Portugal Public Holidays
Discover upcoming public holiday dates for Portugal and start planning to make the most of your time off.
In addition to public or statutory holidays, employees may be granted leave to observe local municipal or regional holidays. The additional holidays may be honoured at the discretion of the employer, as set forth in the employment contract. Shrove Tuesday, a celebratory feast, is usually observed in February or March, depending on the calendar year.
Although many employees are permitted to observe religious holidays, they are not necessarily designated as public holidays in Portugal. Portugal is a deeply Catholic country in which employees honour many saints. Saint Mary’s Day, celebrated on January 1 coincides with New Year’s Day. Regional religious holidays, named after many of the apostles attending the Last Supper include: St. Joseph’s Day; St. Anthony’s Day; St. John’s Day; St. Peter’s Day; St. Matthew Day and St. Elisabeth Day.
If an employee is required to work on a national holiday or a weekly day of rest, usually a Sunday, compensation is significantly higher than the normal pay rate. Holiday compensation is determined by terms of the employment contract and length of employment. Statutory pay supplements established by the Labor Code allow that an employee who is required to work on a holiday is entitled to receive an additional 100 percent increase in salary for each hour of work.