Public Holidays in Portugal 2026 and 2027: What Is Open and Closed

Portugal has 13 national public holidays, plus a local holiday in every town and extra regional days in Madeira and the Azores. On these days banks and offices close, some museums shut, transport runs a lighter timetable and Portuguese families head for the coast. Here are the dates and weekdays for 2026 and 2027, and what stays open.

Quick answer: the dates that move each year are Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Corpus Christi: 3 April, 5 April and 4 June in 2026, and 26 March, 28 March and 27 May in 2027. The other ten are fixed. Most supermarkets, shopping centres and restaurants open on holidays (Christmas Day is the big exception), while banks, post offices and many state museums close. Carnival Tuesday is not an official holiday, but many people get it off.

Holiday	2026	2027
New Year’s Day	Thu 1 Jan	Fri 1 Jan
Good Friday	Fri 3 Apr	Fri 26 Mar
Easter Sunday	Sun 5 Apr	Sun 28 Mar
Freedom Day	Sat 25 Apr	Sun 25 Apr
Labour Day	Fri 1 May	Sat 1 May
Corpus Christi (Corpo de Deus)	Thu 4 Jun	Thu 27 May
Portugal Day	Wed 10 Jun	Thu 10 Jun
Assumption Day	Sat 15 Aug	Sun 15 Aug
Republic Day	Mon 5 Oct	Tue 5 Oct
All Saints’ Day	Sun 1 Nov	Mon 1 Nov
Restoration of Independence	Tue 1 Dec	Wed 1 Dec
Immaculate Conception	Tue 8 Dec	Wed 8 Dec
Christmas Day	Fri 25 Dec	Sat 25 Dec

Corpus Christi is always a Thursday, 60 days after Easter Sunday. When a holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, Portugal doesn’t move it to the Monday, so 2027, with four holidays at a weekend, is a thin year for days off.

Carnival Tuesday (17 February 2026, 9 February 2027) is not one of the 13. The Labour Code lists it as an optional holiday, given by employment contract or collective agreement. In practice the government usually gives civil servants the day off, as it did in 2026, and schools take a short break, so many offices and some shops close. See Carnival in Portugal.

Big local and regional holidays

Every municipality also has its own holiday, usually for its patron saint or a key date in its history. Like Carnival, it is optional in law, but town halls, many offices and some shops close. These are the ones visitors notice most:

• Lisbon, 13 June (Santo António): a Saturday in 2026 and a Sunday in 2027. The real party is the night before, in Alfama and Mouraria. Some state monuments close on the day, such as the Jerónimos Monastery. See Santo António in Lisbon.
• Porto and Braga, 24 June (São João): a Wednesday in 2026 and a Thursday in 2027. It follows the all-night street party of 23 June, so expect a slow, sleepy morning. See São João in Porto.
• Coimbra, 4 July (Rainha Santa Isabel): the day of the city’s patron saint, in the middle of the city festivals. A Saturday in 2026 and a Sunday in 2027.
• Funchal, 21 August: City Day. A Friday in 2026 and a Saturday in 2027.
• Madeira: regional holidays on 2 April (Autonomy Day, added in 2025), 1 July (Madeira Day) and 26 December. In 2027 they fall on a Friday, a Thursday and a Sunday. See the Madeira travel guide.
• The Azores: Azores Day is Whit Monday, the day after Pentecost: 25 May 2026 and 17 May 2027. Ponta Delgada also takes the Monday after its Santo Cristo festival (3 May in 2027). See the Azores travel guide.

What is open and closed on a public holiday

• Supermarkets and shopping centres: most open, sometimes with shorter hours. The main chains close on Christmas Day. On Easter Sunday many open only in the morning (in 2026 some closed at 1pm or 2pm, and Lidl stayed shut). Check your local store before you count on shopping on 1 January.
• Small shops and markets: family-run shops, markets and many cafés close, especially away from tourist areas. Porto’s Bolhão market, for example, closes on Sundays and holidays.
• Museums and monuments: most national museums, palaces and monuments close on 1 January, Easter Sunday, 1 May and 25 December, and usually open as normal on the other holidays. Many also close on Mondays. Private and municipal museums set their own rules. See Lisbon museums.
• Restaurants: most stay open, and holiday lunches are big family outings, so book for Easter Sunday and Christmas Day. Some close on 25 December and 1 January.
• Banks and post offices: closed. Cash machines (Multibanco) work as normal.
• Pharmacies: most close, but each area has a duty pharmacy (farmácia de serviço), listed on pharmacy doors.
• Public transport: metros, city buses and CP trains usually run their Sunday and holiday timetable. Rural buses may not run at all, so check the day before.

