SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE, GUANAJUATO (April 3, 2021).- Daylight saving time, referred to as the Horario de Verano (Summer Schedule) here in Mexico, begins at 2:00 am local time on Sunday, April 4, 2021. So, if you are lucky enough to be spending the Easter holidays in Puerto Vallarta, don’t forget to set your clocks ahead one hour before going to bed this Saturday night!
Daylight Saving Time in Mexico
In Mexico, daylight saving time begins at 2:00 am local time on Sunday, April 4, which means most everyone will be turning their clocks ahead one hour. Some Mexico border communities changed their clocks on March 14th in accordance to the U.S. time change. (For more information, click HERE.)
Mexico adopted DST nationwide in 1996, even in its tropical regions, because of its increasing economic ties to the United States. Although the U.S. changed the schedule for DST beginning in 2007, most of Mexico did not go along with it. Daylight saving time for Mexico begins on the first Sunday of April, and ends on the last Sunday of October.
In 2010, the ten Mexican municipalities that share a border with the United States started to observe daylight saving time three weeks earlier, on the second Sunday in March and ending on the first Sunday in November. This change in daylight saving time observance was requested by local governments and political leaders to help facilitate commerce with the United States.
Some states, as in the case of Quintana Roo, observe a different time zone than the rest of Mexico, for example, if you are in Valladolid, Yucatan, you take the road to Cancun, and 20 minutes later, once you cross the Stateline that divides the states of Yucatan and Quintana Roo, the time zone changes one hour instantly.
In another example, up until April of 2010, Nuevo Vallarta and the state of Nayarit were one hour earlier than Puerto Vallarta and the rest of the state of Jalisco. Before that, many tourist-related businesses in Nayarit around Banderas Bay would set their clocks to Puerto Vallarta time to prevent confusion. On April 4, 2010, Nayarit initiated a 2 hour time change to coincide with Jalisco.
Therefore, in both states clocks will ‘spring forward’ 1 hour from 2:00 am to 3:00 am on Easter Sunday (April 4, 2021). Daylight Saving Time will end in Mexico on Halloween (Sunday, October 31, 2021).
