Germans take holidays seriously: shops close, museum hours are modified and restaurants and cafes fill up with relaxed families and groups of friends. The vast majority of museums close up tight on the major holidays in Germany: New Year’s Day, Easter Monday and Christmas; the rest of the year, they either close or switch to Sunday hours when a holiday strikes. It is worth checking ahead with the tourist information office to find out whether or not an attraction you have in mind will be open on a specific holiday. Catholic and Protestant holidays, as indicated below, are only celebrated by predominantly Catholic (southern) or Protestant (northern) states.

Major Holidays

January 1 – New Year’s Day

January 6 - Epiphany (Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Saxony-Anhalt)

March 21 - Good Friday

March 24 – Easter Monday

May 1 – Labor Day

May 1 – Ascension Day

May 12 – Whit Monday

May 22 – Corpus Christi (Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland. In some parts of Saxony and Thuringia)

August 15 – Ascension of the Virgin May (Bavaria and Saarland)

October 3 – Day of German Unity

October 31 – Day of Reformation (Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia)

November 1 – All Saints Day (Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland)

November 19 – Repentance Day (Saxony)

December 25 – Christmas Day

December 26 – Boxing Day

Have you ever spent a holiday in Germany? Comment on this post to share your experience.