France’s public holidays in 2025 make it a good  year for 'strategic' time off

The calendar of public holidays in France for 2025 makes it a good year for workers looking to maximise holiday time, with a considerable number of long weekends and opportunity to ‘bridge’ extra days.

Workers in France often ‘faire le pont’ (make a bridge), and use a public holiday close to a weekend as an opportunity to take just one working day off to make a four-day weekend.

This gives those who work a typical Monday to Friday week the chance to have more time off, or take a longer holiday somewhere further away from home, while limiting the number of paid days off they need to use to do so.

Read more: What happens in France on November 11 bank holiday and are shops open? 

In contrast to other countries (particularly the UK), public holidays in France are taken on the day that they fall, rather than defaulting to the nearest Friday or Monday (for example). 

This year, the calendar means there are five opportunities to take just one extra day off to make a four-day weekend, and four times when a public holiday automatically makes a three-day weekend.

Read more: How many bank holidays does France get vs Europe and US? 
Read also: Does working on a bank holiday in France impact pay? 

Public holidays

The calendar for public holidays (jours fériés) is:

• New Year's Day: Wednesday, January 1 

• Easter Monday: Monday, April 21 (long weekend of three days)

• Labour Day: Thursday, May 1 (bridge with Friday for a four-day weekend)

• Victory Day: Thursday, May 8 (bridge with Friday for a four-day weekend)

• Ascension Day: Thursday, May 29 (bridge with Friday for a four-day weekend)

• Whit Monday: Monday, June 9 (long weekend of three days)

• Bastille Day (La Fête Nationale): Monday, July 14 (long weekend)

• Assumption: Friday, August 15 (long weekend of three days)

• All Saints' Day: Saturday, November 1

• Armistice of 1918: Tuesday, November 11 (bridge with Monday for four-day weekend)

• Christmas Day: Thursday, December 25 (bridge with Friday for four-day weekend)

School holidays

The official dates for school holidays have also been confirmed across the three different zones (France is split into three zones to stagger school holidays).

The zones are:

• Zone A: Besançon, Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand, Dijon, Grenoble, Limoges, Lyon, Poitiers

• Zone B: Aix-Marseille, Amiens, Caen, Lille, Nancy-Metz, Nantes, Nice, Orléans-Tours, Reims, Rennes, Rouen, Strasbourg

• Zone C: Créteil, Montpellier, Paris, Toulouse, Versailles.

The holidays are: 

• Christmas: Same in all zones, December 21, 2024 to January 6, 2025

• Winter. Zone A: February 22 to March 10. Zone B: February 8 to February 24. Zone C: February 15 to March 3.

• Spring: Zone A: April 19 to May 5. Zone B: April 5 to April 22. Zone C: April 12 to April 28.

• Summer: Same in all zones. Begin July 5.

• Toussaint: Same in all zones. October 18 to November 3.