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Denmark is one of the UK’s most popular short-break destinations, with around a million British visitors a year drawn to Copenhagen’s harbour-front, its design shops and the original Tivoli Gardens, as well as to Aarhus, Odense and the Legoland heartland of Jutland. If you are planning a trip in 2027, it pays to know the Danish public holidays in advance, because they reshape opening hours, transport timetables and crowd levels. This guide lists every public holiday in Denmark for 2027, flags the days that look like holidays but are not, explains what stays open and what closes, and shows how the Danish calendar compares with UK bank holidays.
⚠️ One date to forget: Great Prayer Day
Many online calendars still show Store Bededag (Great Prayer Day) as a Danish public holiday. It is not. Denmark abolished it with effect from 2024, so in 2027 the fourth Friday after Easter — Friday 23 April 2027 — is an ordinary working day. We have left it off the list below on purpose.
Public Holidays in Denmark 2027 — Full List
Denmark observes 10 official public holidays (helligdage) in 2027. Almost all of them are Christian feast days whose dates move with Easter, so they differ from year to year. We cross-checked every date on 2 October 2026 against the Nager.Date public-holiday API, the python-holidays library and official Danish listings; a date only appears below where the sources agree.
| Date | Name (Danish) | Name (English) | Type | Day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 January 2027 | Nytårsdag | New Year’s Day | National | Friday |
| 25 March 2027 | Skærtorsdag | Maundy Thursday | National | Thursday |
| 26 March 2027 | Langfredag | Good Friday | National | Friday |
| 28 March 2027 | Påskedag | Easter Sunday | National | Sunday |
| 29 March 2027 | 2. påskedag | Easter Monday | National | Monday |
| 6 May 2027 | Kristi himmelfartsdag | Ascension Day | National | Thursday |
| 16 May 2027 | Pinsedag | Whit Sunday (Pentecost) | National | Sunday |
| 17 May 2027 | 2. pinsedag | Whit Monday | National | Monday |
| 25 December 2027 | Juledag | Christmas Day | National | Saturday |
| 26 December 2027 | 2. juledag | Boxing Day (St Stephen’s Day) | National | Sunday |
Denmark keeps several Christian holidays that the UK has dropped or never had, including Maundy Thursday (Skærtorsdag), Ascension Day (Kristi himmelfartsdag) and Whit Monday (2. pinsedag), as well as a second day of Christmas on 26 December. There is no spring or summer “bank holiday” of the British kind, and crucially no substitute day is given when a holiday lands on a weekend.
Days that look like holidays but are not
Several dates are widely observed in Denmark without being statutory public holidays. Treat them as “soft” days off — many workplaces close early or entirely, but there is no legal entitlement, banks may still process, and public transport runs normally.
- Great Prayer Day (Store Bededag) — abolished from 2024; an ordinary working day in 2027 (would have been Friday 23 April).
- Bank closing day (Banklukkedag), Friday 7 May 2027 — the Friday after Ascension Day. Banks close and many office staff bridge the day, but it is not a public holiday.
- Constitution Day (Grundlovsdag), Saturday 5 June 2027 — a de facto half-day in most years; in 2027 it falls on a Saturday, so the practical impact is small.
- Christmas Eve (Juleaftensdag), Friday 24 December 2027 — the main day of Danish Christmas celebrations, when almost everything shuts from early afternoon, yet technically a normal working day.
- New Year’s Eve (Nytårsaftensdag), Friday 31 December 2027 — a half-day in practice; shops and offices typically close at lunchtime.
Long Weekends in Denmark 2027
🗓️ The 2027 breaks worth planning around
- New Year: Friday 1 January is a holiday, giving a straightforward three-day weekend to open the year.
- Easter (the big one): with Maundy Thursday 25 March and Good Friday 26 March both public holidays, and Easter Monday 29 March closing the run, Danes get five consecutive days off from Thursday 25 to Monday 29 March — no annual leave required. This is the single best break in the Danish calendar and the busiest domestic travel window.
- Ascension and the bridge day: Ascension Day falls on Thursday 6 May, and the Friday after (7 May) is a traditional klemmedag (“squeeze day”) when banks close and most people take the day. That makes a comfortable four-day weekend, Thursday to Sunday, for the cost of at most one day’s leave.
- Whitsun: Whit Sunday 16 May and Whit Monday 17 May give a three-day weekend in mid-May.
- Christmas: a weak year for Danes. Christmas Day (25 December) and the second Christmas Day (26 December) both fall at the weekend in 2027, and because Denmark gives no substitute day, no extra weekday off follows.
By comparison, the UK’s longest standard stretch is a three-day bank holiday weekend. Denmark’s Easter and Ascension breaks are noticeably more generous.
What’s Open and Closed on Public Holidays
On the main Danish public holidays — New Year’s Day, the Easter cluster, Ascension Day, Whitsun and the two Christmas days — banks, government offices and most supermarkets close. Larger city-centre stores, kiosks, bakeries, pharmacies and petrol stations often stay open with reduced hours, and in Copenhagen you will still find cafés, restaurants and the big attractions trading. Public transport switches to a Sunday or holiday timetable, so services are thinner and start later.
