Public and school holidays in Europe 2026 to 2027, for car hire operators

By the DayRunner team · 7 November 2026

This page lists the public holidays and main school holidays for 2026 to 2027 in the nine European countries behind Rate Pulse's airports: the UK, France, the Netherlands, Germany (Bavaria and Hesse), Ireland, Spain (Madrid, Catalonia, the Balearics and Andalusia), Portugal, Italy and Greece. Every date comes from a government source we opened on 7 November 2026, or from Nager.Date where we say so. Each country ends with rental-demand notes. Those notes are general patterns, not data.

For 2026 we only list what's still ahead from November. 2027 is listed in full.

Two things to know before the tables:

• Easter is early in 2027. Western Easter Sunday is 28 March. Greek Orthodox Easter is five weeks later, on 2 May.
• Many 2027 holidays land on a weekend. 1 May, 25 December and 26 December all fall on a Saturday or Sunday. Some countries move the day off, most don't.

United Kingdom (LHR)

Source: GOV.UK bank holidays feed. Heathrow sits in England, so England and Wales comes first.

School holidays in England

English councils and academies set their own term dates, so there's no single national calendar. Surrey County Council publishes dates it asks its schools to follow. We use them as the example.

The London Borough of Havering's 2026 to 2027 dates line up on the spring and summer terms: spring term 4 January to 25 March 2027, summer term 12 April to 22 July 2027.

Demand notes (general pattern, not data)

• UK half-terms send British families abroad in a single week. Spain, Portugal, the Balearics and the Canaries tend to feel it most, so watch LHR as an origin market, not only as a destination.
• The February half-term (15 to 19 February 2027) is a short-haul sun and ski week. The May half-term overlaps the Spring bank holiday on 31 May.
• In 2027 the English Easter school break (about 26 March to 11 April) starts on Good Friday, so the travel peak lines up with the bank holidays.

France (CDG, NCE)

Public holidays come from the French government's official holiday API.

School holidays by zone

France staggers its winter and spring breaks across three zones. Paris is in zone C and Nice in zone B, per the ministry's academy list. Dates are the first and last day off, from the ministry's open data.

The official calendar also lists a pont de l'Ascension: schools bridge Ascension (Thu 6 May 2027) to the weekend.

Demand notes (general pattern, not data)

• The three winter zones give a month of ski and family travel, 6 February to 7 March 2027. That spreads demand out rather than spiking it.
• The ponts matter. Ascension on Thu 6 May and Armistice on Thu 11 Nov 2027 both invite a Friday off, which makes a four-day weekend.
• 2027 is a thin year for French long weekends in May, because 1 May and 8 May both fall on a Saturday.

Netherlands (AMS)

Public holidays are from Nager.Date. Nager.Date marks Good Friday and Liberation Day as days off for schools and government, not as general days off.

School holidays by region

The Dutch government sets dates for three regions. Amsterdam (all of Noord-Holland) is in Regio Noord.

The spring and autumn dates are advice from the ministry, and schools may move them. Schools may also add the week of 1 to 9 May 2027 to the May holiday.

Demand notes (general pattern, not data)

• The Dutch drive and fly south in big numbers. Regio Noord starts summer first, on 10 July 2027, so expect Amsterdam-origin demand at southern European airports from that weekend.
• King's Day (Tue 27 April) sits just before the May school holiday in 2027. Some families will bridge the Monday.

Germany: Bavaria (MUC) and Hesse (FRA)

Public holidays are from Nager.Date, filtered to Bavaria and Hesse. Nager.Date doesn't list Assumption (15 August) for Bavaria, so it isn't in the table. Check locally if you run a Munich depot.

School holidays

From the Kultusministerkonferenz calendar, which lists the first and last day of each break.

Hesse schools also get three movable days off in 2027 to 2028 and four in 2026 to 2027, which they set themselves.

Demand notes (general pattern, not data)

• Bavaria and Hesse are a month apart in summer 2027. Hesse is off from 28 June, Bavaria not until 2 August. Frankfurt and Munich feed the Mediterranean at different times.
• The Bavarian Whitsun break (18 to 28 May) plus Ascension and Corpus Christi make late May a strong outbound fortnight.
• Ascension and Corpus Christi are Thursdays. Germans call the Friday a Brückentag, and many take it.

Ireland (DUB)

Public holidays are from Nager.Date. School breaks are from the Department of Education and Youth's Circular 0018/2026.

Good Friday (26 March 2027) isn't a public holiday in Ireland, but Nager.Date shows schools and banks close.

The circular doesn't set the summer break, so we haven't listed one.

Demand notes (general pattern, not data)

• St Patrick's Day is a Wednesday in 2027, so it won't make a long weekend at home. It still pulls visitors into Dublin.
• The Irish Easter school break starts the weekend before Holy Week (schools close after Fri 19 March 2027). Families can travel earlier than the British.

