Bridge days in Germany 2027: get the most out of your leave

New Year and Epiphany. New Year's Day 2027 is a Friday. In Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Saxony-Anhalt, Epiphany follows on Wednesday 6 January 2027. Two leave days on the Monday and Tuesday give six days off from 1 to 6 January there, and four leave days across the rest of that week stretch it to ten days, ending on Sunday 10 January. Elsewhere the long weekend of 1 to 3 January is the only gain.

Easter. Good Friday is 26 March 2027 and Easter Monday 29 March 2027. Four leave days in the week before, 22 to 25 March, give ten days off from Saturday 20 March to Easter Monday. The four days after Easter, 30 March to 2 April, do just as well. Take both weeks and eight leave days buy sixteen days in a row. In Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Women's Day on Monday 8 March adds a bridge of its own worth four leave days.

May and June. Ascension Day is 6 May 2027, a Thursday; the Friday after it is the classic bridge day of the year. Whit Monday falls on 17 May and Corpus Christi on Thursday 27 May 2027. In a state with Corpus Christi that means two bridge days three weeks apart. The four days after Whit Monday, 18 to 21 May, give nine days off.

Autumn. 3 October is a Sunday and gives nothing. All Saints' Day falls on a Monday in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, a long weekend without leave. In Saxony the Day of Repentance and Prayer is on Wednesday 17 November; two leave days before or after it make a five-day block.

Christmas. Both Christmas holidays fall on the weekend. Taking 27 to 31 December off costs five leave days for nine days off up to 2 January 2028, an ordinary week. Where Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are off under a collective agreement, four days are enough.

Choose your state, the year and the number of leave days you want to spend on bridges. Usually that is not your whole annual leave, since part of it goes on a summer holiday. Eight to twelve days is a good starting point. The calculator then shows the number of days off at the top, each block with its dates below, and at the bottom every bridge of the year sorted by value.

In Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia the calculator asks for your municipality, because some holidays there apply in part of the state only. In Bavaria that is Assumption Day on 15 August, which the State Office for Statistics has confirmed for 1,708 of 2,056 municipalities, and the Augsburg Peace Festival on 8 August. Find your municipality with the Assumption Day search. In Saxony and Thuringia it concerns Corpus Christi.

Leave days that no longer extend a bridge are shown as "free to plan". They carry no holiday advantage; each full week of leave then buys nine days off.

There is no statutory date by which next year's leave must be requested. Many employers collect requests in the autumn in a leave plan. Under section 7(1) of the Federal Leave Act the employer must take the employee's wishes into account unless urgent operational needs or colleagues with priority on social grounds stand in the way. Asking early improves your chances for popular bridges such as the Friday after Ascension Day.

Leave must in principle be taken in the current year; carrying it over to 31 March of the following year is meant only for urgent reasons. Public holidays are paid: wages continue under the Continued Remuneration Act. A holiday during your leave does not use up a leave day.

Public holidays are a matter for the states in Germany. Each of the sixteen has its own holiday act; only German Unity Day is fixed nationwide, by the Unification Treaty. The other eight shared holidays appear in all sixteen acts because the states have historically agreed on them.

The differences come mainly from religion. The Catholic south and west keep Corpus Christi and All Saints' Day, and Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Saxony-Anhalt keep Epiphany. The Protestant north and east keep Reformation Day; the northern states added it in 2018 after it had been a one-off nationwide holiday in 2017 for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Newer holidays are political: Women's Day in Berlin since 2019 and in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania since 2023, World Children's Day in Thuringia since 2019. In 2028 Berlin has an extra one-off holiday for the 75th anniversary of the uprising of 17 June 1953; it falls on a Saturday.

2026 was kinder: New Year's Day was a Thursday, 1 May and Christmas Day a Friday. What remains of 2026 is Christmas and New Year's Eve; bridge days 2026 shows what is still possible.

2028 will be one of the best years of the decade. 3 October is a Tuesday, as is Reformation Day, All Saints' Day a Wednesday, and Christmas a Monday and Tuesday. Bavaria adds Assumption Day on a Tuesday. Ten leave days buy 32 days off in North Rhine-Westphalia instead of 27. Planning ahead? Everything is on bridge days 2028.