Good news! In France, employees generally get 25 days of annual leave, on top of 11 public holidays (jours fériés) a year, rising – for historic reasons – to 13 for anyone living in the former Alsace-Lorraine region.
Bad news! Some years are better than others when it comes to public holidays. If a jour férié falls on a weekend, then most of the time workers will lose the day off.
Better news! Only one of the 11 nationwide public holidays (and neither of the extra ones for those lucky folks in the north-east) is lost to a weekend in 2025 – and Toussaint, on Saturday, November 1st, is ages away.
So 2025 is officially a ‘good year’ for public holidays in France.
Advertisement
More importantly for strategic holiday bookings, several jours fériés are on either a Thursday or a Tuesday, offering plenty of chances to ‘faire le pont’ for an extended break at minimal annual leave allocation cost.
READ ALSO Could France give up one of its treasured public holidays?
For example, if there is a public holiday on a Thursday you use a single day of annual leave to book Friday off work, meaning that you leave work on Wednesday evening and don’t return until Monday morning, but have only used up one day out of your 25.
By our calculations, with some canny scheduling and speedy booking, you could bag 43 days off in 2025 for the cost of 19 days’ leave, leaving another six days to use as you see fit – or 52 for the price of 23, with two left over for emergency duvet days.
January
New Year’s Day falls on a Wednesday. School children and many workers do not head back to the classroom / office until the following Monday.
But, if you’re expected back in the workplace on January 2nd (and you haven’t done so already), you might be able to use two days of your 25-day annual holiday allowance – known, in keeping with the engineering metaphor, as to ‘faire le viaduct’ – and bag five consecutive days off to recover from all that New Year partying.
April
There’s a long run, after New Year’s Day, before the next public holiday of 2025. Alsatians get Good Friday off, on April 18th, as well as Easter Monday (April 21st). The rest of France just gets the three-day Saturday-Sunday-Monday one.
May
Consider May to be Bridging Month. Three public holidays – Fête du travail on May 1st, VE Day (La victoire de 1945) on May 8th, and Ascension on May 29th – all fall on a Thursday in 2025.
The bridging possibilities in May are obvious.
Advertisement
For some schools, the Ascension holiday comes with an auto-bridging day, guaranteeing a four-day weekend for everyone apart from those studying for their brevet or bac.
Some astute holiday scheduling could guarantee 11 days off for the cost of just five annual leave days at the start of May, if you’re really looking to work the system.
June
Pentecost, the public holiday that sometimes isn’t – depending on where you work – falls on Monday, June 9th.
READ ALSO Why do many in France work for free on Pentecost public holiday?
Now, it’s not impossible that others have noticed the early May leave-scheduling options, but the human propensity for missing obvious opportunities because the month has changed means that you have a second bite at a decent break at a reduced annual leave rate if you book a holiday from May 29th to June 10th.
Advertisement
There are two public holidays and two weekends in those dates, making for 12 consecutive days off, at the cost of no more than six days’ leave (five, if you get the Ascension auto-bridge).
July
France’s Fête Nationale falls on a Monday in 2025. Some quick maths: Four days’ annual leave from Tuesday July 15th to Friday July 18th gives you nine consecutive days off.
August
The Christian festival of Assumption – a public holiday in France – is on Friday, August 15th. See July for a nine-day break for the price of four calculation.
READ ALSO Reader question: Why does secular France have so many Catholic holidays?
November
The first public holiday of November is on Saturday, November 1st, which is unfortunate for holiday planners.
The second – Armistice Day on November 11th, is a Tuesday. A four-day weekend for the price of one day’s leave is an option, here. As, if you have not done it already, is the nine-day break for the price of five days of holiday allocation.
December
In 2025, Christmas Day falls on a Thursday (as does New Year’s Day 2026, obviously). In the former Alsace part of France, workers also benefit from a holiday on St Stephen’s Day, December 26th.
But, even if you’re not blessed with living in north-eastern France, you could still enjoy 11 straight days off from close of business on December 24th all the way through to January 5th – when schools reopen – for the cost of just five days’ annual leave.
