Public Holidays in Egypt 2026 & 2027: Dates & Travel Guide

Planning a winter-sun escape to the Red Sea, a Nile cruise or a few days among the pyramids? Knowing the public holidays in Egypt 2026 will help you dodge the crowds, anticipate closures and pick the quietest — or liveliest — moment to travel. Egypt’s calendar is unlike anything you will find in the UK: it blends Islamic dates that shift each year with the moon, ancient Coptic Christian festivals, and a clutch of patriotic revolution days. This complete guide, written for UK travellers, lays out every national holiday, explains the long weekends, and tells you exactly what stays open and what shuts.

Updated 30 September 2026: this guide now covers both 2026 and 2027 — jump to the 2027 public holiday calendar for Egypt.

Public Holidays in Egypt 2026 — Full List

Egypt observes around 13 official public holidays in 2026. Islamic holidays follow the lunar Hijri calendar, so their dates move roughly 11 days earlier each year and are only confirmed once the new moon is sighted. The dates below are the official calendar dates; see the long-weekend section for the days Egypt actually takes off.

Date	Name (Arabic / local)	Name (English)	Type	Day
7 Jan	عيد الميلاد المجيد	Coptic Christmas	Christian	Wednesday
25 Jan	عيد ثورة 25 يناير	Revolution Day & National Police Day	National	Sunday
~20–23 Mar	عيد الفطر	Eid al-Fitr (End of Ramadan)	Islamic	Fri–Mon*
13 Apr	شم النسيم	Sham El-Nessim (Spring Festival)	Cultural	Monday
25 Apr	عيد تحرير سيناء	Sinai Liberation Day	National	Saturday
1 May	عيد العمال	Labour Day	National	Friday
26 May	يوم عرفة	Arafat Day	Islamic	Tuesday
27–30 May	عيد الأضحى	Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice)	Islamic	Wed–Sat*
17 Jun	رأس السنة الهجرية	Islamic (Hijri) New Year	Islamic	Wednesday
30 Jun	ثورة 30 يونيو	June 30 Revolution Day	National	Tuesday
23 Jul	عيد ثورة 23 يوليو	July 23 Revolution Day (National Day)	National	Thursday
~25 Aug	المولد النبوي	Prophet Muhammad’s Birthday (Mawlid)	Islamic	Tuesday*
6 Oct	عيد القوات المسلحة	Armed Forces Day	National	Tuesday

*Islamic holiday dates depend on the official moon sighting and may shift by a day or two. Eid periods typically run 3–4 days.

Long Weekends in Egypt 2026

Egypt’s secret weapon: the Thursday shift. Since 2020, Egypt has moved most mid-week public holidays to a Thursday (occasionally a Sunday), deliberately manufacturing long weekends. Because the Egyptian weekend is Friday and Saturday — not Saturday and Sunday like in the UK — a Thursday holiday creates a three-day Thursday–Saturday break.

The biggest blocks of 2026 are the two Eids. Eid al-Fitr (around 19–23 March) and Eid al-Adha (26–30 May, including Arafat Day) can each stretch into a five- or six-day national shutdown when combined with the weekend. These are the times when Egyptians themselves travel en masse to the coast — wonderful atmosphere, but book early. Compared with the UK’s tidy single-day bank holidays, Egypt’s holiday clusters feel far more generous.

Public Holidays in Egypt 2027 — Full List

Planning further ahead? Here is the full public holiday calendar for Egypt in 2027 — the same holidays as the 2026 list above, with their 2027 dates. We cross-checked every date on 30 September 2026 against Egyptian Cabinet and two independent holiday calendars; a date only appears below where the sources agree.

Egypt has 13 public holidays in 2027. Egypt’s weekend is Friday and Saturday, so holidays falling on a Thursday or Sunday create the best long weekends. Several national holidays that land midweek are usually moved to the following Thursday by government decree. The Islamic holidays (Eid al-Fitr, Arafat Day, Eid al-Adha, Islamic New Year and the Prophet’s Birthday) are provisional until the moon is sighted.

The Egyptian Cabinet announces each holiday and any Thursday transfer only a few days in advance, so no consolidated official list for 2027 exists yet; the dates below will be re-checked as decrees are issued.

* Dates marked with an asterisk follow the lunar or religious calendar and are provisional until confirmed by the relevant authorities, usually only days ahead and subject to moon sighting. Check before you travel.

