Madrid to San Francisco: time difference and best times to meet
San Francisco is 9 hours behind Madrid. There is no overlap between a normal working day in each city, so one side has to take the call outside working hours.
Europe/Madrid
America/Los_Angeles
Hour-by-hour overlap
Each row is one hour of the Madrid day and the matching hour in San Francisco. Adjust the working hours to match how your team actually works.
| Madrid | San Francisco | Suitable? |
|---|---|---|
| 12am | 3pm | Working hours in San Francisco only |
| 1am | 4pm | Working hours in San Francisco only |
| 2am | 5pm | Working hours in San Francisco only |
| 9am | 12am | Working hours in Madrid only |
| 10am | 1am | Working hours in Madrid only |
| 11am | 2am | Working hours in Madrid only |
| 12pm | 3am | Working hours in Madrid only |
| 1pm | 4am | Working hours in Madrid only |
| 2pm | 5am | Working hours in Madrid only |
| 3pm | 6am | Working hours in Madrid only |
| 4pm | 7am | Working hours in Madrid only |
| 5pm | 8am | Working hours in Madrid only |
| 6pm | 9am | Working hours in San Francisco only |
| 7pm | 10am | Working hours in San Francisco only |
| 8pm | 11am | Working hours in San Francisco only |
| 9pm | 12pm | Working hours in San Francisco only |
| 10pm | 1pm | Working hours in San Francisco only |
| 11pm | 2pm | Working hours in San Francisco only |
When the gap changes in the next twelve months
- Sunday, October 25, 2026 — San Francisco goes from 9 hours behind to 8 hours behind Madrid.
- Sunday, November 1, 2026 — San Francisco goes from 8 hours behind to 9 hours behind Madrid.
- Sunday, March 14, 2027 — San Francisco goes from 9 hours behind to 8 hours behind Madrid.
- Sunday, March 28, 2027 — San Francisco goes from 8 hours behind to 9 hours behind Madrid.
Recurring meetings set as a fixed clock time in one city will move by an hour for the other on these dates.
Public holidays to avoid
Dates where one side is off work while the other is not are the most common cause of no-shows on this route.
- Friday, October 9, 2026 — Day of the Valencian Community — Madrid is off, San Francisco is working.
- Monday, October 12, 2026 — National Day of Spain and Indigenous Peoples' Day; both cities are off.
- Sunday, November 1, 2026 — All Saints Day — Madrid is off, San Francisco is working.
- Wednesday, November 11, 2026 — Veterans Day — San Francisco is off, Madrid is working.
- Thursday, November 26, 2026 — Thanksgiving Day — San Francisco is off, Madrid is working.
- Sunday, December 6, 2026 — Constitution Day — Madrid is off, San Francisco is working.
- Tuesday, December 8, 2026 — Immaculate Conception — Madrid is off, San Francisco is working.
- Friday, December 25, 2026 — Christmas Day and Christmas Day; both cities are off.
- Saturday, December 26, 2026 — St. Stephen's Day — Madrid is off, San Francisco is working.
Madrid and San Francisco have no shared working hours, so a recurring live meeting always costs someone their morning or their evening. Rotating the burden, or moving the update to written form, is usually the better answer.
Sending a booking link avoids the arithmetic entirely: each side picks a time in their own zone and both calendars get the correct local time, including after a daylight-saving change. See how LemCall handles cross-timezone bookings.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the time difference between Madrid and San Francisco?
- San Francisco is currently 9 hours behind Madrid. That changes to 8 hours behind on Sunday, October 25, 2026, when one side shifts for daylight saving.
- When is the best time to schedule a meeting between Madrid and San Francisco?
- There is no hour where both cities are inside normal working hours, so one side has to take the call early or late.
- How many hours do Madrid and San Francisco overlap?
- Zero, on a standard 9–18 working day in each city.
- Does daylight saving change the Madrid–San Francisco gap?
- Yes. Over the next twelve months the difference changes 4 times: Sunday, October 25, 2026 (9 hours behind becomes 8 hours behind); Sunday, November 1, 2026 (8 hours behind becomes 9 hours behind); Sunday, March 14, 2027 (9 hours behind becomes 8 hours behind); Sunday, March 28, 2027 (8 hours behind becomes 9 hours behind).
- Are there public holidays that affect Madrid–San Francisco meetings?
- Yes. The next is Friday, October 9, 2026 — a public holiday where Madrid is, but a normal working day in San Francisco.
Nearby pairs
Other meeting-time pages for Madrid
Sources
- 1.IANA. Time Zone Database
- 2.Nager.Date. Public holidays API · Retrieved