PUBLIC HOLIDAY. All Saints Day, November 1, is the next public holiday in the calendar. Here are all the holiday dates for the rest of 2023 as well as the year ahead, 2024.

[Updated August 21, 2023 3:58 PM] You’ll have to wait until November to enjoy the next holiday! This end of the year 2023 is at least a guarantee of possible long weekends, for example at All Saints’ Day, which falls on Wednesday, November 1. The opportunity to pose on Monday October 30 and Tuesday October 31, and celebrate Halloween with dignity! November 11, 2023 falls on a Saturday…

Consult the list of public holidays for 2023-2024 to find out when to go and download our calendar of school holidays 2023-2024 with public holidays. We also give you the list of the best days to ask each month of the year 2023 to bridge and enjoy more holidays thanks to the holidays.

Consult the dates of the next public holidays 2023 in France, in order to better plan long weekends and possible bridges:

A last bridge is possible in the 2023 calendar of public holidays: if you want to put two days in a row to make the bridge, in October, put Monday 30 and Tuesday 31 October, because All Saints’ Day falls on Wednesday 1 November. So you can enjoy the Halloween evening as it should be!

Every year, November 1, which corresponds to the Christian holiday of All Saints, and November 11, which corresponds to the Armistice of 1918, are public holidays. All Saints’ Day was celebrated on Wednesday, November 1, 2023. The Armistice of 1918 will fall on Saturday, November 11…

Here is the official calendar for the 2023-2024 school year which contains, in addition to the traditional holiday periods by zone, the dates of public holidays in France:

Download the official school calendar 2023-2024 (PDF)

Consult the dates of the 11 public holidays in 2024 in France, in order to plan a holiday well in advance!

Public holidays commemorate a civil or religious holiday or a significant event, the list of which is defined by the Labor Code. In France, the year has 11 public holidays, compared to 10 in Belgium, 12 in Spain and 9 in Germany. In Europe, Cypriots have the most public holidays with 15 days per year. Conversely, in the United Kingdom, there are only 8. These dates have been determined according to the history and culture of the country. There are therefore two types of public holidays, civil and religious.

There are 5 civil holidays: New Year’s Day, a public holiday since the 1st Empire in 1810, May 1 (Labor Day) declared a holiday in 1919, May 8 which commemorates the capitulation of Germany, July 14 which celebrates the storming of the Bastille and which has been unemployed since July 6, 1880, and November 11, Armistice Day of the First World War. And 6 religious holidays: Assumption, Ascension, All Saints, Christmas, Pentecost and Easter are the 6 religious holidays in France.

The first four became public holidays from 1802 following the signing of the Concordat between Bonaparte and the papacy. Easter Monday and Pentecost Monday were added in 1886. Note: there are some local particularities: in Alsace-Moselle, Good Friday and December 26 are also public holidays and in the overseas departments, the abolition of slavery.

May 1st, Labor Day, is the only day in France that is mandatorily free and paid by companies (but there may be professions that make exceptions.) For other public holidays, the law provides that when day n is not working in a company, the employee must be paid from 3 months of seniority. If the public holiday is worked, the employer is not obliged to pay his employee more, on the other hand some collective agreements provide for an increase.

It is therefore advisable to consult your collective agreement to find out your situation. With regard to bridges, there is no obligation for the employer to grant them. If the collective agreement does not specify this feature, the employer remains free to decide. In any case, he is not forced to pay his employee that day. On the other hand, the employer can impose a bridge on the employees.

A holiday is not necessarily a day off (not worked). The employer has the right to ask his employee to work on a public holiday, with the exception of May 1, Labor Day. Indeed, May 1st is the only compulsory public holiday for all employees of all companies in France. It is therefore obligatorily off and paid unlike other public holidays. But if May 1st falls on a usual rest day in the company (for example, a Sunday), it will not be paid and it does not give rise to the right to additional rest.