Public Holidays in December 2026
72 holidays across 27 European countries in December 2026.
Planning the Christmas break? See Christmas and New Year public holidays across Europe.
The 2026/27 Christmas break — and what it costs in leave
Christmas Day 2026 falls on a Fridayand New Year's Day 2027 on a Friday. That puts the run from Thursday 24 December to Sunday 3 January — 11 days off — within reach of just four days of leave in Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland, Slovakia and United Kingdom. Elsewhere the same run costs five in 22 countries.
Boxing Day, 26 December 2026, is a Saturday and a national public holiday in 20 of the 27 countries — so this season most of Europe loses it to the weekend. The one substitute day in our data is United Kingdom’s, on Monday 28 December. Epiphany, 6 January 2027, is a Wednesday and a national holiday in 11 countries.
The arithmetic assumes a Monday–Friday working week and counts national public holidays only. Regional holidays and days that are customary rather than statutory — Christmas Eve in Denmark and Sweden among them — are not included, so in some countries you may need less leave than this says.