Public holidays in Colombia, 2026

How Colombia public holidays work in 2026

Colombia has eighteen public holidays under Law 51 of 1983 (Ley Emiliani), the highest count in Latin America. The list combines Catholic dates (Epiphany, Saint Joseph's Day, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Ascension, Corpus Christi, Sacred Heart, Saints Peter and Paul, Assumption, All Saints', Immaculate Conception, Christmas Day) with civic dates (New Year's Day, Labour Day, Independence Day on 20 July, Battle of Boyacá on 7 August commemorating the 1819 decisive battle, Independence of Cartagena on 11 November, Day of the Races on 12 October). The Ley Emiliani specifically moved twelve of these to the following Monday to create three-day weekends, the most systematic Monday-isation regime in the Spanish-speaking world.

Working days in Colombia

The Código Sustantivo del Trabajo article 161 sets the standard working week at 47 hours since 2023, reducing to 42 hours by 2026 under Law 2101 of 2021. The standard private-sector office and banking week is Monday to Friday at 8 to 9 hours, with retail and informal sectors operating Monday to Saturday. Sunday is the statutory weekly rest day under article 172. The Código General del Proceso article 118 rolls procedural deadlines falling on a non-working day to the next día hábil. Settlement of Colombian peso transactions runs on the Banco de la República's CUD RTGS system, which observes the eighteen national holidays.

For people planning cross-border meetings, the practical move is to overlay Colombia's calendar with the calendars of the other countries on your team. A week that looks completely clear from your end might be a national holiday on theirs. The compare tool above pairs two country calendars and highlights the overlapping closures, so you can spot the weeks where almost no one is at their desk before you put a launch on the board.