Public Holidays in Germany in 2026 and 2027: A State-by-State Guide for Job Seekers

Why public holidays depend on where you live in Germany

Germany does not run on a single public holiday calendar. Alongside the days that apply across the whole country, each Bundesland (federal state) adds its own regional holidays, mostly tied to religious traditions in that particular region. For anyone planning a move to Germany for work, this matters in practice: your paid leave entitlement is set by your contract, but the actual public holiday dates you get off during the year depend on which state your employer is based in.

Public holidays that apply across all of Germany

The German holiday calendar lists the following days for all states (alle BL) in both 2026 and 2027:

• New Year's Day: 01.01.2026 and 01.01.2027
• Good Friday (Karfreitag): 03.04.2026 and 26.03.2027
• Easter Monday (Ostermontag): 06.04.2026 and 29.03.2027
• Labour Day (Tag der Arbeit): 01.05.2026 and 01.05.2027
• Ascension Day (Christi Himmelfahrt): 14.05.2026 and 06.05.2027
• Whit Monday (Pfingstmontag): 25.05.2026 and 17.05.2027
• German Unity Day (Tag der Deutschen Einheit): 03.10.2026 and 03.10.2027
• Christmas Day (1. Weihnachtsfeiertag): 25.12.2026 and 25.12.2027
• Boxing Day (2. Weihnachtsfeiertag): 26.12.2026 and 26.12.2027

These are the days anyone working in Germany can expect off, regardless of which state they end up in.

Holidays that only apply in some states

Other dates on the same calendar are listed only for specific states, which is where your location starts to matter:

• Epiphany (Heilige Drei Könige): 06.01.2026 and 06.01.2027, listed for Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Saxony-Anhalt
• International Women's Day: 08.03.2026 and 08.03.2027, listed for Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
• Corpus Christi (Fronleichnam): 04.06.2026, listed for Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. In 2027 it falls on 27.05.2027, a Thursday (Do) according to the calendar
• Assumption Day (Mariä Himmelfahrt): 15.08.2026 and 15.08.2027, listed for Bavaria and Saarland
• Reformation Day: 31.10.2026 and 31.10.2027, listed for Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia
• All Saints' Day (Allerheiligen): 01.11.2026, and 01.11.2027, a Monday (Mo) according to the calendar, listed for Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland

Someone working in a state like Bavaria is covered by every date on both lists above, while someone working in a state not named on the second list only gets the nationwide dates.

What this means if you are moving to Germany for work

If you are comparing job offers in different German cities, it is worth checking the regional holiday list for the state your future employer is in, alongside salary and relocation terms, since it changes how your time off is spread across the year. A role based in a state with more regional holidays on this calendar, such as Bavaria, has extra days off scattered through January, March, June and August that a role in a state without them does not have. The calendar also flags Ascension Day on 06.05.2027 and Corpus Christi on 27.05.2027 as both falling on a Thursday (Do), which in the states where Corpus Christi is observed is worth knowing when planning time off around that week.

Planning around 2026 and 2027

Because several of these holidays are tied to Easter, their dates move between the two years: Good Friday shifts from 03.04.2026 to 26.03.2027, and Easter Monday shifts from 06.04.2026 to 29.03.2027. Anyone relocating to Germany partway through 2026 or 2027 should check the specific dates for their destination state rather than assuming the calendar repeats, since both the date and the weekday a holiday falls on can change from one year to the next.