France observes 11 national public holidays (jours fériés) every year, mixing civil dates with Catholic religious feast days. With the calendar shifting from year to year — Bastille Day on a Tuesday one year, a Friday the next — keeping track of which ones land on a "pont" (bridge day) opportunity isn't always intuitive. This feed sends you a single reminder covering the full year's holidays, so you can plan around them in advance. Click the green Configure button and choose how far ahead you want to be alerted.
Why use a reminder for French public holidays?
- Catch the "ponts" before they're gone: The French have turned bridging single-day holidays into long weekends into something of a national pastime — if a holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, taking the connecting day off can turn one day into four. A reminder gives you time to plan it before flights and trains fill up.
- Avoid being caught out by closures: Outside of tourist hotspots, most shops, banks, and government offices close on these days — knowing in advance saves an unnecessary trip.
- Plan around May specifically: Several holidays cluster together in spring (Labour Day, Victory in Europe Day, Ascension, Whit Monday all fall within about a month), making it the most disrupted — and most travel-friendly — stretch of the French calendar.
- One feed, the whole year: Instead of tracking 11 separate dates individually, get them all in one place.
The full list
New Year's Day, Easter Monday, Labour Day (May 1st), Victory in Europe Day (May 8th), Ascension Day, Whit Monday, Bastille Day (July 14th), Assumption of Mary, All Saints' Day, Armistice Day (November 11th), and Christmas Day.
A holiday calendar with its own quirks
Unlike many countries, France doesn't automatically shift a holiday to a weekday if it falls on a weekend — if Assumption lands on a Saturday, it simply stays there, with no extra day off. And Labour Day (May 1st) holds a special legal status: it's the only public holiday in France where almost every business is required by law to close, and any employee who does work it is entitled to double pay.
Regional exceptions
The Alsace-Moselle region (covering Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, and Moselle) observes two extra public holidays that the rest of France doesn't: Good Friday and Saint Stephen's Day (December 26th). This dates back to the territory's annexation by Germany between 1870 and 1918, when German law applied — and the local rule was kept even after the region returned to France.
Worth knowing
Bastille Day, France's national day on July 14th, commemorates the storming of the Bastille in 1789 and is marked by the country's largest celebrations, including a military parade down the Champs-Élysées and fireworks at the Eiffel Tower.
So whether you're planning a getaway around a long weekend or just want to know when the next office closure is coming, click that green Configure button and let the dates come to you.