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Public Holidays in Portugal

Researched and written with AI tools from official sources. How we make our guides

The 13 national holidays and their dates, which days are optional, what you are paid if you work on a holiday, and how holidays affect leave.

The Portugal Brief 7 min read

Public Holidays in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

  • You work in Portugal and want to know which days off you are entitled to.
  • You may have to work on a holiday and want to know what you should be paid.
  • You employ someone, or run a business, and need the holiday rules.

Not for you if: you want the festivals and traditions behind each date. Read Portuguese Festivals and Public Holidays through the Year instead.

Portugal has 13 national public holidays (feriados). They are set by the Labour Code and apply everywhere, including Madeira and the Azores. Two more days, Carnival Tuesday and your town's municipal holiday, are optional: you get them off only if your contract or collective agreement says so. You are paid for every public holiday. If you work on one, you are owed extra pay or time off. The next national holidays are Monday 5 October 2026, then Tuesday 1 December and Tuesday 8 December.

The 13 national holidays

The list is fixed by law. A collective agreement or a job contract cannot add other public holidays or remove these.

Holiday20262027
New Year's Day (Ano Novo), 1 JanuaryThursdayFriday
Good Friday (Sexta-Feira Santa)Friday 3 AprilFriday 26 March
Easter Sunday (Páscoa)Sunday 5 AprilSunday 28 March
Freedom Day (Dia da Liberdade), 25 AprilSaturdaySunday
Labour Day (Dia do Trabalhador), 1 MayFridaySaturday
Corpus Christi (Corpo de Deus)Thursday 4 JuneThursday 27 May
Portugal Day (Dia de Portugal), 10 JuneWednesdayThursday
Assumption (Assunção de Nossa Senhora), 15 AugustSaturdaySunday
Republic Day (Implantação da República), 5 OctoberMondayTuesday
All Saints' Day (Todos os Santos), 1 NovemberSundayMonday
Restoration of Independence (Restauração da Independência), 1 DecemberTuesdayWednesday
Immaculate Conception (Imaculada Conceição), 8 DecemberTuesdayWednesday
Christmas Day (Natal), 25 DecemberFridaySaturday

Three holidays move each year because they follow Easter: Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Corpus Christi, which falls 60 days after Easter. Easter Sunday counts as one of the 13, even though it is always a Sunday. A town may mark Good Friday on another day of Easter week if that day has local meaning.

When a holiday falls on a weekend

You do not get a replacement day. The law allows some holidays to be moved to the following Monday, but only by a specific new law, and none has been moved. Besides Easter Sunday, three holidays fell at the weekend in 2026: Freedom Day, Assumption, and All Saints' Day. In 2027 four do: Freedom Day, Labour Day, Assumption, and Christmas Day.

Optional holidays: Carnival Tuesday and your municipal holiday

Carnival Tuesday falls 47 days before Easter: Tuesday 17 February 2026 and Tuesday 9 February 2027. It is not a national holiday. Your employer gives it only if your collective agreement or contract says so.

Your municipal holiday. Every municipality (concelho) has one day of its own. It works the same way: for private-sector workers it is a day off only if your contract or collective agreement provides for it. Council offices and the local Citizen Shop (Loja do Cidadão) close that day.

Your employer and you may also agree to take a different day off in place of Carnival Tuesday or the municipal holiday.

Some common dates:

MunicipalityMunicipal holiday
Lisbon, Cascais, and Vila Real13 June (Santo António)
Porto, Braga, Vila Nova de Gaia, and Almada24 June (São João)
Guimarães24 June
Sintra and Seixal29 June (São Pedro)
Coimbra4 July (Rainha Santa Isabel)
Aveiro12 May
Leiria22 May
Faro7 September
Setúbal15 September
Viseu21 September
Torres Vedras11 November (São Martinho)

Mafra, Vila Franca de Xira, and Loulé mark Ascension Thursday, which moves: 6 May in 2027. For any other town, check the council's website or the page for your local Citizen Shop on gov.pt, which lists the day it closes.

Extra holidays in Madeira and the Azores

The islands keep all 13 national holidays and add their own.

  • Madeira adds 2 April (Autonomy Day), 1 July (Madeira Day), and 26 December.
  • The Azores add Azores Day on the Monday after Pentecost. In 2027 that is 17 May.

Your pay for a public holiday

You are paid as normal for a public holiday you do not work. Your employer cannot make you work extra hours on other days to make up for it.

Public holidays are not counted as working days for annual leave. Your minimum of 22 working days of paid leave is counted on weekdays, Monday to Friday, leaving out holidays. So a holiday that falls during your leave does not use up a leave day.

If you work on a public holiday

What you are owed depends on whether your workplace is allowed to open on holidays.

Your workplace may open on holidays (shops, restaurants, hospitals, transport, and other activities allowed on Sundays). If the holiday is part of your normal schedule, you are owed one of these, and your employer chooses which:

  • time off equal to half the hours you worked, or
  • 50% extra pay for those hours.

Your workplace must close on holidays. On national holidays, every activity that is not allowed on Sundays must close or stop work. If your employer still asks you to work, that is overtime (trabalho suplementar). Overtime on a holiday is paid at your hourly rate plus:

  • 50% for each hour, up to 100 hours of overtime a year
  • 100% for each hour, above 100 hours a year

Your collective agreement may set its own arrangements, so check it. Breaking these pay rules is a serious offence for the employer. If you think you have not been paid correctly, you can raise it with the Working Conditions Authority (ACT). For help reading your contract, see Understanding Your Employment Contract and Payslip in Portugal.

Public servants and government days off

Each year the government decides whether to give public servants extra days off. This is called a tolerância de ponto. It is a one-off decision, published in the Diário da República, and it does not bind private employers. In 2026 the government gave one on Carnival Tuesday, 17 February, so most state offices closed.

Christmas Eve (24 December) and New Year's Eve (31 December) are not public holidays. The government often grants public servants time off around Christmas and announces it a few weeks ahead. Expect many state offices to close early or for the day.

Bridges

When a holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, many people take the Monday or Friday off too. This is a bridge (ponte). You have no legal right to it. It comes out of your annual leave unless your employer gives the day. December 2026 has two Tuesday holidays, so expect long weekends from 28 November to 1 December and from 5 to 8 December.

How holidays affect everyday life

  • Public offices. Citizen Shops and the services inside them, such as Finanças and Social Security counters, close on national holidays and on the local municipal holiday.
  • Shops and banks. Check each one. Many open with shorter hours.
  • Public transport. Operators usually run a Sunday or holiday timetable. Check before you travel.
  • Health. For urgent health advice on a holiday, call SNS 24 on 808 24 24 24. Nurses answer clinical calls 24 hours a day. In an emergency, call 112.
  • Deadlines. As a general rule of the Civil Code, a deadline that ends on a Sunday or a public holiday moves to the next working day. Some procedures have their own rules, so check the rule for yours.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Your rights on holidays also depend on your contract and any collective agreement; check them before you plan time off or agree to work.

Sources

This guide is written from official sources and, where relevant, organisations' own websites.

Last verified October 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.

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