Dutch public holidays and folk festivals: dates and what they mean

The Dutch calendar mixes official public holidays with much-loved folk festivals. Knowing what's what helps you plan time off — and understand what the Dutch are actually celebrating.

First, the surprise: a public holiday is not automatically a day off

This catches almost every newcomer. There is no Dutch law giving employees a paid day off on public holidays. Whether you're free on Christmas, King's Day or Easter Monday depends entirely on your CAO (collective labour agreement) or your employment contract — and on some contracts a holiday is even deducted from your leave days. Always check your contract. (This is also why some shops, cafés and services stay open on holidays.)

Official public holidays in 2026

Easter-linked dates (Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost) move every year; here are the 2026 dates:

• New Year's Day (Nieuwjaarsdag) — Thu 1 January. Quiet recovery day after a loud New Year's Eve.
• Good Friday (Goede Vrijdag) — Fri 3 April. Official holiday, but usually a normal working day unless your CAO says otherwise.
• Easter (Eerste & Tweede Paasdag) — Sun 5 & Mon 6 April. Christian feast; Easter Monday is widely a day off. Often a family weekend or short break.
• King's Day (Koningsdag) — Mon 27 April. The King's birthday and the biggest national party: orange everywhere, street markets (vrijmarkt), music and canal boats. The night before is Koningsnacht.
• Liberation Day (Bevrijdingsdag) — Tue 5 May. Marks the end of WWII occupation in 1945, with "freedom festivals" around the country. Note: it's only a guaranteed paid day off in lustrum years (every 5 years — 2025, 2030); in 2026 most people work unless their CAO says otherwise.
• Ascension Day (Hemelvaartsdag) — Thu 14 May. Christian holiday; popular for a long weekend by taking the Friday off.
• Pentecost (Eerste & Tweede Pinksterdag) — Sun 24 & Mon 25 May. Whit Monday is widely a day off.
• Christmas (Eerste & Tweede Kerstdag) — Fri 25 & Sat 26 December. Two days of Christmas, centred on family meals.

National days of meaning (not days off)

• Remembrance Day (Dodenherdenking) — 4 May. The Netherlands remembers war victims. At 20:00 the whole country observes two minutes of silence — traffic stops, TV goes quiet. Joining in is a meaningful way to show respect.
• Prinsjesdag — third Tuesday of September (15 Sep 2026). The King reads out the government's plans (Troonrede) and the national budget is presented.

Folk festivals and traditions

These aren't public holidays, but they're a big part of Dutch life:

• Sinterklaas — 5 December (pakjesavond). The classic gift-giving evening, especially for children: Sinterklaas arrives by steamboat in mid-November and leaves presents and poems. The traditional "Piet" figure has been the subject of national debate and in many places is now shown as a "soot-smudge Piet" (roetveegpiet). For many Dutch families this, not Christmas, is the main gift moment.
• Carnival (Carnaval) — the days before Lent (14–17 Feb in 2026), celebrated mostly in the south (Noord-Brabant and Limburg) with costumes, parades and music. The north barely notices it — a real cultural dividing line.
• New Year's Eve (Oud en Nieuw) — 31 December. Fireworks, oliebollen (doughnuts), and on 1 January the famous Nieuwjaarsduik: thousands plunge into the cold North Sea at Scheveningen and elsewhere.
• Sint Maarten — 11 November. In some regions children go door to door with paper lanterns singing for sweets — a bit like a Dutch Halloween.
• King's Night / Day orange culture — wearing orange (the royal House of Orange) is a national reflex on King's Day and during big sports tournaments.

Regional highlights worth knowing

• Vierdaagse (Nijmegen) — the world's largest walking event, every July.
• Bloemencorso — flower parades in spring/summer in several regions.
• Keukenhof — the famous tulip gardens, open roughly March–May.
• Elfstedentocht — a legendary 200km skating tour of eleven Frisian towns, held only when the canals freeze hard enough — which is now very rare.

Settling in? Pair this with Dutch directness: a survival guide. Whether you're free on a holiday is a contract question — see your CAO under Employment Law.

Dates: 2026 — verified against Rijksoverheid; Easter-linked holidays change yearly. DutchNewcomer shares cultural orientation, not official advice.