Public Holidays & School Holidays in Germany 2026/2027

Discover the public holidays in Germany in 2026 by federal state, as well as an overview of the periods that are particularly suitable for taking long weekends. To help you plan your next holiday, we also provide the school holiday calendar for Germany for 2026/2027. In addition, we explain the specific rules governing annual leave under German employment law.

It is important to be aware of the local differences in the German holiday calendar, as public holidays are not the same in every region.

For example, only Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Saxony-Anhalt celebrate Epiphany. If you want to benefit from the highest number of public holidays each year, you would have to live in Augsburg, the only German city to celebrate the Peace Festival on 8 August.

Only one public holiday is set at national level: 3 October, Day of German Unity (Tag der deutschen Einheit), Germany's national holiday. Only 9 public holidays are observed nationwide, while the others are determined by each federal state:

• New Year's Day (1 January)
• Good Friday (before Easter)
• Easter Monday
• Labour Day (1 May)
• Ascension Day
• Whit Monday
• German Unity Day (3 October)
• Christmas Day and Boxing Day (25 and 26 December)

Number of public holidays by German federal state (Bundesland)

📌 Please note: At local level, certain days may also be treated as public holidays without appearing on the official calendar, such as during Carnival in Cologne and Düsseldorf. If you are unfamiliar with local customs, ask your colleagues for information.

Some dates will certainly be more popular than others among your German colleagues. Depending on the public holidays, you can make the most of your annual leave during specific periods, sometimes enjoying up to two weeks off by using only a few days of leave.

Short breaks spread throughout the year can be just as beneficial as a long holiday, whose effects tend to fade quickly after returning to work. It is therefore often better to take shorter but regular breaks, such as long weekends.

Here are the main dates to keep in mind when requesting annual leave if you want to make the most of your holidays.

Overview of public holidays and long weekends in Germany in 2026

📆 Note: For more information, take a look at the German calendar for 2026.

German school holidays are divided across the different federal states into 6 periods:

• Sommerferien (summer holidays)
• Herbstferien (autumn holidays)
• Weihnachtsferien (Christmas holidays)
• Winterferien (winter holidays)
• Osterferien (Easter holidays)
• Pfingstferien (Whitsun holidays)

📝 Please note: Some German states, such as Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Schleswig-Holstein, do not have winter holidays. Brandenburg and Hesse do not have Whitsun holidays.

School holidays in Germany 2026 / 2027 (Autumn, Christmas, Winter)

School holidays in Germany 2026 / 2027 (Easter, Whitsun, Summer)

📥 Tip: You can download and print the 2026-2027 school holiday calendar for Germany for your region.

On average, employees in Germany receive 29 days of paid annual leave per year. Based on a six-day working week, the statutory minimum is 24 days, equivalent to 20 days for a five-day working week. Regardless of how many days you work per week, the statutory minimum corresponds to 4 weeks of leave. For example, someone working 3 days a week is entitled to at least 12 days of paid annual leave per year in Germany.

Under German annual leave regulations, the employer is responsible for approving employees' leave requests in agreement with them. However, there is no statutory deadline for requesting annual leave; this depends on each company. Planning your holidays early gives you more choice and can help you find better prices for train or plane tickets.

☝ Good to know: In Germany, annual leave can be carried over to the following year, but generally only until the end of March at the latest.

Find out more:

• Job sites in Germany: The best portals
• Legal minimum wage in Germany: Rates & regulations
• Average salary in Germany: Sectors & regions

Olivier Geslin