New Zealand public holidays 2026
New Zealand has 11 national public holidays in 2026. Take those and the weekends out of the calendar and 250 working days remain.
Holiday list for 2026
| Date | Weekday | Holiday | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Jan | Thursday | New Year's Day | Nationwide |
| 2 Jan | Friday | Day after New Year's Day | Nationwide |
| 19 Jan | Monday | Wellington Anniversary Day | NZ-WGN, NZ-MWT |
| 26 Jan | Monday | Auckland Anniversary Day
Auckland/Northland Anniversary Day |
NZ-AUK, NZ-NTL, NZ-WKO, NZ-GIS, NZ-BOP |
| 2 Feb | Monday | Nelson Anniversary Day | NZ-NSN |
| 6 Feb | Friday | Waitangi Day | Nationwide |
| 9 Mar | Monday | Taranaki Anniversary Day | NZ-TKI |
| 23 Mar | Monday | Otago Anniversary Day | NZ-OTA |
| 3 Apr | Friday | Good Friday | Nationwide |
| 6 Apr | Monday | Easter Monday | Nationwide |
| 7 Apr | Tuesday | Southland Anniversary Day | NZ-STL |
| 27 Apr | Monday | Anzac Day | Nationwide |
| 1 Jun | Monday | King's Birthday | Nationwide |
| 10 Jul | Friday | Matariki | Nationwide |
| 28 Sep | Monday | Canterbury (South) Anniversary Day
Dominion Day |
NZ-CAN |
| 23 Oct | Friday | Hawke's Bay Anniversary Day | NZ-HKB |
| 26 Oct | Monday | Labour Day | Nationwide |
| 2 Nov | Monday | Marlborough Anniversary Day | NZ-MBH |
| 13 Nov | Friday | Canterbury Anniversary Day
Canterbury (North & Central) Anniversary Day |
NZ-CAN |
| 30 Nov | Monday | Chatham Islands Anniversary Day | NZ-CIT |
| 30 Nov | Monday | Westland Anniversary Day | NZ-WTC |
| 25 Dec | Friday | Christmas Day | Nationwide |
| 28 Dec | Monday | Boxing Day | Nationwide |
The 12 regional dates above are observed only in part of the country and are left out of every national total on this page.
2026 at a glance
January 2 holidays
February 1 holiday
March
April 3 holidays
May
June 1 holiday
July 1 holiday
August
September
October 1 holiday
November
December 2 holidays
Working days in each month
| Month | Days | Weekend | Holidays | Working | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31 | 9 | 2 | 20 | 160 |
| February | 28 | 8 | 1 | 19 | 152 |
| March | 31 | 9 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| April | 30 | 8 | 3 | 19 | 152 |
| May | 31 | 10 | 0 | 21 | 168 |
| June | 30 | 8 | 1 | 21 | 168 |
| July | 31 | 8 | 1 | 22 | 176 |
| August | 31 | 10 | 0 | 21 | 168 |
| September | 30 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| October | 31 | 9 | 1 | 21 | 168 |
| November | 30 | 9 | 0 | 21 | 168 |
| December | 31 | 8 | 2 | 21 | 168 |
| 2026 | 365 | 104 | 11 | 250 | 2,000 |
What the numbers say about New Zealand in 2026
The count uses Saturday and Sunday as the weekly rest days, the standard pattern in New Zealand. Only holidays that apply across the whole country are deducted. Someone working in a region with its own extra days will have a little more time off than these figures show.
March is the longest working month with 22 days, and April the shortest with 19. A gap of 3 days is enough to make a fixed monthly target noticeably harder in some months than in others. Across quarters, Q1 is the leanest at 61 working days (January, February, March).
Among the 204 countries we track for 2026, the median number of national holidays is 12. With 11, New Zealand sits below the middle of the range, around the 37th percentile (the lowest count this year is 3, the highest 49).
Holidays create 8 stretches of three or more days off in a row. The longest lasts 4 days, from 1 January to 4 January (New Year's Day, Day after New Year's Day). See every long weekend in 2026.