Swiss Public Holidays 2027 by Canton: Which Days Off You Actually Get (and Whether You're Paid)

If you moved to Switzerland from Germany, the UK or the US, you probably carry a mental model of "national holidays": a fixed list, the same for everyone, set by the government. Switzerland does not work that way. There is exactly one federal holiday, the 1st of August, and everything else is decided canton by canton. A colleague in Lugano may enjoy ten weekday holidays in 2027, while your friend in Basel gets five. A job offer in Zurich and one in Ticino with the same gross salary are, in practice, not the same offer.

October is the right moment to look at this. Employers are publishing their 2027 calendars, many expats are starting to book flights and school-holiday childcare, and anyone choosing between cantons for a January start can fold the number of days off into the comparison. This guide sets out how the system works, lists the 2027 dates for seven major cantons, explains the surprisingly murky question of whether you are paid on a holiday, and highlights the best bridge-day opportunities of the year.

Quick note on sources. Dates below are calculated from the Easter date for 2027 (28 March) and cross-checked against published cantonal calendars. Cantons and even municipalities occasionally adjust individual days, and collective labour agreements (GAV/CCT) can add more. Always confirm against your own employment contract and your employer's official 2027 calendar.

How Swiss Public Holidays Work: One Federal Day, Everything Else Cantonal

The federal layer: 1 August

Under the Labour Act (Art. 20a ArG), 1 August (Swiss National Day) is the only holiday set at federal level. It is treated like a Sunday and is, according to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), a paid holiday. In 2027 it falls on a Sunday, so employees get no extra day off for it. That is a small disappointment for anyone who counted on a long weekend.

The cantonal layer: up to eight more "Sunday-equivalent" days

The same article lets each canton designate further holidays that are legally equated with Sundays; in practice the number is capped at eight per year. On those days, ordinary businesses may not require work without a permit, which is why shops are often closed on Good Friday or Christmas Day in some cantons but open in others.

Two consequences follow:

• Religious heritage matters. Predominantly Catholic cantons (Ticino, Lucerne, Zug, Aargau and others) observe Corpus Christi, Assumption, All Saints' Day and Immaculate Conception. Predominantly Protestant cantons (Zurich, Bern, Basel-Stadt, Vaud, Geneva) mostly do not.
• Local quirks exist. Geneva has its own "Jeûne genevois" and the "Restoration of the Republic" on 31 December. Vaud observes the "Lundi du Jeûne fédéral". These are not found anywhere else.

What is not a public holiday

Expats often get caught by the half-days and customs that feel official but are not:

• 24 December and 31 December are not statutory holidays in most cantons (Geneva's 31 December is the exception). Many employers close early or give the day off as a courtesy. That is a goodwill gesture, not a right.
• 2 January (Berchtoldstag) is a holiday in some cantons (Bern, Vaud, Lucerne, Aargau) but not others. In 2027 it falls on a Saturday, so it makes no practical difference this year.
• Zurich's Sechseläuten (Monday 19 April 2027) and Knabenschiessen (Monday 13 September 2027) are local festivals. Many city employers and schools give the afternoon off, but they are not cantonal public holidays.
• Fasnacht/Carnival (Basel, Lucerne and elsewhere) involves closed shops and parades, yet is not a statutory holiday for most employees.

The 2027 Calendar at a Glance

Because Easter falls late in 2027 (Sunday 28 March), the moveable feasts land as follows:

Notice how many holidays fall on weekends in 2027: 1 May, 1 August, 15 August, 25 December and 26 December all land on a Saturday or Sunday. That is the bad news for 2027: in most cantons, two to four holidays are lost to the weekend compared with a year in which they fall midweek.

Canton by Canton: Weekday Holidays in 2027

The table below counts only holidays that fall on a Monday to Friday in 2027, because those are the ones that actually give you a day off. It covers seven cantons popular with expats. For cantons not shown, check the cantonal government site or your HR portal.

The spread, from five to ten days, is real. Take an employee earning CHF 120,000 a year. With 261 weekdays in 2027, one working day is worth roughly CHF 460 of salary. Five extra weekday holidays are therefore worth around CHF 2,300 of paid time off, assuming your contract pays for them. Ticino's generosity is partly offset by lower typical salaries and a different cost structure, but the point stands: the day count belongs in your canton comparison next to tax rates. Our Swiss canton tax comparison and cost of living by canton guides cover the money side; days off are the part people forget.

Which workplace calendar applies: where you live or where you work?

