Business Days

Public holidays and working days, country by country

Public holidays in Switzerland, 2028

Switzerland observes 4 nationwide public holidays in 2028. After weekends and those holidays are removed, the working year comes to 257 days.

2025 2026 2027 2028
4Public holidays
257Working days
106Weekend days
1Fall on a weekend
2,056Hours at 8 per day

Every public holiday in 2028

Switzerland, 2028. Dates marked as falling on a weekend do not create an extra day away from work.
Date Day Holiday Scope
Sat, 1 Jan Saturday Weekend New Year's Day
Neujahr
Nationwide
Sun, 2 Jan Sunday Weekend St. Berchtold's Day
Berchtoldstag
CH-BE, CH-FR, CH-SH, CH-AG, CH-TG, CH-VD
Thu, 6 Jan Thursday Epiphany
Heilige Drei Könige
CH-TI
Thu, 6 Jan Thursday Epiphany
Heilige Drei Könige
CH-UR, CH-SZ
Wed, 1 Mar Wednesday Republic Day
Jahrestag der Ausrufung der Republik
CH-NE
Sun, 19 Mar Sunday Weekend Saint Joseph's Day
Josefstag
CH-SZ, CH-VS
Sun, 19 Mar Sunday Weekend Saint Joseph's Day
Josefstag
CH-LU, CH-UR, CH-NW, CH-TI
Tue, 4 Apr Tuesday Näfels procession
Näfelser Fahrt
CH-GL
Fri, 14 Apr Friday Good Friday
Karfreitag
CH-ZH, CH-BE, CH-LU, CH-UR, CH-SZ, CH-OW, CH-NW, CH-GL, CH-ZG, CH-FR, CH-SO, CH-BS, CH-BL, CH-SH, CH-AR, CH-AI, CH-SG, CH-GR, CH-AG, CH-TG, CH-VD, CH-NE, CH-GE, CH-JU
Mon, 17 Apr Monday Easter Monday
Ostermontag
CH-ZH, CH-BE, CH-GL, CH-FR, CH-BS, CH-BL, CH-SH, CH-AR, CH-AI, CH-SG, CH-GR, CH-AG, CH-TG, CH-TI, CH-VD, CH-GE, CH-JU
Mon, 17 Apr Monday Easter Monday
Ostermontag
CH-UR, CH-SZ, CH-OW
Mon, 1 May Monday Labour Day
Tag der Arbeit
CH-ZH, CH-SO, CH-BS, CH-BL, CH-SH, CH-NE, CH-JU
Mon, 1 May Monday Labour Day
Tag der Arbeit
CH-TG, CH-TI
Thu, 25 May Thursday Ascension Day
Auffahrt
Nationwide
Mon, 5 Jun Monday Whit Monday
Pfingstmontag
CH-ZH, CH-BE, CH-GL, CH-FR, CH-BS, CH-BL, CH-SH, CH-AR, CH-AI, CH-SG, CH-GR, CH-AG, CH-TG, CH-VD, CH-GE, CH-JU
Mon, 5 Jun Monday Whit Monday
Pfingstmontag
CH-UR, CH-SZ, CH-OW, CH-TI
Thu, 15 Jun Thursday Corpus Christi
Fronleichnam
CH-LU, CH-UR, CH-SZ, CH-OW, CH-NW, CH-ZG, CH-FR, CH-SO, CH-AI, CH-AG, CH-VS, CH-JU
Thu, 15 Jun Thursday Corpus Christi
Fronleichnam
CH-TI
Thu, 29 Jun Thursday Saint Peter and Saint Paul
Peter und Paul
CH-TI
Tue, 1 Aug Tuesday Swiss National Day
Bundesfeier
Nationwide
Tue, 15 Aug Tuesday Assumption of the Virgin Mary
Maria Himmelfahrt
CH-LU, CH-UR, CH-SZ, CH-OW, CH-NW, CH-ZG, CH-FR, CH-SO, CH-AG, CH-TI, CH-VS
Tue, 15 Aug Tuesday Assumption of the Virgin Mary
Maria Himmelfahrt
CH-AI, CH-JU
Thu, 7 Sep Thursday Geneva Prayday
Jeûne genevois
CH-GE
Sun, 17 Sep Sunday Weekend Federal Day of Thanksgiving
Eidgenössischer Dank-, Buss- und Bettag
CH-ZH, CH-BE, CH-LU, CH-SZ, CH-OW, CH-NW, CH-GL, CH-SO, CH-BS, CH-BL, CH-SH, CH-SG, CH-GR
Mon, 18 Sep Monday Federal Fast Monday
Bettagsmontag
CH-VD
Wed, 1 Nov Wednesday All Saints' Day
Allerheiligen
CH-LU, CH-UR, CH-SZ, CH-OW, CH-NW, CH-GL, CH-ZG, CH-FR, CH-SO, CH-SG, CH-AG, CH-TI, CH-VS
Wed, 1 Nov Wednesday All Saints' Day
Allerheiligen
CH-AI, CH-JU
Fri, 8 Dec Friday Immaculate Conception
Mariä Empfängnis
CH-UR, CH-OW, CH-NW, CH-ZG, CH-FR, CH-AG, CH-VS
Fri, 8 Dec Friday Immaculate Conception
Mariä Empfängnis
CH-AI, CH-JU, CH-LU, CH-SZ, CH-TI
Mon, 25 Dec Monday Christmas Day
Weihnachten
Nationwide
Tue, 26 Dec Tuesday St. Stephen's Day
Stephanstag
CH-ZH, CH-BE, CH-LU, CH-GL, CH-FR, CH-BS, CH-BL, CH-SH, CH-SG, CH-GR, CH-AG, CH-TG, CH-TI
Tue, 26 Dec Tuesday St. Stephen's Day
Stephanstag
CH-UR, CH-SZ, CH-OW
Sun, 31 Dec Sunday Weekend Restoration Day
Restauration de la République
CH-GE

