A list of public
holidays in Portugal checked and updated 6th September 2017
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 two weeks 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 2017 - apart from the
obvious dates below, schools will be on holiday at these times, therefore the 'Schooldays only' buses will not run :
Term begins 11th September
Christmas and New year break Monday 18th December to Friday 31st December (schools go back on Monday 3rd)
'half term' break is the week commencing Monday 12th February
Easter Break begins Monday 27th March, lessons recommence Monday 4th April
Last day of term 30th June although some schools finish earlier.
Summer bus timetables (where different) apply 1st July until (generally) the second Sunday of September
Monday January 1st - New Year's Day
Tuesday 13th February (Carnval) although not an official holiday is treated as such by train and bus operators
Friday March 30th - Good Friday
Sunday 1st April - Easter Sunday (NB 'Easter Monday' is not holiday in Portugal)
Wednesday 25th April - Liberation Day
Tuesday May 1st - Labour Day
Sunday June 10th - Portugal Day
Friday June 15th - Corpus Christi
Wednesday August 15th - Assumption
Friday October 5th - Republic Day
Thursday November 1st - All Saints
Saturday December 1st - Restoration of Independence Day
Saturday December 8th - Immaculate Conception
(Monday December 24th - it is very unlikely that banks, post offices, commercial offices etc will be open today)
Tuesday December 25th - Christmas Day
(December 26th is not a holiday here)
SPANISH PUBLIC HOLIDAYS
Cross border travel may be affected. Do check before making firm plans.
In particular, some of the cross border buses (coaches) between Seville,
the Algarve region and Lisbon do NOT operate on December 25th and
January 1st. They do operate on most other major holidays.
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