Public Holidays Germany 2027

Two colleagues, two federal states, two different public holidays on the same day: anyone planning for teams across Germany knows the challenge. Nine public holidays apply nationwide in Germany. Beyond that, each federal state has additional days off—for example, Epiphany in Bavaria or the Day of Repentance and Prayer, which is a statutory holiday only in Saxony.

This article gives you the complete overview for 2027: all statutory holidays, where they apply, and how to get the longest possible stretches of time off while using as few vacation days as possible. 2027 is a mixed year for public holidays: while Christmas and several autumn holidays fall unfavourably on weekends, some holidays offer good opportunities for long weekends.

All Holidays 2027 at a Glance

Date	Weekday	Holiday	Applies in
1 January	Friday	New Year's Day	nationwide
6 January	Wednesday	Epiphany (Heilige Drei Könige)	Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Saxony-Anhalt
8 March	Monday	International Women's Day	Berlin, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
26 March	Friday	Good Friday	nationwide
28 March	Sunday	Easter Sunday	Brandenburg
29 March	Monday	Easter Monday	nationwide
1 May	Saturday	Labour Day	nationwide
6 May	Thursday	Ascension Day	nationwide
16 May	Sunday	Whit Sunday	Brandenburg
17 May	Monday	Whit Monday	nationwide
27 May	Thursday	Corpus Christi	Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland; also in certain municipalities/districts of Saxony and Thuringia
8 August	Sunday	Augsburg Peace Festival	City of Augsburg
15 August	Sunday	Assumption of Mary	Saarland and Bavarian municipalities with a predominantly Catholic population
20 September	Monday	World Children's Day	Thuringia
3 October	Sunday	German Unity Day	nationwide
31 October	Sunday	Reformation Day	Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thuringia
1 November	Monday	All Saints' Day	Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland
17 November	Wednesday	Day of Repentance and Prayer	Saxony
25 December	Saturday	Christmas Day	nationwide
26 December	Sunday	Boxing Day (2nd Christmas Day)	nationwide

Note: School holidays are not public holidays and are set separately by each federal state – if you're planning time off with children, it's worth also checking the school holiday calendar.

Even more practical for planning: download the 2027 Holiday Calendar as a PDF – all dates, bridge days and federal states at a glance, ready to print or share with your team.

Month by Month: How to Plan 2027 Right

January

New Year's Day falls on a Friday in 2027 – an extended weekend (Fri–Sun), entirely without using vacation days.

💡 Tip for Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Saxony-Anhalt: With just 2 vacation days (Monday the 4th and Tuesday the 5th of January), you can connect New Year's Day with Epiphany – giving you 6 consecutive days off (Jan 1–6).

March

International Women's Day (Mon, Mar 8) gives Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania a long weekend off without using vacation days – it has only been a statutory holiday there since 2019 and 2023 respectively, once co-initiated by Clara Zetkin.

Easter brings real generosity: Good Friday (Fri, Mar 26) through Easter Monday (Mon, Mar 29) add up to 4 consecutive days off nationwide – without using a single vacation day.

💡 Tip: If you also take the following week off (Mar 30–Apr 2, 4 vacation days), you get 10 consecutive days off from March 26 to April 4.

May

May 1 falls on a Saturday in 2027 – no extra day off.

💡 Tip: Ascension Day (Thu, May 6) plus a bridge day on Friday (May 7) add up to 4 days off with just 1 vacation day.

Whitsun (Whit Monday, Mon, May 17) gives everyone a long weekend off without using vacation days, with Brandenburg additionally getting Whit Sunday.

💡 Tip for Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, NRW, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland: Corpus Christi (Thu, May 27) plus a bridge day (Fri, May 28) gives you another 4 days off with just 1 vacation day – two weeks after Whitsun.

August

Assumption of Mary (Aug 15) falls on a Sunday in 2027 – in Saarland as well as in Bavarian municipalities with a predominantly Catholic population, it therefore brings no extra day off this year. In Bavaria it doesn't apply uniformly, by the way: what matters is the local population share – anyone planning teams in Bavaria should check this per location rather than assuming it applies across "Bavaria" as a whole.

September

World Children's Day (Mon, Sep 20) has given Thuringia a long weekend off without using vacation days since 2019 – not to be confused with the International Day for the Rights of the Child on November 20 or International Children's Day on June 1: neither of these is a statutory holiday in Germany.

October

2027 isn't a lucky year for autumn: both German Unity Day (Oct 3) and Reformation Day (Oct 31) fall on a Sunday – neither brings an extra day off.

November

All Saints' Day (Mon, Nov 1) gives Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, NRW, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland a long weekend off without using vacation days.

💡 Tip for Saxony: The Day of Repentance and Prayer (Wed, Nov 17) can be extended into a 5-day stretch off (Wed–Sun) with 2 vacation days (Thu 18 and Fri 19 Nov).

Curious detail: The Day of Repentance and Prayer was a nationwide public holiday through 1994. From 1995 it was abolished as a statutory holiday to ease the burden on employers financing the newly introduced long-term care insurance (Pflegeversicherung). Saxony kept it.

December

Christmas Day and Boxing Day both fall on a weekend in 2027 (Sat 25, Sun 26) – less favourable than in years when Christmas falls midweek.

💡 Tip: With 5 vacation days between the holidays (Mon Dec 27 – Fri Dec 31), you can connect the two weekends around Christmas and New Year into 9 consecutive days off (Dec 25, 2027 – Jan 2, 2028).

Why This Also Matters to HR

Holidays are more than a calendar entry for HR: different federal states mean different absence rules, and anyone planning teams across multiple locations can quickly lose track of who's off when. What fundamentally matters here is the employee's actual place of work, not the company's registered office. HR software that automatically accounts for holidays by federal state in the absence calendar saves the manual effort in Excel – a noticeable difference, especially for distributed teams.

Conclusion

2027 rewards spring above all: Easter brings 4 days off nationwide without using any vacation days, and if you bridge cleverly, you can get significantly more out of Ascension Day and Corpus Christi with just a few vacation days. Autumn, on the other hand, is mixed – two important holidays fall on Sundays. Those who plan ahead can coordinate sought-after bridge days in time and turn a few vacation days into longer breaks.