Public holidays in Denmark, 2026
Denmark observes 14 nationwide public holidays in 2026. After weekends and those holidays are removed, the working year comes to 250 days.
Every public holiday in 2026
| Date | Day | Holiday | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu, 1 Jan | Thursday | New Year's Day Nytårsdag |
Nationwide |
| Thu, 2 Apr | Thursday | Maundy Thursday Skærtorsdag |
Nationwide |
| Fri, 3 Apr | Friday | Good Friday Langfredag |
Nationwide |
| Sun, 5 Apr | Sunday Weekend | Easter Sunday Påskedag |
Nationwide |
| Mon, 6 Apr | Monday | Easter Monday 2. Påskedag |
Nationwide |
| Thu, 14 May | Thursday | Ascension Day Kristi Himmelfartsdag |
Nationwide |
| Fri, 15 May | Friday | Bank closing day Banklukkedag |
Nationwide |
| Sun, 24 May | Sunday Weekend | Pentecost Pinsedag |
Nationwide |
| Mon, 25 May | Monday | Whit Monday 2. Pinsedag |
Nationwide |
| Fri, 5 Jun | Friday | Constitution Day Grundlovsdag |
Nationwide |
| Thu, 24 Dec | Thursday | Christmas Eve Juleaftensdag |
Nationwide |
| Fri, 25 Dec | Friday | Christmas Day Juledag / 1. juledag |
Nationwide |
| Sat, 26 Dec | Saturday Weekend | St. Stephen's Day 2. juledag |
Nationwide |
| Thu, 31 Dec | Thursday | New Year's Eve Nytårsaftensdag |
Nationwide |
Working days month by month
| Month | Calendar days | Weekend | Holidays | Working days | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31 | 9 | 1 | 21 | 168 |
| February | 28 | 8 | 0 | 20 | 160 |
| March | 31 | 9 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| April | 30 | 8 | 3 | 19 | 152 |
| May | 31 | 10 | 3 | 18 | 144 |
| June | 30 | 8 | 1 | 21 | 168 |
| July | 31 | 8 | 0 | 23 | 184 |
| August | 31 | 10 | 0 | 21 | 168 |
| September | 30 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| October | 31 | 9 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| November | 30 | 9 | 0 | 21 | 168 |
| December | 31 | 8 | 3 | 20 | 160 |
| Year | 365 | 104 | 11 | 250 | 2,000 |
Reading these figures
The working day count treats Saturday and Sunday as the weekend, which is the standard working week in Denmark. Only nationwide holidays are deducted; a date observed in one region alone still counts as a working day here, because a national figure that moved with regional calendars would describe nobody accurately.
3 of this year's public holidays fall on a weekend and therefore add no time away from work: Easter Sunday (5 Apr), Pentecost (24 May), St. Stephen's Day (26 Dec). Whether these are compensated with a substitute day depends on national rules rather than on the calendar, so confirm before planning around them.
The longest working month is July at 23 days; the shortest is May at 18. That spread of 5 days matters for anything billed or accrued monthly, which is why payroll and capacity plans that assume an even year drift by the end of it. The thinnest quarter is Q2, carrying 58 working days across April, May, June.
Compared with 2025, which held 249 working days, 2026 is 1 working day longer. Where a target is carried over from one year to the next unchanged, that difference is absorbed silently unless someone accounts for it.
Against the 204 countries covered here for 2026, Denmark's 14 nationwide holidays put it above the median of 12, around the 75th percentile. The range across all countries this year runs from 3 to 49.
The holidays produce 5 breaks of three consecutive non-working days or more. The longest runs 5 days, from 2 April 2026 to 6 April 2026, built around Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and Easter Sunday and Easter Monday. A further 1 working day is stranded between a holiday and a weekend, where one day of leave buys a break of four days or more. The full breakdown is here.
8 of this year's holidays sit on a different calendar date than in 2025: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, Ascension Day, Bank closing day and others. Dates that move cannot be carried forward from last year's planning spreadsheet, which is the most common way a holiday is missed.
Notes on Denmark
Denmark abolished a public holiday. Store Bededag, the Great Prayer Day falling on the fourth
Friday after Easter, ceased to be a holiday from 2024 under legislation passed the previous year.
Any calendar or working day figure sourced from before that change overstates Danish time off by
one day, and a surprising number of them are still in circulation.
The wider Danish pattern is that holiday entitlement rests on collective agreements rather than
on statute. Constitution Day on 5 June and Christmas Eve are not public holidays in law, yet most
of the country does not work on them. The figures here follow the legal position, so treat them
as a floor for planning rather than as a description of who will answer the phone.