With fewer ‘bridge days’ and more holidays on weekends, employees in Germany will see more working days in 2026 than they had this year. Here’s how to maximise your days off by planning around the public holiday calendar.
Have you started thinking about holiday plans for the coming year yet?
When it comes to vacations and travel, planning well ahead pays off in Germany as the price for travel and accommodation tends to be significantly less if you manage to book more than a couple months in advance.
Also, looking ahead at the calendar allows you to plan time away around public holidays (Feiertage), which can allow you to extend your time away from work without using up more of your precious vacation days.
Here are the holiday dates you can plan around in 2026.
Germany’s public holidays
There are nine public holidays which apply in every German state.
- New Year’s Day (Thursday, January 1st)
- Good Friday (Friday, April 3rd)
- Easter Monday (Monday, April 6th)
- Labour Day (Friday, May 1st)
- Ascension Day (Thursday, May 14th)
- Whit Monday (Monday, May 25th)
- German Unity Day (Saturday, October 3rd)
- Christmas Day (Friday, December 25th)
- Boxing Day or Second Christmas Day (Saturday, December 26th)
In 2026, two of these holidays will fall on a Saturday. So, compared to 2025, there will be fewer days off for employees in Germany who work Monday to Friday.
Nationwide, there will be an average of between 252 and 254 working days in 2026 – a couple more than in the previous year.
Note that Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are not public holidays in Germany, although many businesses and companies have special rules regarding working time on these days. For example, many companies offer a half day, or allow staff to leave early.
If in doubt, you should check your employment contract or collective agreement regarding the holiday policy around these dates.
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How to maximise vacation time in 2026
Regularly employed workers in Germany are entitled to at least 20 vacation days a year, according to the Federal Holidays Act. Many companies offer workers at least 25 days off each year, and some larger companies offer as many as 30 days of vacation or more.
If you have a five-day working week, this amounts to four, five or six seeks of vacation each year.
But you can arrange for a bit more time away with your allotted days off if you plan cleverly, and arrange to take your breaks around some of the public holidays.
Fireworks are seen above Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate on New Year’s Eve. Photo by Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP
Here are some options for using your vacation days to booking longer breaks in 2026:
Winter (or Christmas) break
Public holiday: Christmas, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day and Three Kings Day (January 1st 2025)
Book these vacation days: December 29th, 30th and 31st 2025, and January 2nd 2026
Days off: December 25th, 2025 to January 5th, 2026
Result: Eleven days off with four days booked holiday (or less if your employer gives you New Year’s Eve off)
*Note that employees who reside in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Saxony-Anhalt also have a public holiday on Three Kings Day (or Epiphany) on January 6th. In this case, you can extend your leave by two days to January 7th by taking one additional vacation day on Monday the 5th.
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Easter
Public holidays: Good Friday (April 3rd) and Easter Monday (April 6th)
Book these vacation days: March 30th to April 2nd (Monday to Thursday)
Days off: March 28th (Saturday) to April 6th (Monday)
Result: ten days off with four days booked holiday
Labour Day
Public holiday: May 1st (Friday)
Book this vacation day: April 30th (Thursday)
Days off: April 30th (Thursday) to May 3rd (Sunday)
Result: Four days off with one booked vacation day
*With Labour Day falling on a Friday this year, employees are set to start the month of May with a three-day weekend. But if you plan time away leading up to this weekend, you can extend your vacation further.
Ascension Day (Christi Himmelfahrt)
Public holiday: May 14th (Thursday)
Book this vacation day: May 15th (Friday)
Days off: May 14th (Thursday) to May 17th (Sunday)
Result: Four days off with one booked holiday
*When holidays fall on a Thursday, many workers in Germany aim to take a day off of work on the Friday to effectively give themselves a four-day weekend. The extra day taken off work is called a “Bridge Day” (Brückentag), because it bridges the gap between the holiday and weekend.
READ ALSO: Brückentag, Fenstertag and Zwickeltag – All the German words for getting longer holiday weekends
Kayaking along a canal in the Spreewald region in Brandenburg is a great local trip idea for a holiday weekend. Photo: Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP
Whit Monday
Public holiday: May 25th (Monday)
Book this vacation day: May 15th (Friday) to May 22nd (Friday)
Days off: May 14th (Ascension Day) to May 25th ( Whit Monday)
Result: Twelve days off with six booked vacation days
*Whit Monday makes for a three-day weekend which can help extend a short vacation. Or you can take a longer trip by taking the bridge day and the following week off to connect Ascension Day to Whit Monday.
Christmas / New Year’s Day 2026
Public holidays: Christmas, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day
Book these days off: December 28th to 31st (Monday to Thursday)
Days off: December 25th (Friday) to January 3rd (Sunday)
Result: Ten days off with four vacation days
Take note of regional holidays
In addition to the federal public holidays listed above, many German states also mark other public holidays, meaning that workers in these states get an additional day (or more) away from work each year – and potentially more opportunities for bridge days as well.
The Free state of Bavaria has the most regional public holidays. Workers here get four extra holidays each year: Three Kings Day, Corpus Christi, Assumption Day and All Saints Day.
Those in Baden Wurttemberg and Saarland get three additional holidays.
There are six German states that get two regional public holidays, and the remaining seven (including the city-states of Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen) only get one regional holiday.
Here are the regional holidays to be aware of in 2026:
Epiphany or Three Kings Day (Tuesday, January 6th)
Federal states: Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Saxony-Anhalt
International Women’s Day (Sunday, March 8th)
Federal states: Berlin, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
*This year Berlin marked May 8th, the Day of Liberation from National Socialism, as a public holiday.
Corpus Christi (Thursday, June 4th)
Federal states: Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland
*Falling on a Thursday in 2026, Corpus Christi is a ripe opportunity for taking a bridge day on the Friday, which would allow workers in these states to take a four day break from June 4th to the 7th, with just one booked vacation day.
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READ ALSO: How to save money on a camping holiday in Germany
People sit at the ‘Friedenstafel’ to celebrate the Peace Festival in Augsburg. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Stefan Puchner
Augsburg Peace Festival (Saturday, August 8th)
Federal states: Only in the city of Augsburg (Bavaria)
Assumption Day (Saturday, August 15th)
Federal states: Bavaria (only in municipalities with a predominantly Catholic population), Saarland
World Children’s Day (Sunday, September 20th)
Federal states: Thuringia
Reformation Day (Saturday, October 31st)
Federal states: Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thuringia
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All Saints’ Day (Sunday, November 1st)
Federal states: Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland
Day of Repentance and Prayer (Wednesday, November 18th)
Federal states: Saxony (non-working holiday); in Bavaria it is a school-free day
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: thelocal.de