The general rule is that the canton of the workplace decides. If you live in Zug but commute to Zurich, you follow Zurich's holidays at work, even though your neighbours are enjoying Corpus Christi. Cross-border commuters follow the Swiss workplace calendar for their job, though French or German holidays at home can still matter for childcare and school.

Two practical wrinkles:

1. Remote or hybrid staff. Employers typically apply the holiday calendar of the office your contract names. If you work from home in another canton, ask HR in writing which calendar applies.
2. Companies with several sites. A bank headquartered in Zurich with a Lugano branch will honour Ticino holidays for the Lugano team. If you transfer, your days off change with you.

Are You Paid on a Public Holiday? The Honest Answer

This is where expats trip up, because the intuitive answer ("of course, it's a holiday") is not guaranteed by federal law.

What the law says

SECO's guidance is explicit: apart from 1 August, which is treated as a paid holiday, the question of paying wages for working time lost on a cantonal holiday is a civil-law matter, to be settled by contract where needed. The Labour Act regulates when work is restricted; it does not by itself create a general entitlement to holiday pay.

What happens in practice

• Monthly-salaried employees (the vast majority of office-based expats) simply receive their normal monthly salary. The holiday is built into the arrangement and your salary does not shrink in a month with an extra holiday.
• Hourly or daily-paid staff may not be paid for hours not worked on a holiday unless the contract, a collective agreement or company practice says so. Read the wording carefully, particularly in hospitality, retail, temp work and cleaning.
• Part-time employees working fixed days can feel this unevenly. If you work Monday to Wednesday, Easter Monday costs you a working day while a Thursday holiday such as Ascension does not. Many employers compensate pro rata, but this is not guaranteed. Ask whether holiday entitlement is calculated in hours or days.
• Collective labour agreements (GAV/CCT) commonly state which holidays are paid and at what rate. If your sector has one, it overrides vague contract language in your favour.

Holidays during your vacation

If a public holiday falls inside a vacation week, the general approach is that it is not counted as a vacation day, because you would not have worked that day anyway. Take Ascension week: booking Monday to Friday off around Thursday 6 May means a deduction of four days, not five, in cantons where Ascension is a holiday. Check your company's absence software, since some systems deduct incorrectly by default. Check what your contract states about vacation; the statutory minimum of four weeks' paid vacation (five for employees under 20) applies in the background.

Working on a holiday

If your job requires work on a cantonal holiday (hospitals, public transport, hospitality, retail where permitted), the employer needs the appropriate Sunday-work approval, and compensation such as a premium or time off in lieu is usually set by contract or GAV. Workers covered by the Labour Act can generally expect a surcharge for work on holidays equated with Sundays in permit-based Sunday work. If it is unclear what applies to you, ask HR for the written rule.

Bridge Days and Long Weekends in 2027

Because so many holidays land on weekends, the genuine long-weekend opportunities are fewer, but a few are excellent.

Easter: 26 to 29 March

Good Friday (26 March) and Easter Monday (29 March) create a four-day weekend in most cantons without spending any vacation. Ticino residents lose Good Friday but gain St. Joseph's Day a week earlier (Friday 19 March), giving a separate three-day weekend. Easter 2027 is early in the school-holiday cycle for many cantons, so expect fully booked mountain accommodation.

Ascension and the "Auffahrtsbrücke": 6 to 9 May

This is the single most efficient bridge of the year. Ascension is Thursday 6 May. Take Friday 7 May off and you have four days for one day of vacation. Because everyone does this, trains to the south, the Ticino lakes and Italian destinations are packed. Book rail seats or cars early, and expect the Gotthard corridor to be congested.

Whitsun and Corpus Christi: 15 to 17 May and 27 to 30 May

Whit Monday (17 May) gives a three-day weekend in most cantons. In Catholic cantons, Corpus Christi (Thursday 27 May) opens a second bridge, with Friday 28 May as the bridge day.

Autumn: Geneva Fast and Federal Fast

Geneva's Jeûne genevois (Thursday 9 September) with a bridge Friday gives Geneva-based employees a four-day weekend, while Vaud's Federal Fast Monday (20 September) provides a quiet three-day weekend.

Year-end: the awkward calendar

Christmas Day (Saturday 25 December) and St. Stephen's Day (Sunday 26 December) both fall on the weekend, and 1 January 2028 is a Saturday. In most cantons that means no weekday holiday at all over Christmas week. Many employers will close for the days in between (as a company holiday that may reduce your vacation balance), so check early whether your company shutdown will be charged to your vacation days. Geneva employees have a bonus: Restoration of the Republic on Friday 31 December.

