It’s that time of year again; time to count your blessings, relax with family and start planning next year’s holidays and breaks all over again. So how many days off can we expect for the calendar year 2019?
This year sees a total of 251 working days (one more than last year) and 2008 working hours. Ten public holidays fall on weekdays which is a day less than the previous year.
Holidays on July 6 (Jan Hus), September 28 (Czech Statehood), and November 17 (Struggle for Freedom Day) are, unfortunately, all on weekends — and, sorry, sliding holidays, when a holiday falls on a Sunday and is taken off on the following Monday, are not observed in the Czech Republic!
Tuesday, January 1: New Year’s Day/Czech Independence Day
Friday, April 19: Good Friday
Monday, April 22: Easter Monday
Wednesday, May 1: Labor Day
Wednesday, May 8: Victory Day
Friday, July 5: St. Cyril and St. Methodius Day
Saturday, July 6: Jan Hus Day
Saturday, September 28: St. Wenceslas/Czech Statehood Day
Monday, October 28: Day of the Independent Czechoslovak State
Sunday, November 17: Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day
Tuesday, December 24: Christmas Eve
Wednesday, December 25: First Day of Christmas
Thursday, December 26: Second Day of Christmas
Culturally Important Days in 2019:
Sunday, January 6: Three Kings Day
Saturday, January 19: Jan Palach Day
Sunday, January 27: Holocaust Remembrance Day and Prevention of Crimes Against Humanity
Friday, March 8: International Women’s Day
Saturday, March 9: Day Commemorating Victims of the extermination of the Terezin family camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau
Tuesday, March 12: Anniversary of Czech Republic Joining NATO
Thursday, March 28: Day of the Birth of Jan Amos Comenius
Sunday, May 5: Remembrance of the May Uprising of the Czech Nation (1945)
Saturday, June 1: International Children’s Day
Monday, June 10: Memorial Day Extermination of Lidice
Tuesday, June 18: Day of Heroes of the Second Resistance
Thursday, June 27: Commemorating the Victims of the Communist Regime
Monday, November 11: Veterans Day
Shop Closings
Since 2016, a law mandating that stores of more than 200 square meters must remain closed on holidays was passed. (Stores smaller than 200 square meters or at petrol stations, pharmacies, shops at airports, railway stations, and hospitals, etc. may remain open). Store closures for this year are:
Tuesday, January 1: New Year
Monday, April 22: Easter Monday
Wednesday, May 8: Victory Day
Saturday, September 28: St. Wenceslas/Czech Statehood Day
Monday, October 28: Day of the Independent Czechoslovak State