Date	Name (Arabic / local)	Name (English)	Type	Day
7 Jan	عيد الميلاد المجيد	Coptic Christmas	Christian	Thursday
25 Jan	عيد ثورة 25 يناير	Revolution Day & National Police Day	National	Monday
~9–11 Mar*	عيد الفطر	Eid al-Fitr (End of Ramadan)	Islamic	Tue–Thu*
25 Apr	عيد تحرير سيناء	Sinai Liberation Day	National	Sunday
1 May	عيد العمال	Labour Day	National	Saturday
3 May	شم النسيم	Sham El-Nessim (Spring Festival)	Cultural	Monday
15 May*	يوم عرفة	Arafat Day	Islamic	Saturday
16–19 May*	عيد الأضحى	Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice)	Islamic	Sun–Wed*
6 Jun*	رأس السنة الهجرية	Islamic (Hijri) New Year	Islamic	Sunday
30 Jun	ثورة 30 يونيو	June 30 Revolution Day	National	Wednesday
23 Jul	عيد ثورة 23 يوليو	July 23 Revolution Day (National Day)	National	Friday
~14 Aug*	المولد النبوي	Prophet Muhammad’s Birthday (Mawlid)	Islamic	Saturday*
6 Oct	عيد القوات المسلحة	Armed Forces Day	National	Wednesday

Good to know for 2027

Weekend: Egypt’s weekend is Friday and Saturday, so holidays on those days add no extra time off.
Thursday transfers: Revolution Day (25 January), Sinai Liberation Day (25 April), June 30 Revolution Day and Armed Forces Day are usually observed on the following Thursday.
Eid al-Fitr is expected from Tuesday 9 March and Eid al-Adha from Sunday 16 May, and the government often extends both breaks.
Islamic holidays depend on moon sighting, so the exact day may shift by a day and is confirmed shortly beforehand.
Sham El-Nessim (Monday 3 May) is the spring festival held the day after Coptic Easter and is celebrated by all Egyptians.
Coptic Christmas on Thursday 7 January is a national holiday.

Long weekends in Egypt in 2027

🗓️ The 2027 breaks worth booking early

Coptic Christmas: Thu 7 – Sat 9 January 2027 (3 days off, no leave needed)
Revolution Day & National Police Day (if moved to Thursday): Thu 28 – Sat 30 January 2027 (3 days off, no leave needed)
Eid al-Fitr: Tue 9 – Sat 13 March 2027 (5 days off, no leave needed)
Sinai Liberation Day (if moved) + Labour Day + Sham El-Nessim: Thu 29 April – Mon 3 May 2027 (5 days off, 1 day of leave)
Arafat Day + Eid al-Adha: Fri 14 – Wed 19 May 2027 (6 days off, no leave needed)
Islamic New Year (if moved to Thursday): Thu 10 – Sat 12 June 2027 (3 days off, no leave needed)
June 30 Revolution Day (moved to Thursday): Thu 1 – Sat 3 July 2027 (3 days off, no leave needed)
Armed Forces Day (if moved to Thursday): Thu 7 – Sat 9 October 2027 (3 days off, no leave needed)

What’s Open and Closed on Public Holidays

Here is the reassuring news for visitors: Egypt’s tourism machine keeps running on public holidays. The Pyramids of Giza, the Egyptian Museum, Luxor and Aswan temples, Nile cruises and the Red Sea resorts of Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheikh all operate normally — many are at their busiest. What closes is the everyday infrastructure:

Banks and government offices shut completely on national holidays, and ATMs can run dry during the long Eid breaks. Shops and markets vary: large malls and tourist bazaars (such as Khan el-Khalili) usually stay open, while smaller local shops may close, especially on the first day of Eid. Restaurants and cafés in tourist areas keep going; during Ramadan (roughly 18 February–19 March 2026) many local eateries close during daylight and burst into life after sunset. Public transport runs on a reduced, sometimes chaotic, schedule around the Eids. Museums and attractions generally remain open but get extremely crowded.

Travel tip: Withdraw cash before a holiday weekend begins, as banks close and busy ATMs empty fast. If you are flying domestically during an Eid, arrive at the airport early — these are the peak travel days of the Egyptian year.

