No — today is not a public holiday in Netherlands

How to tell if today is a public holiday in Netherlands

The Netherlands does not have public holidays guaranteed by statute. The Algemene Termijnenwet of 1964 lists eleven algemeen erkende feestdagen for the purpose of moving administrative deadlines, but whether workers actually get paid leave on those days is left entirely to the collective labour agreement (CAO) or the individual employment contract. Liberation Day on 5 May is a paid holiday once every five years for civil servants and in CAOs that adopted the rule, but not in most private sectors. The Dutch list is unusual for omitting Epiphany, Assumption and All Saints; Easter Monday, Whit Monday and Christmas Boxing Day are all included.

That structure is why a simple "is it a holiday today" answer for Netherlands is more nuanced than a single yes or no. A date can be a public holiday at the national level, a regional one observed only in certain states or provinces, or a banking holiday that closes financial settlement without closing every employer. The status shown above reflects the nationally recognised public holiday list for Netherlands; if you are in a specific region, check the full calendar for the local additions that do not appear on the national list.

Working days and the holiday calendar in Netherlands

The Algemene Termijnenwet defines werkdag as any day other than Saturday, Sunday and the eleven listed feestdagen, used for administrative and procedural deadlines. Civil procedure under article 1 of the Algemene Termijnenwet rolls deadlines from a non-werkdag to the next werkdag. The standard private-sector working week is Monday to Friday, with banks operating Monday to Friday. Statutory annual leave under article 7:634 of the Burgerlijk Wetboek is four times the weekly working hours, so a 40-hour week gives 20 days. Settlement for euro transactions follows TARGET2, which closes on only six days, not the Dutch list.

Right now there are about 135 full working days between today and Christmas Day, counting Monday to Friday and skipping any other public holidays in between. If you are scheduling a deliverable, a delivery, or a meeting that depends on people being at their desks in Netherlands, that is the realistic window you have before the next closure.

For cross-border planning, overlay the Netherlands calendar with the calendars of the other countries your team works with. A week that looks completely open from your side can be a national holiday on theirs, and the clash only shows up when you compare the two side by side. The full holiday page links into a country-by-country comparison so you can spot the weeks where almost nobody is at their desk before you commit to a date.

Holiday dates are compiled from Nager.Date and the national sources listed above. Regional and substitute-day rules vary; for legal deadlines, confirm the observed date with the relevant official calendar for Netherlands.