A list of public
holidays in Portugal checked and updated 18th September 2016
Holidays are always observed on the day they fall and are not moved to a convenient Monday as in the UK.
Buses and trains usually run to Sunday/Holiday
timetables on public holidays. At Christmas and New Year
timetables may be changed completely.
On Christmas Eve December 24th and New
Year's Eve December 31st Businesses and shops close
early, around 6 or 7pm. On Christmas Eve virtually everything
closes early including bars and restaurants. Some late-evening
buses and trains (especially long-distance services) will not run.
This information is announced about a month beforehand.
Major malls and supermarkets are usually open all day on
public and religious holidays, except on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
Some also close on
Good Friday, Easter Sunday and May 1st. You will
need to check locally and/or nearer the time.
In tourist areas, smaller shops usually stay open
all day except some will close on Good Friday and / or Easter Sunday.
On Christmas Day and
New Year's Day shops are closed. Small shops in the villages and of course all post offices and
banks observe the holidays strictly.
School holiday breaks 2016 - 2017 - apart from the
obvious dates below, schools will be on holiday for two
weeks over Easter and three days at Carnaval.
Holiday dates - 17th December - 2nd January; 25th February - 1st March;
5th April - 18th April. During those periods buses marked SCH in the timetable do not run.
School year in the Algarve usually begins on the second
Monday of September and ends not later than June 30th - dates vary by
type of school.
Summer bus timetables (where different) apply 1st July until the second Sunday of September
** other cities and towns have municipal holidays. In some cities and
towns away from the Algarve, local buses do not run.on municipal
holidays
Sunday January 1st - New Year's Day
Friday April 14th - Good Friday
Sunday April 16th - Easter Sunday
Tuesday April 25th - Liberation Day
Monday May 1st - Labour Day
Saturday June 10th - Portugal Day
Thursday June 15th - Corpus Christi
Tuesday August 15th - Assumption
Thursday October 5th - Republic Day
Wednesday November 1st - All Saints
Friday December 8th - Immaculate Conception
Monday December 25th - Christmas Day
SPANISH PUBLIC HOLIDAYS
Cross border train, bus and airline operations may be affected on these days. Do check before making firm travel plans.
The remaining national public holidays in 2016 are:
August 15th: Assumption of Mary, (Monday)
October 12th: Spanish National Day, (Wednesday)
November 1st: All Saints’ Day (Monday)
December 6th: Constitution Day (Tuesday)
December 8th: Immaculate Conception, (Thursday).
Apart from these national dates, all regions have additional holidays.
Andalusia (incl, Seville, Cadiz, Huelva etc)
For a list of all the timetables on the site,
click here
For an alphabetical list of places in the Algarve, click here
For some important general notes about buses in the Algarve, click
here
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