The Patagonia has two separate time zones

1. The southern portion of Chile’s Patagonia and all of Argentina’s Patagonia is in GMT-3 (2 hours ahead of New York City, during Standard Time)

2. Northern Patagonia of Chile is located in GMT-4 (one hour ahead of New York City, during Standard Time)

Does Patagonia have daylight saving time (DST)?

Argentina and Chile’s southern Patagonia does NOT observe daylight-saving time and is the same UTC offset all year.

• Torres del Paine National Park, Puerto Natales, Punta Arenas, Bariloche, Tierra del Fuego National Park all reside in this zone

However, Chile’s northern Patagonia observes DST

• Chile’s northern Patagonia and Lake District observes daylight savings time

  • Pucón, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, Temuco, Osorno, Villarrica, Puerto Varas, Puerto Fuy

  • Chiloé Island is also located in this time zone

GMT-4 = what time exactly?

The northern Patagonia of Chile is in the Greenwich Mean Time - 4 (GMT -4) zone:

• The same time zone as New York City

• Chile’s capital city of Santiago and most of mainland Chile is located in this time zone

GMT - 3, time & Patagonia

All of Argentina and the southern section of Chile’s Patagonia observe the GMT-3 time zone with neither region adjusting for DST: 

• This time zone is one hour ahead of GMT -4 (when DST has ended) 

• When DST starts, all of Patagonia becomes the same time, since northern Patagonia gains one hour with daylight savings

• During half the year, this Patagonian region is an hour later than in New York (EDT) and the other half of the year it’s a two hour time difference

Chile’s & changing time zones

Over the last decade, Chile has switched DST, three separate times, and during the winter period, Chile has 3 different time zones. Astronomically, Chile falls into the UTC (GMT) -5 time zone, which was also Chile's first official time zone in 1910. 

In 1968, the entire country switched to UTC -3, to establish a daylight savings time. However, the DST was abolished the following year. The next year, 1970, UTC -4 was made Chile’s official time zone with DST seasonal clock changes. This UTC-4 time zone is still the norm for most of Chile today, excepting modifications to DST.

Argentina, DST & history

In 1894, Argentina became the first country in South America to officially adopt a uniform time zone. 

In 1930, daylight savings time was adopted and maintained until 1946. Over the next 63 years, Argentina would go back and forth with the establishment and abolishment of DST numerous times. Since 2009, the entire country of Argentina has remained in the UTC-3 time zone year-round and does NOT observe daylight savings.

Pedal Chile’s tours & time zones

All our mountain bike tours operate in northern Patagonia (GMT -4) except for our e-MTB tour, which runs in both time zones.

Jesse is Director of Pedal Chile and lives in Chile’s Patagonia (most of the year). Jesse has a Master of Science in Health and Human Performance and is an avid mountain biker. Hobbies: Reading, writing, MTBing, and snowboarding.

More articles from Pedal Chile

• Where exactly is “The Patagonia”

• Can I drink the tap water in Patagonia?

• What is the healthiest beer? and yes, beers can be healthy

Sources:

• Etilmercurio.com. 2020. Llegó La Hora | Etilmercurio. [online]

• Hancevic, P. and Margulis, D., 2018. Horario de verano y consumo de electricidad: el caso de Argentina. El Trimestre Económico, 85(339), p.515.

• Timeanddate.com. 2020. Time Zones In Argentina. [online]

• Timeanddate.com. 2020. Time Zones In Chile. [online]