This was published 7 years ago
Time zones around the world: The weirdest time zones
By David Whitley
Mind the time when you travel into some of the world's most confusing time zones.Credit: iStock
Turning the clock back a few hours after getting off a flight or switching to daylight savings is to be expected when travelling. But there are some pockets of the world where time zones don't quite behave as you think they might – whether it's jumping forward in strange increments or taking massive cross-border leaps…
Afghanistan to China
It's hardly the busiest border in the world, and most travellers are unlikely to go anywhere near it. But Afghanistan has a tiny sliver of land, dominated mostly by a nature refuge, that sticks out between Pakistan and Tajikistan. And it borders China's westernmost Xinjiang Province.
International Date Line sign splitting the island of Taveuni in two, Fiji.Credit: Alamy
China, in a bit to impose some sort of national unity on its frontier territory, has decided the whole country should stick to one time zone. This was decided in 1949 and Beijing time (UTC+8) was picked. This creates a 3.5 hour jump when crossing into Afghanistan – where the time is UTC+4.5. In practice, though, locals in Xinjiang tend to stick to an unofficial UTC+6 time zone – which can make finding out what time it actually is incredibly confusing.
See also: Glass bridge reopens in China
Arizona
Some states in the US observe daylight savings, but Arizona is one that likes to keep it simple – it sticks to the Mountain time zone (UTC-7) year round. That is, of course, apart from the Navajo Nation, the semi-autonomous Native American territory which spreads across several south-western US states (but mainly Arizona). So the Navajo Nation parts of the state can be an hour ahead of the rest of Arizona.
Making things even more confusing is the Hopi Reservation, which is entirely surrounded by the Navajo Nation, and doesn't observe daylight saving time. It is also not contiguous, so driving through Arizona can be a bewildering case of repeatedly switching time zones. And, there's the case of Moenkopi (inside the Hopi Reservation) and Tuba City (part of the Navajo Nation). They're effectively the same city, and you can go forward an hour simply by crossing the road.
See also: The most beautiful destinations on the planet
Tweed Heads to Coolangatta
If that same city, different time zones thing seems rather familiar, it's because there's an Aussie counterpart. Tweed Heads at the very north of New South Wales merges seamlessly into Coolangatta on Queensland's Gold Coast. Well, seamlessly apart from the time that is. The two states are ostensibly in the same time zone, but New South Wales observes daylight saving, and Queensland doesn't. That means the twin towns have managed to carve out a peculiar niche as somewhere that you can celebrate New Year's Eve twice. Start in Tweed Heads, then stroll over into Coolangatta, and the party starts again an hour later.
See also: There's a holiday with your name on it here
Broken Hill
Australia's weird time zones don't start and end with Tweed Heads and Coolangatta, though. Broken Hill may be in New South Wales, but historically its rail link has always been to South Australia, so it works to South Australian time. And if that means being permanently half an hour behind the rest of New South Wales, so be it.
See also: Six weird road signs you only see in Australia
The Russian railways
Train connections have an awful lot to answer for – and nowhere does this mess with time zones more than in Russia. The Trans-Siberian Railway takes a whole week to get from Moscow to Vladivostok, and crosses seven time zones along the way. But the train sticks to Moscow time, as do all the stations. So the clock at Vladivostok station can show 9am, while dusk is enveloping all around.
The Chatham Islands
Australia has some weird half hour time zones – and these are relatively common throughout the world. India, for example, sticks to UTC+5.30. But New Zealand's Chatham Islands take things one step more finicky, using a 45 minute offset. That means they're on UTC+12.45. Or, during summer when it gets even more stupid, they throw in daylight savings time, making it UTC+13.45.
See also: The sanctuary that's rescuing kiwis
Eucla
Despite daft time zone switches taking place all over the world, Australia arguably hosts the titan of the genre. Eucla is the first town you hit on the Nullarbor after crossing the border from South Australia. Logic would dictate it follows the same times as the rest of Western Australia, but no – it has its own absurd 45 minute offset. So while the vast bulk of WA is at UTC+8, Eucla is at UTC+45. This makes the time difference between Eucla and South Australia either 45 minutes or one hour and 45 minutes, depending on whether South Australia is observing daylight savings. Drivers are forgiven for getting screamingly confused.
Spain to Portugal
On the surface, the time zone change between Spain and Portugal is fairly conventional – just the one hour difference. What is unusual is the way you can go back in time. In the Spanish border town of Sanlúcar de Guadiana, Limite Zero (limitezero.com) offers the novelty option of crossing the Guadiana river by zipline. The river forms the border between the countries in these parts, so once you've landed in Alcoutim, Portugal, you've zipwired across a river, a border – and an hour back in time.
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