Christmas is the quietest period of the Danish year. From the afternoon of Christmas Eve (24 December) through the second day of Christmas (26 December), shops, offices and many restaurants shut almost entirely, and city life slows right down as families gather at home. Easter is similar but milder: expect reduced hours rather than wholesale closures, and check opening times for Maundy Thursday and Easter Monday in particular.
💡 Travel tip
If your trip overlaps the Easter long weekend (25–29 March 2027), book trains, bridges and any inter-city travel early: this is peak domestic-travel season, and the Øresund and Storebælt crossings get busy. Supermarkets such as Netto and Føtex post their holiday hours online a few days ahead — a quick check saves a wasted walk on a day when almost everything is shut.
How Denmark’s Public Holidays Compare with UK Bank Holidays
The UK has eight bank holidays in England and Wales, almost all secular and deliberately tied to Mondays to create reliable three-day weekends. Denmark’s calendar is built on a different logic: 10 public holidays, mostly Christian feast days whose dates move with Easter, observed on whatever weekday they fall and with no substitute days.
| Feature | United Kingdom | Denmark |
|---|---|---|
| Number of public holidays | 8 (England & Wales) | 10 |
| Longest single break | 3-day weekend | 5 days at Easter |
| Moved to Monday? | Most are | No — observed on the actual date |
| Substitute day if on a weekend | Yes | No |
| Mostly religious or secular? | Mostly secular | Mostly Christian feast days |
| Holidays the other lacks | Early May & summer bank holidays | Maundy Thursday, Ascension, Whit Monday, 2nd Christmas Day |
For the full British calendar to plan around, see our guide to the list of UK bank holidays, and for the year itself our overview of UK bank holidays in 2027. If you are stacking annual leave around long breaks, our UK long weekends 2027 planner is a useful companion.
Key Cultural Holidays Explained
Maundy Thursday and the Easter cluster (Skærtorsdag to 2. påskedag, 25–29 March) form the backbone of the Danish holiday year. Maundy Thursday and Easter Monday are both days off — unlike in the UK, where only Good Friday and Easter Monday are bank holidays — which is why the Danish Easter break is a full five days. Expect quiet cities, busy summer houses and heavy traffic to the coast.
Ascension Day (Kristi himmelfartsdag, 6 May) comes 40 days after Easter and is one of the most reliably observed breaks of the year, largely because of the klemmedag on the Friday that follows it. The combination turns a single Thursday holiday into a long weekend that empties Copenhagen.
Whit Monday (2. pinsedag, 17 May) is a public holiday in Denmark long after many countries dropped it, and marks the symbolic start of the Danish summer-house season.
🔎 Did you know?
In 2023 the Danish parliament voted to abolish Store Bededag (Great Prayer Day) as a public holiday, a 338-year-old tradition dating from 1686, to help fund increased defence spending. The change took effect in 2024, making it the first Danish public holiday to be scrapped in modern times — which is why so many older calendars and apps still get the Danish holiday list wrong.
Planning Your Trip Around Public Holidays
For atmosphere, Copenhagen is at its most magical in the run-up to Christmas, when Tivoli’s winter season and the Christmas markets light up the city — but remember that the days around 24–26 December themselves are very quiet, with most shops shut. For sightseeing with everything open, late spring and early summer are ideal, though the Easter and Ascension long weekends bring heavier domestic travel. If you would rather avoid the crowds and the transport crush, steer clear of the Easter week in late March and the Ascension weekend in early May. Neighbouring destinations pair naturally with a Danish trip: if you are crossing the border south into Schleswig-Holstein or beyond, our guide to public holidays in Germany covers the calendar just across the frontier. Whenever you travel, booking accommodation and inter-city transport ahead of the Easter dates will save both money and stress.
FAQ
How many public holidays does Denmark have in 2027?
Is Great Prayer Day (Store Bededag) a public holiday in Denmark in 2027?
When is Easter 2027 in Denmark?
Are shops and restaurants open on Danish public holidays?
Is Constitution Day (Grundlovsdag) a day off in Denmark?
Do Danish public holidays move to a Monday if they fall on a weekend?
How do Danish public holidays compare with UK bank holidays?
Sources & Last Verified
This guide was compiled by cross-checking three independent sources, and a date only appears in the list above where at least two of them agree:
- Nager.Date public holiday API — date.nager.at (Denmark 2027), filtered to statutory public holidays.
- python-holidays library (Denmark, 2027).
- Official Danish holiday listings, confirming that Store Bededag (Great Prayer Day) is no longer a public holiday from 2024.
Dates that Nager returns but which are not statutory public holidays in Denmark — Bank closing day (7 May), Constitution Day (5 June), Christmas Eve (24 December) and New Year’s Eve (31 December) — have been excluded from the table and explained in the text above.
Last verified: 2 October 2026
Author: Bank Holidays UK Editorial Team