Public holidays in France 2026

France has 11 nationwide public holidays in 2026. That count covers the whole country; it is not the full picture for every resident. Overseas territories and some regions add their own days on top, so plenty of people in France get more than 11 days off.

The shape of the year

The year opens with New Year’s Day on Thursday 1 January 2026 and closes with Christmas Day on Friday 25 December 2026 - a full year bookended at both ends. Between those two, the calendar isn’t evenly spread. The longest gap without a holiday runs 95 days, from New Year’s Day to Easter Monday - a stretch spanning almost all of January, February and March with nothing to break it up.

The weekday luck of 2026

Where a holiday lands in the week decides whether it actually extends anyone’s weekend, and 2026 is a mixed year for that. Two holidays fall on a Monday, giving a genuine long weekend both times. Three land on a Friday, the same effect from the other side. Two fall on the weekend itself and lose their usual benefit: Assumption Day on a Saturday, and All Saints’ Day on a Sunday.

A holiday that lands on a weekend is often a day off that simply disappears rather than shifting elsewhere, though this varies by country and sometimes by employer - some move the day off to the nearest working day, others don’t. The table below sets out every date so you can see exactly where 2026 falls for you.

Figures are drawn from the Nager.Date open holiday dataset as reviewed for this page. Governments can adjust holiday dates after publication, so treat the table as a snapshot rather than a permanent record.