Décor is set up ahead of the Day of German Unity in Bremen. Workers can get more time off work by planning vacations around holidays. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Focke Strangmann
Forward-thinking employees can more than double the amount of time they have for trips with their paid days off by planning around holidays and long weekends. Here's your guide to maximising vacations in 2027.
Workers on a regular full-time Monday to Friday schedule can arrange 48 days' worth of vacation, spread across a number of blocks through 2027, by planning 21 days of their paid time off around Germany's federal public holidays.
Depending on which state you live in, you may have additional options to consider as well.
When travelling in or around Germany it pays to plan and book your travel well in advance.
Germans regularly plan their own travel six months to a year ahead of time, so requesting your own time off work, and booking your transport and accommodation as far in advance as possible, gives you the best chance of seeing your requests granted. It can also save you quite a bit of money.
As we prepare to turn the page to the next calendar year, here's your guide to holiday-maxing in 2027.
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Getting the most from your paid time off in Germany is all about planning around 'bridge days' (Brückentag) and long weekends.
When public holidays (Feiertage) fall on a Tuesday or Thursday, German employees often take a day off on the Monday before, or the Friday after, to 'bridge' the gap into the weekend.
This effectively opens up an opportunity for a four-day getaway (or four days of rest at home, if you prefer) with only one day of paid holiday taken off work.
READ ALSO: Brückentag, Fenstertag and Zwickeltag - All the German words for longer holiday weekends
In other cases, when a holiday naturally falls next to a weekend, you might consider taking the rest of the week days off that week to transform a long weekend into an opportunity for a proper vacation.
Regularly employed workers in Germany are entitled to at least 20 vacation days a year, according to the Federal Holidays Act. Many companies offer workers at least 25 days off each year, and some more generous companies offer as many as 30 days of vacation or more.
If you have a five-day working week, this amounts to four, five or six seeks of vacation each year.
But, with a bit of strategic planning along the lines suggest above, you can arrange for more time away.
Starting from the top of the year, New Year's Day on January 1st is a public holiday and falls on a Friday this year.
The classic practice here is to ask to take off the working days between Christmas and New Year's Eve, allowing for more than a week away from work in total.
This year that works out to a nine day vacation for four days taken off work on the Monday to Thursday ahead of New Year's Day.
If you live in a state that marks Three King's Day on January 6th, you could extend your vacation even further. (More on regional holidays below)
The Easter holiday in Germany begins with Good Friday and lasts through Easter Monday, with both the Friday and the Monday being federal public holidays.
This creates a four day break without taking any time off.
But if you want to maximise your spring break it's possible to get more than two weeks off here for the price of eight days of holiday leave.
To do so you'd request to take off March 22nd to 25th, as well as March 30th to April 2nd the following week. Then you're effectively away from work from March 20th until April 4th.
The next holiday that comes with a possible extension is Ascension Day, or Christi Himmelfahrt in German.
Always falling on a Thursday, this holiday is a classic 'bridge day' opportunity.
To do so, simply book the Friday off in advance and enjoy a four day break from Thursday through Sunday with the use of just one precious paid day off.
EXPLAINED: Why Germans get wholly wasted on Ascension Day
May is classically a good month for holidays in Germany, thanks to both Ascension Day and then Pentecost coming just a couple of weeks apart. Typically Labour Day on May 1st also offers a break here, but in 2027 that holiday falls on a Sunday.
Pentecost (or Whit Monday) falls on a Monday, so the maximum break here is achieved by just taking the rest of the week off.
Then you get a solid nine day break, by requesting to take off May 18th to the 21st.
After a pretty holiday-heavy spring, Germany doesn't see more federal public holidays until autumn, when the German Day of Unity arrives on October 3rd. Unfortunately in 2027, this day falls on a Sunday, so there won't be any opportunities for extending a break then.
Therefore the next holiday bloc to get on the calendar is the following Christmas to New Year.
Here again you can take a 10 day block through the winter holidays by taking off the four working days in between.
READ ALSO: When are Germany’s public holidays in 2027?
If you were to take advantage of all of the suggested blocks above you'd use 21 days of paid vacation to secure 48 days worth of holiday breaks.
Of course extending every single public holiday isn't the best choice for everyone. Parents will also want to take school holidays into account, and young single workers may want to save enough days for a solid summer vacation.
But taking advantage of at least a couple of the bridge-able gaps listed above can be a nice way to gain some longer time away from the desk without burning through your allotted time off too fast.
All of the holidays above are federal holidays, meaning they are observed no matter where you live in Germany.
But German states also celebrate their own public holidays, and there are of a couple holidays that apply only in specific cities.
Three Kings Day, for example is celebrated on January 6th in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Saxony-Anhalt. So employees in these states could extend their New Year's break through January 6th, or even as far as January 10th, by taking off an extra two or four days respectively.
Berliners should always look forward to International Women's Day on March 8th (also observed in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania). Falling on a Monday this year, this naturally makes for a three-day weekend.
Corpus Christi falls on Thursday, May 27th in 2027, creating another chance for a bridge day. It's celebrated in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland.
Also All Saints Day, on Monday, November 1st naturally makes for another three-day weekend for residents of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland.
For a more complete list of holidays in 2027, see our guide here.
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