Why This Matters Beyond the Calendar

Childcare and school

Public holidays do not align neatly with school or daycare. Kita operators often close on all local public holidays, and you may still pay the monthly fee. Compare your daycare contract with your employer's calendar. Public schools generally do not run on holidays, but school-holiday weeks (Ferien) are set separately by each canton or commune, so a "Zurich holiday" is not the same thing as a "Zurich school break".

Shopping and services

Because most holidays are legally Sunday-equivalents, supermarkets are closed on cantonal holidays, with exceptions for train-station and petrol-station shops. In 2027, remember that Ascension (6 May) and Whit Monday (17 May) are closed days in most cantons. Stock up the day before. Newly arrived expats from countries with 24/7 retail are regularly caught out.

Administrative deadlines

Government offices, banks, post offices and the Migration Office are closed on cantonal holidays. If you are chasing a permit renewal, a registration appointment or a tax deadline, count only the working days of your canton. A deadline that falls on a cantonal holiday generally moves to the next working day, but do not leave critical filings for the last day. If you are in the middle of your first weeks after arrival, our first 30 days checklist helps you sequence registration steps around the calendar. The Permit Checker can show which permit rules apply to your situation if you are still planning the move.

What This Means for You: A Practical Checklist

1. Ask which calendar applies. Get your canton of workplace and your company's 2027 holiday calendar in writing, especially if you work hybrid.
2. Check holiday pay in your contract. If you are hourly, daily-paid or part-time, confirm in writing how public holidays are compensated.
3. Read your GAV/CCT if one applies. It can add paid days beyond what your canton grants.
4. Count weekday holidays when comparing job offers. Five versus ten days is worth thousands of francs of paid time off at a typical expat salary.
5. Plan your vacation around the bridges. Book Friday 7 May and Friday 28 May early, and remember that holidays inside a vacation week should not be deducted.
6. Confirm company shutdown rules for the Christmas period. Find out whether days between 25 December and 2 January are charged against your vacation.
7. Align childcare with the holiday calendar. Confirm how your Kita or after-school care handles closed days and whether fees continue.
8. Plan errands and paperwork around closed days. Government offices and shops are shut on cantonal holidays.
9. Reconfirm every date in December. Cantonal authorities publish the official calendars; check the final list for your commune.

If you are still deciding where to settle, add holidays to a broader checklist alongside salary, tax, rent and commute. Our apartment search guide covers the housing side of the same decision, and the Tax Estimator helps you compare take-home pay between cantons.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many public holidays does Switzerland have?

Federally, only one: 1 August. Everything else is set by each canton, which may designate additional days that are equated with Sundays (up to eight under the Labour Act, in addition to 1 August). In practice, weekday holiday counts in 2027 range from about five in Zurich, Bern and Basel-Stadt to ten in Ticino.

Is Good Friday a public holiday everywhere in Switzerland?

No. Good Friday is observed in most cantons, including Zurich, Bern, Geneva, Vaud, Zug and Basel-Stadt, but it is not observed in Ticino. Easter Monday is likewise observed in most cantons but, for example, not in Zug.

Does my employer have to pay me on a public holiday?

Federal law treats 1 August as a paid holiday. For other cantonal holidays, SECO notes that pay is a civil-law matter to be regulated by contract. Monthly-salaried employees normally receive their usual salary. Hourly and daily-paid staff should check their contract or collective agreement, because entitlement depends on those documents.

What happens if a public holiday falls on a weekend?

You generally do not receive a replacement day. That is the case for a large number of days in 2027, including 1 May, 1 August, 25 December and 26 December. Some employers voluntarily grant a day in lieu, but there is no general legal entitlement.

If I live in one canton and work in another, whose holidays do I get?

Usually the holidays of the canton where you work, as named in your employment contract. If your employer has several locations, the calendar of your assigned site normally applies. Confirm this with HR, especially for remote or hybrid roles.

Are 24 and 31 December days off in Switzerland?

Not by law in most cantons. Many employers give half-days or full days as goodwill, but check your contract. Geneva is a partial exception with its 31 December holiday, "Restoration of the Republic", which in 2027 falls on a Friday.

Next Step: Put the 2027 Dates in Your Calendar

Before you accept a 2027 job offer or book your first vacations, work out how many weekday holidays your canton actually gives you and which bridge days are worth securing now. Download our free relocation checklists and planning templates from the Downloads section to map out your first year in Switzerland, and use the Tax Estimator to compare cantons on take-home pay as well as time off.

This article is general information for expats and is not legal advice. Holiday entitlements depend on your canton, employment contract and any collective agreement. When in doubt, ask your employer or consult a qualified employment lawyer.