A list of public
holidays in Portugal checked and updated 29th October 2013
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, possibly
Easter Sunday and May Day.
They 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.
Many bus services in rural areas operate only on schooldays. Weekend service is unusual.
School holiday breaks 2013 - apart from the
obvious dates below, schools will be on holiday for two
weeks over Easter and three days at Carnaval.
Term ends on Friday 29th June for secondary (high) schools, a couple of weeks earlier (varies) for junior and primary schools.
School holiday dates for 2013 / 2014 subject to minor variations according to region:
School 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 to Friday 21st, lessons resume 24th April 2014
Note that starting in 2013 some public holidays are abolished until 2019 as shown below.
Friday 1st November - All
Saints - this holiday is abolished
Sunday 1st December -
Restoration of Independence day - this holiday is abolished
Sunday 8th December - Immaculate Conception
Wednesday 25th December - Christmas Day. NB December 26th is not a
holiday here.
Wednesday 1st January 2014 - New Year's Day.
Wednesday 1st January - New Year's Day
Tuesday 4th March - Carnaval (Shrove Tuesday) - an unofficial
holiday but widely observed with many street parades etc.
Friday 18th April - Good Friday
Sunday 20th April - Easter Sunday (nb Easter Monday is not a
holiday here)
Friday 25th April - Liberation Day
Thursday 1st May - Labour Day
Tuesday 10th June - Portugal Day
Tuesday 24th June - São João - this unofficial holiday is observed
widely in the north of the country, but not
everywhere in the south.
Friday 13th June - Feast of St Anthony - Lisbon only
Friday 15th August - Assumption
Tuesday 21st 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)
** 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
Back to the site home page here