Best Time for Meetings Between Europe and Asia

Business & Remote Work

Europe and Asia share only the edges of the working day. Asia is hours ahead, so by the time Europe sits down at its desk, much of Asia is already deep into the afternoon or winding down for the evening. The good news is that the overlap is predictable: with a little planning you can almost always find a slot that lands inside business hours on both continents. This guide shows you exactly where that window sits.

Key takeaways

The reliable overlap is the European morning, which is the Asian afternoon and evening.
For Central Europe and East Asia, aim for roughly 9:00–11:00 AM Central European Time (5:00–7:00 PM in Tokyo).
Asia runs ahead of Europe by about 3–8 hours, depending on the region.
Japan, Korea and China are the hardest to reach — keep to the early European morning so you catch the end of their workday.
Most of Asia does not use Daylight Saving Time, so the gap shifts by an hour only when Europe changes its clocks.

How Big Is the Time Difference?

Neither “Europe” nor “Asia” is a single time zone, so the first step is knowing the spread. Most of Western and Central Europe runs on Central European Time (UTC+1), with the UK, Ireland and Portugal one hour behind that at UTC+0. Asia is far wider, stretching from the Gulf states (UTC+4) in the west to Japan and Korea (UTC+9) in the east.

Put together, Asia runs ahead of Europe by the following amounts during standard (European winter) time:

Asian region	Ahead of the UK (UTC+0)	Ahead of Central Europe (UTC+1)
Gulf — Dubai, Abu Dhabi (UTC+4)	4 hours	3 hours
South Asia — Mumbai, Delhi (UTC+5:30)	5½ hours	4½ hours
Southeast Asia — Bangkok, Jakarta (UTC+7)	7 hours	6 hours
China & hubs — Beijing, Singapore, Hong Kong (UTC+8)	8 hours	7 hours
East Asia — Tokyo, Seoul (UTC+9)	9 hours	8 hours

India sits on a half-hour offset — see Countries with Half-Hour Time Zones. These gaps hold for most of the year but shrink by an hour during the European summer (see the Daylight Saving Time section below). To confirm the live difference, open the relevant city pages on this site and compare their clocks side by side.

The Best Window: European Morning, Asian Afternoon

Because Asia is ahead of Europe, the overlap is always at the start of Europe’s day and the end of Asia’s. The sweet spot for the most demanding pairing — Central Europe with East Asia — is the European mid-morning:

Location	Recommended slot (local time)
Central Europe — Berlin, Paris, Madrid	9:00–11:00 AM
UK / Ireland / Portugal	8:00–10:00 AM
Gulf — Dubai	12:00–2:00 PM
India — Mumbai, Delhi	1:30–3:30 PM
China / Singapore / Hong Kong	4:00–6:00 PM
Japan / Korea — Tokyo, Seoul	5:00–7:00 PM*

*Late in the Tokyo and Seoul workday. For East Asia, keep to the earlier end of the European window — 9:00 AM in Berlin is 5:00 PM in Tokyo, comfortably before close.

Anchored to a single instant, a 9:00 AM meeting in Berlin is 8:00 AM in London, 12:00 noon in Dubai, 1:30 PM in Mumbai, 4:00 PM in Singapore and 5:00 PM in Tokyo. For Europe that is an unremarkable start to the morning; for East Asia it is the close of the afternoon but still firmly within working hours.

Matching Europe to Each Part of Asia

The right slot depends on how far east your colleagues are:

Europe ↔ the Gulf. The easiest pairing. A 3–4 hour gap leaves a generous overlap across the whole European working day and the Gulf afternoon. Almost any morning or early-afternoon European slot works; see Berlin vs Dubai time difference.
Europe ↔ South Asia (India). Still comfortable. With a 4½–5½ hour gap, the European morning through early afternoon lines up neatly with the Indian afternoon and evening — anything up to 1:00 PM Central European Time keeps India inside business hours.
Europe ↔ Southeast Asia. A 6–7 hour gap. Favour the European morning, around 9:00–11:00 AM CET, which meets the late afternoon and early evening in Bangkok, Jakarta and Singapore (see Paris vs Singapore time difference).
Europe ↔ East Asia. The toughest combination, with a 7–8 hour gap. The only humane overlap is the early European morning meeting the end of the Asian workday: roughly 8:00–9:00 AM in Europe is 4:00–5:00 PM in Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing. Push much past mid-morning in Europe and someone is working into the Asian evening — see London vs Tokyo time difference.

Mind the Daylight Saving Time Gaps

Here Europe and Asia behave very differently. Europe observes Daylight Saving Time, but most of Asia does not — China, Japan, South Korea, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Gulf states and most of Southeast Asia keep the same offset all year round.

That means only one side of the clock moves. The EU and the UK spring forward on the last Sunday of March and fall back on the last Sunday of October. Between those dates — through the European summer — Europe is one hour closer to Asia, so the gap is an hour smaller than usual. Tokyo, for example, is 7 hours ahead of Central Europe in summer instead of 8, which actually widens the East Asia overlap slightly.

The safest habit is to let your calendar do the conversion: tools such as Google Calendar, Outlook and Apple Calendar store the event at a fixed instant and show each attendee their own local time, so the meeting stays correct even across Europe’s clock change.

Keep It Fair and Predictable

When you are booking recurring Europe–Asia calls, a few habits keep them sustainable:

Favour the European morning. It is the one band that almost always falls inside business hours on both continents, so make it your default.
Respect the Asian evening. A 10:00 AM European call is already 6:00 PM in Tokyo. Avoid pushing East Asian colleagues past the end of their working day for routine meetings.
State the time zone explicitly. Write “09:00 CET / 5:00 PM JST”, not just “9 AM”, and include the date — with an 8-hour gap the two sides can be on the edge of different working days.
Lean on asynchronous updates. Reserve the narrow overlap for real discussion, and push status reports into writing people can read on their own schedule.

For the underlying method behind all of this — finding overlaps, using a single reference and sharing times cleanly — see How to Schedule Meetings Across Time Zones.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best time for a meeting between Europe and Asia?

The European morning. For Central Europe and East Asia, 9:00–11:00 AM Central European Time (5:00–7:00 PM in Tokyo) lands inside business hours for everyone, with the earlier end of that window the kindest to Asia.

How many hours is Asia ahead of Europe?

Measured from Central Europe in winter: the Gulf is 3 hours ahead, India 4½, Southeast Asia 6, China and Singapore 7, and Japan and Korea 8 hours ahead. For the UK, add one hour to each. During the European summer the gap is an hour smaller.

Can I find a good time with Japan or China?

Yes, but the window is narrow. Early morning in Europe (around 8:00–9:00 AM) is late afternoon (4:00–5:00 PM) in Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing — the only slot that keeps both sides close to business hours.

Why does the time difference change during the year?

Because Europe observes Daylight Saving Time and most of Asia does not. From late March to late October the gap is an hour smaller than usual, which is why it pays to confirm the offset before an important call.