How Egypt’s Public Holidays Compare with UK Bank Holidays

The contrast with the UK is striking. The UK has just eight bank holidays a year on a fixed, predictable pattern; Egypt has around 13 national holidays, several of them moving with the lunar calendar. Take a look at how the two systems differ:

Feature	United Kingdom	Egypt
Number of holidays	8 bank holidays	~13 national holidays
Weekend	Saturday–Sunday	Friday–Saturday
Date type	Mostly fixed / Monday-based	Mix of fixed, lunar Islamic & Coptic
Weekend roll-over	Substitute Monday	Often shifted to Thursday
Longest break	~4 days (Easter)	5–6 days (Eid al-Adha)

If you would like a refresher on the home calendar before you travel, see our full guide to the list of UK bank holidays and our roundup of long weekends in 2026.

Key Cultural Holidays Explained

Sham El-Nessim is Egypt’s oldest celebration and arguably its most charming. Its roots reach back roughly 4,500 years to pharaonic spring festivals, making it older than both Christianity and Islam. Held on the Monday after Coptic Easter (13 April 2026), it is celebrated by all Egyptians regardless of religion: families picnic in parks and along the Nile, dye eggs, and eat feseekh (fermented mullet), spring onions and salted fish.

Coptic Christmas on 7 January reflects Egypt’s large Coptic Orthodox Christian community, one of the oldest in the world. Like Greece and Cyprus, Egypt’s Christians follow the older liturgical calendar, which is why Coptic Easter in 2026 falls on 12 April rather than the Western date — the same Orthodox Easter shared with Greece.

Did you know? Eid al-Adha, the “Feast of the Sacrifice”, commemorates the prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son. It coincides with the climax of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, and Arafat Day the day before is one of the holiest of the Islamic year. It is the single biggest domestic travel period in Egypt — perfect to witness, but the worst time to need a last-minute hotel.

Planning Your Trip Around Public Holidays

If you want sights at their quietest, avoid the two Eid weeks, when Egyptians flock to Hurghada, Sharm El-Sheikh and the North Coast and prices climb. If, on the other hand, you want to soak up the atmosphere — decorated streets, festive crowds, special sweets — those same weeks are unforgettable. Ramadan (around 18 February–19 March 2026) is a gentle, reflective time to visit historic Cairo, with spectacular evening iftar meals, though daytime service slows.

For the classic combination of pyramids, a Nile cruise and Red Sea diving, the cooler months of January, February, October and November offer the most comfortable temperatures — and outside the Eids, the best availability. Booking your hotels and tours ahead of any holiday weekend is essential: you can compare accommodation across Cairo, Luxor and the Red Sea on Booking.com, and lock in skip-the-queue pyramid tours, Nile felucca trips and Luxor day trips through GetYourGuide before the dates sell out.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many public holidays does Egypt have in 2026?
Egypt has around 13 official national public holidays in 2026, mixing fixed national days, lunar Islamic festivals and Coptic Christian celebrations. The exact count varies because Eid periods span several days.

What is the Egyptian weekend?
The weekend in Egypt is Friday and Saturday, not Saturday and Sunday. This matters when planning meetings, banking or shopping, as Sunday is a normal working day.

Are the Pyramids open on public holidays?
Yes. The Pyramids of Giza, the Egyptian Museum, Nile cruises and Red Sea resorts stay open on public holidays. They are often busier than usual, especially during the two Eids.

When is Eid al-Fitr in Egypt in 2026?
Eid al-Fitr is expected around 20–23 March 2026, marking the end of Ramadan. The precise date depends on the official sighting of the new moon and may shift by a day.

When is Eid al-Adha in Egypt in 2026?
Eid al-Adha is expected to run from about 27 to 30 May 2026, with Arafat Day on 26 May. It is Egypt’s biggest domestic travel period, so book transport and hotels well ahead.

Why does Egypt move some holidays to a Thursday?
Since 2020, Egypt has shifted many mid-week public holidays to a Thursday (sometimes a Sunday) to create a longer Thursday–Saturday break, since Friday and Saturday are already the weekend.

Do banks and shops close on Egyptian holidays?
Banks and government offices close on national holidays. Large malls and tourist bazaars usually stay open, while smaller local shops may shut, particularly on the first day of Eid.

Sources & Last Verified

• Nager.Date — Egypt 2026 (secular national holidays)
• Office Holidays — Egypt 2026 (full list incl. observed dates & Thursday-shift rule)
• Cross-checked with python-holidays library and UK travel-press searches for Islamic and Coptic dates.
Islamic holiday dates are subject to official moon sighting and may shift by a day or two.
Last verified: 29 June 2026
Author: Bank Holidays UK Editorial Team