Long weekends (pontes) and what they do to prices

When a holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, many Portuguese take the Monday or Friday off to make a four-day weekend, called a ponte (bridge). Hotels in the Algarve, the Alentejo and the Douro fill up, prices rise, motorways are busy at each end and Alfa Pendular trains can sell out. If your trip overlaps one, book rooms and trains early.

• Rest of 2026: 1 and 8 December are both Tuesdays, so expect four-day weekends from 28 November and 5 December. Christmas Day and 1 January 2027 are both Fridays.
• 2027: Easter (with mainland schools off from 22 March to 2 April), Corpus Christi on Thursday 27 May, and Portugal Day on Thursday 10 June. Republic Day is a Tuesday and All Saints’ Day a Monday.
• August: the week of 15 August is the busiest of the year on the roads and beaches, whatever the weekday.

School holidays in 2026-27

School breaks fill trains, beaches and family hotels. On the mainland, the 2026-27 school calendar sets these breaks:

• Christmas: 16 to 31 December 2026.
• Carnival: 8 to 10 February 2027.
• Easter: 22 March to 2 April 2027.
• Summer: classes end between 4 and 30 June 2027, depending on the year group, so July and August are the busiest months.

Madeira and the Azores set their own school calendars, so check those separately.

Holiday by holiday: what to expect

• 25 April: Freedom Day marks the 1974 Carnation Revolution. People wear red carnations, and in Lisbon a popular parade usually walks down Avenida da Liberdade from Marquês de Pombal to Rossio in the afternoon. In recent years Parliament has also opened its doors to visitors.
• 10 June: Portugal Day honours the poet Luís de Camões and Portuguese communities abroad. The President leads the official ceremonies in a different place each year: in 2026, Terceira in the Azores, and Luxembourg.
• 15 August: many towns and villages hold their summer festa around Assumption Day, with processions, music and fireworks.
• 1 November: families visit cemeteries to leave flowers on graves, so roads to home villages get busy. In some areas, children go door to door in the morning asking for pão-por-Deus (bread, cakes and nuts).
• 1 and 8 December: 1 December marks the end of 60 years of Spanish rule in 1640, and 8 December honours Our Lady of the Conception, Portugal’s patron saint. See Christmas in Portugal.
• 24 and 31 December: neither is a holiday, but shops and restaurants often close early, and supermarkets usually shut around 6pm or 7pm on Christmas Eve. In 2025 the government gave civil servants 24, 26 and 31 December off, and the national museums and monuments closed on the 24th and 31st. Check before you plan a museum day.
• 25 December and 1 January: the quietest days of the year. Book lunch ahead, and see New Year’s Eve in Portugal for the night before.

FAQ

How many public holidays does Portugal have?

Thirteen national ones, set by the Labour Code. Each municipality adds a local holiday, Madeira and the Azores have regional ones, and Carnival Tuesday is an optional extra.

Is everything closed on public holidays in Portugal?

No. Most supermarkets, shopping centres and restaurants open. Banks, post offices, many small shops and some museums close.

Are holidays moved to the Monday when they fall at a weekend?

No. A holiday on a Saturday or Sunday is not replaced, so 25 April, 1 May, 15 August and 25 December 2027 bring no extra day off.

Is 13 June a holiday in all of Portugal?

No. It is Lisbon’s municipal holiday. Porto and Braga have theirs on 24 June.

More: the Portugal festivals calendar and Portugal in December.

See also: Christmas in Portugal, Easter in Portugal, Carnival in Portugal, New Year’s Eve in Portugal and the best time to visit Portugal.

Prices and details change, so please double-check before you travel. Spotted something out of date? Tell us in the groups.