Public holidays in Germany, by federal state

Nine statutory public holidays apply in all sixteen states. Everything beyond that is governed by the respective state law: Bavaria reaches thirteen, while Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein have ten. What always counts is the place of work, not the place of residence and not the company's registered office.

As at:15. September 2026

The nine nationwide public holidays

They apply everywhere, and only one of them is in a federal law: German Unity Day in the Unification Treaty. The other eight are in sixteen state laws that agree on this point.

  • New Year's Day

    Date 2027
    01.01.2027
    Weekday
    Friday

  • Good Friday

    Date 2027
    26.03.2027
    Weekday
    Friday

  • Easter Monday

    Date 2027
    29.03.2027
    Weekday
    Monday

  • Labour Day

    Date 2027
    01.05.2027
    Weekday
    Saturday

  • Ascension Day

    Date 2027
    06.05.2027
    Weekday
    Thursday

  • Whit Monday

    Date 2027
    17.05.2027
    Weekday
    Monday

  • German Unity Day

    Date 2027
    03.10.2027
    Weekday
    Sunday

  • Christmas Day

    Date 2027
    25.12.2027
    Weekday
    Saturday

  • Boxing Day

    Date 2027
    26.12.2027
    Weekday
    Sunday

As at 15. September 2026. Good Friday, Easter Monday, Ascension Day and Whit Monday depend on Easter Sunday and therefore move every year.

What sets the states apart

The differences are almost entirely denominational: Corpus Christi, All Saints' Day and Assumption Day in the Catholic-leaning states, Reformation Day in the Protestant-leaning ones. Plus three more recent decisions: Berlin in 2019, Thuringia in 2019 and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in 2023.

  • Bavaria

    Public holidays 2027
    13
    In addition to the nationwide ones
    Epiphany, Corpus Christi, Assumption Day, All Saints' Day

  • Baden-Württemberg

    Public holidays 2027
    12
    In addition to the nationwide ones
    Epiphany, Corpus Christi, All Saints' Day

  • Saarland

    Public holidays 2027
    12
    In addition to the nationwide ones
    Corpus Christi, Assumption Day, All Saints' Day

  • Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

    Public holidays 2027
    11
    In addition to the nationwide ones
    International Women's Day, Reformation Day

  • North Rhine-Westphalia

    Public holidays 2027
    11
    In addition to the nationwide ones
    Corpus Christi, All Saints' Day

  • Rhineland-Palatinate

    Public holidays 2027
    11
    In addition to the nationwide ones
    Corpus Christi, All Saints' Day

  • Saxony

    Public holidays 2027
    11
    In addition to the nationwide ones
    Reformation Day, Day of Repentance and Prayer

  • Saxony-Anhalt

    Public holidays 2027
    11
    In addition to the nationwide ones
    Epiphany, Reformation Day

  • Thuringia

    Public holidays 2027
    11
    In addition to the nationwide ones
    World Children's Day, Reformation Day

  • Berlin

    Public holidays 2027
    10
    In addition to the nationwide ones
    International Women's Day

  • Brandenburg

    Public holidays 2027
    10
    In addition to the nationwide ones
    Reformation Day

  • Bremen

    Public holidays 2027
    10
    In addition to the nationwide ones
    Reformation Day

  • Hamburg

    Public holidays 2027
    10
    In addition to the nationwide ones
    Reformation Day

  • Hesse

    Public holidays 2027
    10
    In addition to the nationwide ones
    Corpus Christi

  • Lower Saxony

    Public holidays 2027
    10
    In addition to the nationwide ones
    Reformation Day

  • Schleswig-Holstein

    Public holidays 2027
    10
    In addition to the nationwide ones
    Reformation Day

As at 15. September 2026. What is counted is what applies across a whole state. Assumption Day in Bavaria, Corpus Christi in Saxony and Thuringia and the Augsburg Peace Festival apply only locally and are not counted.

The dates by federal state

Every page lists2026, 2027 and 2028 with the weekday and bridge days.

