New Zealand public holidays 2026

2026 at a glance

• Anzac Day falls on Saturday 25 April and is observed on Monday 27 April; Boxing Day falls on Saturday 26 December and is observed on Monday 28 December.
• In 2026, public holidays fall on 11 weekdays in New Zealand, the same as in 2025.

Public holidays in 2026

13 dates are counted as non-working in New Zealand in 2026; 11 of them fall on a weekday.

• observed substitute weekday off

Working days and hours by month

Working days are Monday to Friday minus the counted holidays. Hours are shown for a 7.5-hour and an 8-hour working day.

• Jan 20 working days in January, 2 holidays
• Feb 19 working days in February, 1 holiday
• Mar 22 working days in March
• Apr 19 working days in April, 4 holidays
• May 21 working days in May
• Jun 21 working days in June, 1 holiday
• Jul 22 working days in July, 1 holiday
• Aug 21 working days in August
• Sep 22 working days in September
• Oct 21 working days in October, 1 holiday
• Nov 21 working days in November
• Dec 21 working days in December, 3 holidays

Long weekends in 2026

Runs of three or more days off in a row without taking leave.

• 4 days Thursday 1 January 2026 to Sunday 4 January 2026
• 3 days Friday 6 February 2026 to Sunday 8 February 2026
• 4 days Friday 3 April 2026 to Monday 6 April 2026
• 3 days Saturday 25 April 2026 to Monday 27 April 2026
• 3 days Saturday 30 May 2026 to Monday 1 June 2026
• 3 days Friday 10 July 2026 to Sunday 12 July 2026
• 3 days Saturday 24 October 2026 to Monday 26 October 2026
• 4 days Friday 25 December 2026 to Monday 28 December 2026

Best days to take leave in 2026

The longest single break for each number of leave days, built around a public holiday.

Leave plans for the whole year

Non-overlapping breaks that give the most days off for a given number of leave days.

Try any budget from 1 to 30 days in the leave planner

Countdown

The days to the next holiday appear here when JavaScript is on.

The working days left this month and this year appear here when JavaScript is on.

Count working days between two dates

Calendar and data downloads

The subscription works in Google Calendar, Outlook and Apple Calendar. The CSV file also lists the days observed by some.

About public holidays in New Zealand

New Zealand has 11 national public holidays: New Year's Day (1 January), the Day after New Year's Day (2 January), Waitangi Day (6 February), Good Friday, Easter Monday, ANZAC Day (25 April), King's Birthday (the first Monday in June), Matariki, Labour Day (the fourth Monday in October), Christmas Day (25 December) and Boxing Day (26 December). Employment New Zealand publishes the observed dates for each year.

The Holidays Act 2003 lists the public holidays but mostly does not set their dates. Other Acts do that for particular days: the Waitangi Day Act 1976, the ANZAC Day Act 1966, the Sovereign's Birthday Observance Act 1952 and Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Act 2022.

When a holiday falls on a weekend, some of them move to a weekday. This is called Mondayisation. Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day and 2 January are observed on the actual day when it is a weekday. When one of them falls on a Saturday or Sunday, Employment New Zealand states that it is observed on that day for an employee who would have worked it, and otherwise on the following Monday, or in some cases the Tuesday. In 2027, for example, Christmas Day is a Saturday and Boxing Day a Sunday, so the observed days are Monday 27 December and Tuesday 28 December. Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day are Mondayised in the same way: in 2027 Waitangi Day falls on Saturday 6 February and is observed on Monday 8 February. This site counts the weekday observed date as the non-working day.

Matariki was first observed in 2022. Its date follows the Māori lunar calendar and changes every year. The Matariki Advisory Committee chose the Friday closest to the Tangaroa lunar period of the month of Pipiri, and published dates for every year from 2022 to 2052. Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Act 2022 is the law that makes it a public holiday. The holiday is on Friday 10 July 2026, Friday 25 June 2027 and Friday 14 July 2028.

Each region also has an anniversary day. Most regions observe it on the Monday nearest to the actual anniversary, but there are exceptions: Taranaki uses the second Monday in March, Hawke's Bay the Friday before Labour Day, Marlborough the first Monday after Labour Day, and Southland normally Easter Tuesday. Northern and Central Canterbury observe Christchurch Show Day, while South Canterbury observes Dominion Day on the fourth Monday in September. Otago has no single day. Employment New Zealand notes that anniversary days are set by custom and practice and generally prescribed by councils. The New Zealand page on this site counts the 11 national holidays only; anniversary days are not included in its working-day totals.

Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday are not in the list of public holidays, and neither is Christmas Eve. This site counts them as normal working days.

Source and last check

Dates are calculated with the python-holidays library 0.108 and checked against the official sources below. Last checked: 15 November 2026.

Sources

• https://www.employment.govt.nz/leave-and-holidays/public-holidays/public-holidays-and-anniversary-dates
• https://www.employment.govt.nz/leave-and-holidays/public-holidays/previous-years-public-holidays-and-anniversary-dates
• https://www.mbie.govt.nz/assets/matariki-dates-2022-to-2052-matariki-advisory-group.pdf

How the counts are made