Clocks Go Back: Switzerland Ends Daylight-Saving Time, Transport Operators Issue Travel Alerts

Travellers and mobility managers are being reminded that Switzerland reverts to Central European Time at 03:00 on Sunday, 26 October 2025—meaning clocks should be set back one hour when going to bed on Saturday, 25 October. The annual time change, flagged in multiple public-information channels this week, affects airline schedules, rail timetables and border-control shift patterns.

Geneva Airport and Zurich Airport have both published NOTAMs confirming that flight numbers and slot times will remain in local time; passengers with overnight or early-morning departures should double-check boarding passes issued in UTC or in a different time zone. Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) will park selected services during the “repeated hour” to maintain network synchronisation, while night trains and overnight freight will arrive approximately 60 minutes later.

Corporate travel managers are advising mobile employees to update calendar software and electronic-lock settings in serviced apartments to avoid missed check-outs or meeting conflicts on Monday. International assignees relocating this weekend should verify that removal-truck access or key-handovers are rescheduled accordingly.

For globally distributed teams, the end of European Summer Time temporarily narrows the time gap with North America: Zurich will be only five hours ahead of New York until the US switches back on 2 November, a boon for real-time collaboration windows.

Although the EU is still debating a permanent abolition of seasonal time changes, Switzerland—bound to synchronise with surrounding Schengen neighbours for transport-planning reasons—continues to follow the bi-annual clock change for the foreseeable future.