Spain (MAD, BCN, PMI, AGP)

Public holidays are from the BOE lists for 2026 and 2027. On top of these, every town has two local holidays, which we haven't listed.

School holidays

Each region sets its own calendar. Andalusia sets it by province, so we show Málaga, the province for AGP.

Some Málaga schools also have 29 March and 3 May 2027 off, depending on when their local holidays fall.

Demand notes (general pattern, not data)

• Spain runs on puentes. In December 2026, Tuesday 8 December invites a Monday off. In December 2027, Monday 6 and Wednesday 8 December leave one working day between them, so many people take the whole week.
• Tue 12 October 2027 makes another puente with the Monday.
• Semana Santa is the big domestic week. In 2027 it runs from about 20 to 29 March. Expect locals hiring cars and heading to the coast and the villages.
• Madrid's two days off in February (Fri 12 and Mon 15) make a four-day weekend.
• Spain is also a destination for UK, Irish, Dutch and German school holidays. Those tend to matter more at PMI, AGP and BCN than the local calendar.

Portugal (LIS, FAO)

Public holidays are from Nager.Date, which marks Carnival as optional.

School holidays: left out. The national calendar is set by Despacho 8368/2024, but we couldn't open the official text or the ministry's page on 7 November 2026. We'd rather leave it blank than copy dates from a news site.

Demand notes (general pattern, not data)

• Tue 1 Dec and Tue 8 Dec 2026 both invite a Monday off.
• Corpus Christi (Thu 27 May) and Portugal Day (Thu 10 Jun) are both Thursdays in 2027. That's two possible four-day weekends in a fortnight.
• FAO is mostly a destination market. UK and Irish school holidays will matter more there than the Portuguese calendar.

Italy (FCO)

Public holidays are from Nager.Date. Rome also has its patron saint's day, which we haven't listed.

School holidays in Lazio (Rome)

From the Regione Lazio calendar for 2026 to 2027.

Schools can adjust the regional calendar a little, but they must open by 15 September and close on 8 June.

Demand notes (general pattern, not data)

• Italy's long school summer starts early, from 9 June 2027 in Lazio. Ferragosto falls on a Sunday in 2027, but mid-August is still the peak domestic week.
• Tue 8 December 2026 makes a ponte with the Monday.
• The St Francis holiday on Mon 4 October 2027 gives a long weekend in what is usually a shoulder month.

Greece (ATH)

Public holidays are from Nager.Date. Greek Easter follows the Orthodox calendar, so it's five weeks after Western Easter in 2027.

School holidays: left out. We couldn't open the Ministry of Education's 2026 to 2027 calendar, so we haven't listed school dates.

Demand notes (general pattern, not data)

• Orthodox Easter (30 April to 3 May 2027) is the big domestic weekend. Athenians leave the city for the islands and villages.
• Clean Monday (15 March) makes a long weekend in a quiet month.
• Most of ATH's summer demand is inbound. Northern European school holidays drive it more than the Greek calendar.

How to use this with Rate Pulse

Rate Pulse shows the next 14 days of pick-ups at each airport, and its Dates to watch section flags the holidays in that window. This page gives you the longer view, so you can set rates for these dates months out. Then check them against the market on the airport pages, for example Madrid, Paris, London Heathrow or Dublin.

Questions

Sources

1. GOV.UK, UK bank holidays (JSON feed)
2. Surrey County Council, School term and holiday dates
3. London Borough of Havering, Term dates 2026 to 2027 (PDF)
4. Gouvernement français, Jours fériés métropole 2026 (API)
5. Gouvernement français, Jours fériés métropole 2027 (API)
6. Ministère de l'Éducation nationale, Calendrier scolaire open data (API)
7. Rijksoverheid, Schoolvakanties 2026-2027
8. Rijksoverheid, Schoolvakanties 2027-2028
9. Rijksoverheid, Regio's schoolvakantie
10. Kultusministerkonferenz, Ferien im Schuljahr 2026/2027 (PDF)
11. Kultusministerkonferenz, Ferien im Schuljahr 2027/2028 (PDF)
12. Department of Education and Youth (Ireland), Circular 0018/2026
13. Circular 0018/2026, full text (PDF)
14. BOE, Fiestas laborales para el año 2026
15. BOE, Fiestas laborales para el año 2027
16. Comunidad de Madrid, Orden 2034/2026, calendario escolar 2026-2027 (BOCM)
17. Generalitat de Catalunya, Ordre EDF/66/2026, calendari escolar 2026-2027 to 2028-2029 (copy hosted by Paeria de Lleida)
18. Govern de les Illes Balears, Calendari escolar 2026-2027 (resolution, BOIB 41)
19. BOIB 82, modification of the Balearic school calendar resolution
20. Junta de Andalucía, Resolución calendario escolar 2026/27, provincia de Málaga
21. Regione Lazio, Comunicato calendario scolastico 2026/2027
22. Nager.Date, public holidays API (Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Greece)