Got the Sunday scaries yet? Then it’s time to make some holiday plans. 2024 will soon loom and if you’re organised enough you can double your days off next year.

How to maximise German public holidays in 2024

People who work full-time in Germany are legally entitled to a minimum of 20 paid holiday days per year and in most companies, employees are given a few more, somewhere between 20 and 30 each year.

With some national public holidays, like Reunification Day on October 3, falling on specific dates and others, such as Good Friday and Easter Monday falling somewhere within a range of weeks but always on a working day, each year there is some calculation to do about which days are best to take off work in order to maximise the duration of your uninterrupted holidays.

These are the nine public holidays which are acknowledged nationwide and the dates they will be celebrated in 2024:

• New Years’ Day (Neujahr) - January 1
• Good Friday (Karfreitag) - March 29 (changeable)
• Easter Sunday (Ostersonntag) - March 31 (changeable)
• Easter Monday (Ostermontag) - April 1 (changeable)
• Labour Day (Tag der Arbeit) - May 1
• Ascension Day (Christi Himmelfahrt) - May 9 (Changeable but always a Thursday)
• Whitsunday (Pfingstsonntag) - May 19
• Whitmonday (Pfingstmontag) - May 20
• Reunification Day (Tag der Deutschen Einheit) - October 3
• Christmas Day (Erster Weihnachtstag) - December 25
• Boxing Day (Zweiter Weihnachtstag) - December 26

On top of these nine dates, there are some public holidays in Germany which are only celebrated in one or a few German federal states.

Easter will come early in 2024 

Easter is coming early next year - Good Friday will fall on March 29. The long Easter weekend always makes for a cracking time to maximise days off since Good Friday and Easter Monday are always destined to fall on work days.

This means that anyone who books off March 25 to 28 can get 10 uninterrupted free days, and anyone who books off through to April 5 can get 16 days off while using just eight holiday days.

Well-organised Whitsun can mean long, uninterrupted holidays

The days on which Whitsun holidays in Germany fall in 2024 are also very promising. Ascension Day will arrive on May 9, a Thursday. This will be shortly followed by the Whitsun weekend with another holiday on Monday, May 20. This means that anyone who books off May 10 and 13-17 can get 12 free days by using just six holiday days.

Those who dare to dream can go even further, take holidays from May 6 until Whitmonday and get 17 days off by using just nine days of paid leave. Or even further - and take time off from the day after the Labour Day holiday on May 1 until Whitmonday, to get 20 days off for the price of 11 holiday days.

For those living in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate or Saarland, where the May 30 Corpus Christi holiday is celebrated, there is also the possibility to start summer off with a bridge day (Brückentag) weekend. Corpus Christi falls on a Thursday so a long weekend between May 30 and June 3 will be possible.

Reunification Day 2024 is prime Brückentag territory

As the 2023 Reunification Day we have just had, the 2024 calendar has primed October 3 to be maxed as a Brückentag. Since the holiday falls on a Thursday, if you take off Friday, October 5, you can get in a four-day weekend away somewhere before the real autumn weather kicks in.

Christmas holidays are 16 for the price of five

Now for the big one. Germans celebrate Christmas on the evening of December 24, but only December 25 and 26 are nationwide public holidays in the federal republic.

In 2024 these dates are set to fall on a Wednesday and a Thursday, meaning that taking three holidays off can get you nine days consecutive days off in return - December 27, 28 and 31 are the ones to request if you want to max it. If you want to stretch that holiday further to include all of the New Year build-up and festivities - take until January 3 off and get 12 consecutive days off in exchange for five holiday days off.

For those living in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Saxony-Anhalt where Epiphany (Heilige Drei Könige) is celebrated on January 6, this plan will mean another day off on top!

Thumb image credit: Iglwch / Shutterstock.com