A list of public
holidays in Portugal checked and updated 16th June 2014
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 and this information is announced about a month beforehand.
Major supermarkets are usually open all day on
public and religious holidays, except on Good Friday.Some also close on
Easter Sunday and May 1st.
Supermarkets are not open on Christmas Day and New Year's Day. You will
need to check locally and/or nearer the time.
In tourist areas, smaller shops usually stay open
all day except on Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Christmas Day and
New Year's Day when almost all shops are closed.
Small shops in the villages and of course all post offices and
banks observe the holidays strictly.
School holiday breaks 2014 - apart from the
obvious dates below, schools will be on holiday for two
weeks over Easter and three days at Carnaval.
School year ends on Friday 27th June 2014 for secondary (high) schools, a couple of weeks earlier (varies) for junior and primary schools.
School holiday dates for 2014 subject to minor variations according to region:
School year starts between 12th and 16th September.
Christmas and New Year break starts 17th December, lessons resume 6th
January.
Carnaval break 3rd to 5th March. Easter break from Monday 7th April to Friday 21st April, lessons resume 24th April 2014
Note that starting in 2013 some public holidays were ´temporarily abolished' until 2019.
Tuesday 24th June - São João - this unofficial holiday is observed
widely in the north of the country, but not
everywhere in the south.
Friday 15th August - Assumption
Tuesday 19th August - ALBUFEIRA Municipal holiday. Some shops and
businesses will close for the day at lunchtime.**
Monday 8th December - Immaculate Conception
Thursday 25th December - Christmas Day (nb December 26th is not a
holiday here)
Thursday 1st January 2015 - New Year's Day
Friday 3rd April - Good Friday
Sunday 5th April - Easter Monday
Saturday 25th April - Liberation Day
Friday 1st May - Labour Day
Wednesday 10th June - Portugal Day
Saturday 13th June - Feast of St Anthony - Lisbon only
Wednesday 24th June - São João - this unofficial holiday is observed
in the north of the country, but not
everywhere in the south. National railways may run to Sunday times.
Saturday 15th August - Assumption
Tuesday 18th August - ALBUFEIRA Municipal holiday. Some shops and
businesses will close for the day at lunchtime.**
Tuesday 8th December - Immaculate Conception
Friday 25th December - Christmas Day
** other cities and towns also have municipal holidays but these
do not affect train times. However in some towns away from the Algarve, buses do not run.
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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