Czech holiday calendar -- how many days off in 2019?

How many working days to expect in 2019 and, more importantly, how many long weekends!

Katrina Modrá

Written by Katrina Modrá Published on 01.01.2019 09:15:57 (updated on 01.01.2019) Reading time: 2 minutes

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
  • Tuesday, December 24: Christmas Eve
  • Wednesday, December 25: First Day of Christmas
  • Thursday, December 26: Second Day of Christmas

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