Public holidaysin Baden-Württemberg

Twelve statutory public holidays, three of them Catholic in origin: Epiphany, Corpus Christi and All Saints' Day.

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Public holidaysin Bayern

The state with the most public holidays. Assumption Day does not apply everywhere, though, and Augsburg has a day of its own.

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Public holidaysin Berlin

Since 2019 International Women's Day on 8 March has been a statutory public holiday, at the time in the only federal state to have it.

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Public holidaysin Brandenburg

Reformation Day on 31 October has always been a public holiday here, not only since 2018 as in northern Germany.

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Public holidaysin Bremen

Ten statutory public holidays. Reformation Day was added in 2018, together with the three other northern German states.

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Public holidaysin Hamburg

Ten statutory public holidays. Reformation Day has been among them since 2018; the harbour anniversary never has.

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Public holidaysin Hessen

Corpus Christi is the only public holiday Hesse has beyond the nationwide ones.

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Public holidaysin Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Since 2023 International Women's Day on 8 March has been a statutory public holiday, the second state to adopt it after Berlin.

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Public holidaysin Niedersachsen

Ten statutory public holidays. Reformation Day was added in 2018, after the one-off nationwide holiday for the 500th anniversary.

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Public holidaysin Nordrhein-Westfalen

The most populous state has eleven public holidays, including Corpus Christi and All Saints' Day. Carnival is not one of them.

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Public holidaysin Rheinland-Pfalz

Eleven statutory public holidays including Corpus Christi and All Saints' Day. Shrove Monday is not among them here either.

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Public holidaysin Saarland

Twelve public holidays as in Bavaria, and Assumption Day applies across the whole state here, not just in individual municipalities.

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Public holidaysin Sachsen

The only state with Repentance and Prayer Day as a statutory public holiday. In return employees pay a higher contribution to long-term care insurance.

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Public holidaysin Sachsen-Anhalt

Eleven public holidays, including Epiphany and Reformation Day: a combination found nowhere else.

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Public holidaysin Schleswig-Holstein

Ten statutory public holidays. Reformation Day has been among them since 2018.

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Public holidaysin Thüringen

Since 2019 World Children's Day on 20 September has been a statutory public holiday, uniquely in Germany.

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Public holidays in the duty roster and the holiday account

A public holiday is not a working day, so it does not count against holiday entitlement, and under section 2 EFZG it still has to be paid. Planning has to know both, otherwise it counts target hours against a day on which nobody was allowed to work. How many days are available at all is calculated by the holiday entitlement calculator, how many working days a period has by the working days calculator, and which holiday day gains the most by the bridge days calculator.

Questions about public holidays

What gets asked about this most often.

Nine: New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Labour Day, Ascension Day, Whit Monday, German Unity Day and the two Christmas holidays. Only German Unity Day is in a federal law; all the others are in the state holiday laws, which agree on them.

Bavaria with thirteen, although Assumption Day applies there only in predominantly Catholic municipalities. Across a whole state, Saarland has the most with twelve. Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein have the fewest with ten.

The one where the work is done. What counts is the holiday law of the state in which the work is performed, not that of the company's registered office and not that of the place of residence. When working from home it is the state in which the person actually works.

No. Unlike in the United Kingdom, German law knows no substitute day. A public holiday on a Saturday or Sunday is simply lost, unless a collective agreement or a works agreement provides otherwise.

No, in no federal state. Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are ordinary working days; many businesses give them off, which is a voluntary benefit or is in the collective agreement. In some states a limited protection under holiday law applies from 2 pm.

From the same calculation MetronHR uses in the product: fixed dates from the state holiday laws, movable ones from Easter Sunday using the Gregorian algorithm, plus the years in which the newer holidays were introduced. What applies only locally appears as a footnote and not in the table.

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The duty roster knows your public holidays

A public holiday calendar per federal state, with your own days addable, and holiday entitlement calculated from it.

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