Why does it get dark so late in Spain?

That is because Spain (except the Canary Islands) is in the wrong time zone. Madrid is on a similar line of longitude to Swansea in Wales. Its clocks are set to Central European Time, the same as Warsaw or Tirana, some 24 degrees or 2,000kms (1,200 miles) to the east. Spanish time is a historical anomaly.



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Spain has a dysfunctional time system that deprives everyone in Spain of an hour of sleep every day. In addition, Spanish workers typically work 11-hour days, from 9am to 8pm. With dinner at 9pm and a couple of hours of TV, they tend not to get to bed before midnight.

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As a result, Spaniards who would eat at 1pm or 1.30pm continued to eat at their usual time (now 2pm or 2.30pm), continued to have dinner at 8pm (now 9pm) and continued to go to bed at 11pm (now midnight).

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Why do they eat so late in Spain? Spain's famously late mealtimes are due to the fact that the country has been geographically in the wrong time zone since World War II! During all that time, Spaniards have eaten at the same time they always have in regards to the position of the sun in the sky.

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A siesta is a nap, usually taken in the afternoon. Some alternative terms might include descanso (break), descanso de mediodía (mid-day break) or hora del almuerzo (lunch hour). While it's true that it's common to take a mid-day break in Spain, the majority of working-age people don't go home to nap.

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Svalbard, Norway (for the Polar Night) The area is famous for attracting visitors during the polar night season of mid-November to the end of January when the islands are in constant night. This is your best chance to see the mystical aurora borealis, aka the Northern Lights.

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Spain has two time zones and observes daylight saving time. Spain mainly uses CET (UTC+01:00) and CEST (UTC+02:00) in Peninsular Spain, Ceuta, Melilla and the plazas de soberanía. In the Canary Islands, the time zone is WET (UTC±00:00) and WEST (UTC+01:00).

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Punctuality is not highly important in Spain. People can arrive half an hour late to a social function with no questions raised. If someone turns up late and apologises, people are likely to respond with something like “no pasa nada” – meaning “It's not that important”.

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Dinner: 9–11 p.m. Dinner in Spain may be late, but as with all Spanish mealtimes, it's definitely worth waiting for. Cena, or dinner, is usually much lighter than it would be in many other countries.

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Spain is known for having some of the best beaches in the Mediterranean. From the wild Galician coast to the warm Mediterranean Sea, Spain boasts roughly 3,000 miles of coastline that is home to almost 600 Blue Flag beaches—one in every six Blue Flag beaches in the world is located in Spain.

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