What Are The Public Holidays in Portugal in 2026?

List of Public Holidays in Portugal (2026)

Portugal has a core set of nationwide public holidays that apply across the country, plus some additional local observances. The table below lists the national public holidays for 2026 that most employers will need to plan around.

*Carnival is not a statutory national public holiday in the Labour Code, but it is widely treated as a paid day off by public administration and many private employers, often under collective agreements or company policy.

Do Employers Have to Provide Paid Leave on Public Holidays?

Yes, under Portuguese labour law employees are generally entitled to a paid day off on statutory public holidays, and you must pay them their normal remuneration for those days even though no work is performed. This applies to full-time and part-time employees alike, as long as the holiday falls on a day that would normally be a working day for that employee.

If your operations require staff to work on a public holiday, you can do so within the limits of the Labour Code, but you must provide enhanced compensation. In most cases, work performed on a public holiday is paid at a higher rate than ordinary work and may also generate compensatory rest, depending on the sector and any applicable collective bargaining agreement.

Portugal does not usually “observe” fixed-date holidays on the nearest weekday when they fall on a weekend. If a holiday such as Freedom Day or All Saints' Day falls on a Saturday or Sunday, there is typically no automatic substitute weekday. However, many employers voluntarily grant an extra day off or negotiate arrangements in collective agreements to maintain employee goodwill and align with local practice.

In addition to the national holidays listed above, some municipalities and regions have their own local holidays, such as municipal holidays for city patron saints. These local days are often treated as public holidays for employees working in that municipality, so if your company operates in multiple locations you should confirm which local holidays apply at each site.

Legal Penalties for Not Providing Paid Holiday Leave

Failing to respect public holiday rights in Portugal can expose your company to administrative offences and financial penalties. The Authority for Working Conditions (Autoridade para as Condições do Trabalho, ACT) is the main enforcement body responsible for monitoring compliance with labour standards, including holiday pay and working time rules.

If you do not pay employees correctly for public holidays, or you require work on those days without the proper premium pay or compensatory rest, ACT can initiate an inspection and classify the breach as a serious or very serious administrative offence. This can lead to fines that scale with the size of your company and the degree of fault, and repeated or systematic non-compliance can increase the sanctions.

Common employer mistakes include treating Carnival as a normal working day despite a binding collective agreement that grants it as a holiday, miscalculating the normal remuneration due for a holiday, and failing to extend holiday rights to part-time staff whose schedule includes that day of the week. Keeping clear records of working time, pay calculations and applicable collective agreements is essential to demonstrate compliance during an inspection.

How Do Holidays Affect Overtime Thresholds?

Public holidays in Portugal interact with overtime rules because work performed on a holiday is treated differently from ordinary working days. If an employee works on a public holiday, those hours are typically paid at a premium rate on top of the normal remuneration that would have been due for the holiday itself. Sectoral collective agreements often specify the exact multiplier, which is frequently higher than the standard overtime premium for work on a regular day.

Holiday work can also influence daily and weekly rest requirements. Even if the total weekly hours do not exceed the usual thresholds, using a public holiday as a working day may require you to grant compensatory rest on another day, particularly in continuous operations or shift work. You should check the applicable collective bargaining agreement to confirm whether hours worked on a holiday count toward overtime thresholds or are treated as a separate category of premium hours.

To stay compliant, align your scheduling and payroll systems so that public holiday hours are flagged separately from standard overtime. This makes it easier to apply the correct premium rates, track compensatory rest, and prove that you are not exceeding maximum working time limits over the reference period defined by law or collective agreement.

Stay 100% Compliant with Leave Regulations Using Playroll

Managing Portugal's public holidays and leave rules doesn’t have to be complex. Playroll keeps you 100% compliant by automatically tracking local holidays, observed days, and pay requirements –  so your team is paid correctly and on time, every time.

Whether you’re hiring your first employee or scaling a growing team, Playroll lets you employ talent without setting up a local entity. We handle compliant contracts, benefits, and payroll in one platform, so you can reduce compliance risk and focus on growing your business while we take care of the heavy-lifting in the background. Book a chat with our team to get started.