Public Holidays in Switzerland

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Public Holidays in Switzerland

The French for a national public (or "bank") holiday is un jour férié; the German word is Feiertag.

• Banks, shops, offices and even some restaurants close on public holidays
• Police stations and hospitals do not close
• Most of the larger shops (especially supermarkets) open on public holidays but some businesses and banks remain closed

Some public holidays are specific to certain cantons and Catholic holidays are only official in the cantons of Lucerne and Zug. The Jeûne Genevois (Geneva Fast) on the Thursday following the first Sunday in September is celebrated in Geneva only, while the rest of Switzerland has the day off for the Jeûne Fédéral (Federal Fast) on a Monday 10 days later.

Key to the regions

Aargau (AG), Appenzell Outer Rhodes (AR), Appenzell Inner Rhodes (AI), Basel-Landschaft (BL), Basel-Stadt ( BS), Bern (BE), Fribourg (FR), Geneva (GE), Glarus (GL), Graubünden (GL), Jura (JU), Lucerne (LU), Neuchâtel (NE), Nidwalden (NW), Obwalden (OW), Sankt Gallen (SG), Schaffhausen (SH), Schwyz (SZ), Solothurn (SO), Thurgau (TG), Ticino (TI), Uri (UR), Valais (VS), Vaud (VD), Zug (ZG), Zurich (ZH).

Public Holidays Worldwide

For information on public holidays around the world, see the following links:

• US: Office of Personnel Management 
• The World: Jours-Feries.com