29 further dates are observed in some regions only and are not counted in the working day totals above.

Working days month by month

Calendar days less weekends and nationwide public holidays.
Month Calendar days Weekend Holidays Working days Hours
January 31 10 0 21 168
February 29 8 0 21 168
March 31 8 0 23 184
April 30 10 0 20 160
May 31 8 1 22 176
June 30 8 0 22 176
July 31 10 0 21 168
August 31 8 1 22 176
September 30 9 0 21 168
October 31 9 0 22 176
November 30 8 0 22 176
December 31 10 1 20 160
Year 366 106 3 257 2,056

Reading these figures

The working day count treats Saturday and Sunday as the weekend, which is the standard working week in Switzerland. 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.

1 of this year's public holidays fall on a weekend and therefore adds no time away from work: New Year's Day (1 Jan). 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 March at 23 days; the shortest is December at 20. That spread of 3 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 64 working days across April, May, June.

Compared with 2027, which held 259 working days, 2028 is 2 working days shorter. 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 2028, Switzerland's 4 nationwide holidays put it below the median of 12, around the 2nd percentile. The range across all countries this year runs from 3 to 50.

The holidays produce 1 break of three consecutive non-working days or more. The longest runs 3 days, from 23 December 2028 to 25 December 2028, built around Christmas Day. A further 2 working days are 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.

1 of this year's holidays sits on a different calendar date than in 2027: Ascension Day. 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 Switzerland

Only one Swiss holiday is federal: National Day on 1 August. Everything else is decided by the
canton, and the spread is wide enough that a national figure is close to meaningless on its own.
Depending on where someone works, the count runs from roughly eight days to fifteen, and the
confessional history of the canton is usually the reason.

Some cantons also observe half days, where the afternoon is free and the morning is not. Those
have no clean representation in a working day count and are not reflected here. If the difference
matters for payroll, work from the cantonal list rather than from this page.

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