Public holidays 2026 in Wales

Wales has 9 public holidays in 2026; 8 fall on a working day.

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All public holidays with date and weekday

DateWeekdayHolidayCountdown
ThursdayNew Year's Day
FridayGood Friday
MondayEaster Monday
MondayMay Day
MondaySpring Bank Holiday
MondayLate Summer Bank Holiday
FridayChristmas Day
SaturdayBoxing Day
MondayBoxing Day (observed)

Falling on a weekend in 2026: Boxing Day (Saturday, 26 Dec).

Not a public holiday in every nation, but in Wales: Easter Monday and Late Summer Bank Holiday.

For comparison: in 2026 the number of public holidays ranges from 9 (England and Wales) to 12 (Northern Ireland). Wales is among the nations with the fewest public holidays.

Days marked "observed" are substitute days off when a holiday falls on a weekend. Holidays based on a lunar calendar can shift by a day once the official announcement is made.

Dates are generated from the open-source library python-holidays and automatically cross-checked against Nager.Date and the public Google Calendar holiday calendars; every holiday on a working day must be confirmed by a second source. Official announcements take precedence, especially for holidays that depend on the moon or are declared at short notice.

Long weekends 2026

8 times a public holiday lies close to a weekend – with a little leave it becomes a long weekend:

Take leaveOffDays of leaveDays offRatioOccasion
Fri 2 Jan1 Jan – 4 Jan 2026144New Year's Day
Mon 30 Mar, Tue 31 Mar, Wed 1 Apr, Thu 2 Apr28 Mar – 6 Apr 20264102.5Good Friday, Easter Monday
Tue 7 Apr, Wed 8 Apr, Thu 9 Apr, Fri 10 Apr3 Apr – 12 Apr 20264102.5Good Friday, Easter Monday
Tue 5 May, Wed 6 May, Thu 7 May, Fri 8 May2 May – 10 May 2026492.3May Day
Tue 26 May, Wed 27 May, Thu 28 May, Fri 29 May23 May – 31 May 2026492.3Spring Bank Holiday
Tue 1 Sep, Wed 2 Sep, Thu 3 Sep, Fri 4 Sep29 Aug – 6 Sep 2026492.3Late Summer Bank Holiday
Mon 21 Dec, Tue 22 Dec, Wed 23 Dec, Thu 24 Dec19 Dec – 28 Dec 20264102.5Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Boxing Day (observed)
Tue 29 Dec, Wed 30 Dec, Thu 31 Dec25 Dec – 3 Jan 20273103.3Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Boxing Day (observed), New Year's Day

Counted are gaps of up to four working days between a public holiday and the weekend or another public holiday. "Ratio" = days off per day of leave. Weekends follow the local working week.

Sources

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