Pacific/Rarotonga time zone

Pacific/Rarotonga is an IANA time zone used in Cook Islands. It stays on UTC−10 all year.

Pacific/Rarotonga at a glance

Rules of the Pacific/Rarotonga time zone

Pacific/Rarotonga has stayed on UTC−10 since its last daylight saving period in 1991. Software that still applies an old rule will show the wrong time, so keep tz data up to date.

Recent and upcoming changes in Pacific/Rarotonga

The base offset of this zone changed in 1979, from UTC−10:30 to UTC−10. Old timestamps should be converted with the rule that applied at the time.

Where Pacific/Rarotonga is used

Pacific/Rarotonga is used in Cook Islands. These are the largest cities in our list that follow it.

• Avarua

Pacific/Rarotonga compared with other time zones

Differences change during the year when one side moves to or from daylight saving time, so the table shows January and July separately.

Other zones on UTC−10 right now

These IANA zones show the same time as Pacific/Rarotonga today. Their clock-change rules may differ.

• Pacific/Honolulu
• Pacific/Tahiti
• America/Adak

Using Pacific/Rarotonga in software

Store and send the zone as its IANA name, Pacific/Rarotonga, not as a fixed offset. A fixed offset such as UTC−10 gives the wrong result after the next clock change.

Show the current time in Pacific/Rarotonga:

// JavaScript
new Intl.DateTimeFormat('en-GB', { timeZone: 'Pacific/Rarotonga', timeStyle: 'long' }).format(new Date());
# Python
from datetime import datetime
from zoneinfo import ZoneInfo
datetime.now(ZoneInfo('Pacific/Rarotonga'))
// PHP
(new DateTime('now', new DateTimeZone('Pacific/Rarotonga')))->format('c');
# Shell
TZ=Pacific/Rarotonga date

Tools for time in Pacific/Rarotonga

• Convert a time to or from Pacific/Rarotonga: pick a date and time and see it in every city on your list.
• Add Avarua to your world clock to keep it next to your own time.
• Find a meeting time that falls inside office hours in Pacific/Rarotonga and the other cities you work with.
• Open a full-screen clock for your own time zone.

Frequently asked questions

Time zone rules: IANA tz database, version 2026e. Place names and coordinates: GeoNames. Sunrise and sunset are calculated from the coordinates and can differ by a minute or two from local almanacs.