Bridge Days Calculator 2027: More Time Off With Less Leave

The classic bridge days in 2027 are Friday, 7 May (after Ascension Day on Thursday, 6 May) and, in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, Friday, 28 May (after Corpus Christi on 27 May). Each gives 4 days off for 1 day of leave. The 4 working days before Good Friday (22–25 March: 10 days off) are also worth it, and in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Saxony-Anhalt the days around Epiphany (Wednesday, 6 January). Since 1 May, 3 October and both Christmas holidays fall on a weekend in 2027, there are no bridges there.

Depending on the state, 10 to 12 statutory public holidays (Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Brandenburg and Saarland: 12; Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia: 11; Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein: 10), not counting regional holidays. Only 5 to 8 of them fall on a weekday from Monday to Friday in 2027 (Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria: 8; North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland: 7; Berlin, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia: 6; Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein: 5). That makes 2027 a weak holiday year: Labour Day, German Unity Day, Reformation Day and both Christmas holidays fall on a Saturday or Sunday.

The following apply in all 16 states in 2027: New Year's Day (Friday, 1 January 2027), Good Friday (Friday, 26 March 2027), Easter Monday (Monday, 29 March 2027), Labour Day (Saturday, 1 May 2027), Ascension Day (Thursday, 6 May 2027), Whit Monday (Monday, 17 May 2027), German Unity Day (Sunday, 3 October 2027), Christmas Day (Saturday, 25 December 2027) and Boxing Day (2nd Christmas Day) (Sunday, 26 December 2027). Depending on the state, Epiphany, International Women's Day, Easter Sunday and Whit Sunday (Brandenburg), Corpus Christi, Assumption Day, World Children's Day, Reformation Day, All Saints' Day and the Day of Repentance and Prayer are added. The full list for each state is in the table on this page.

In North Rhine-Westphalia the calculator plans 27 days off in 4 breaks around public holidays with 10 vacation days, i.e. about 2.7 days off per vacation day. In 2028 the same 10 vacation days give 32 days off because more holidays fall on weekdays. How much it is in your state depends on the state holidays, such as Corpus Christi or Reformation Day.

It builds a calendar for the chosen year with your working days and the public holidays of your state. A bridge suggestion is a run of 1 to 10 working days that completely closes a gap between days off and touches a public holiday on one of your working days. The ratio is the number of consecutive days off divided by the vacation days used. With the goal "Most days off" the calculator picks exactly the combination of suggestions that gives the most days off within your vacation budget; the breaks never overlap.

Yes, 2028 is a very good year for bridge days. Depending on the state, 9 to 11 public holidays fall on Monday to Friday. Ascension Day (25 May) and Corpus Christi (15 June) are Thursdays, German Unity Day (3 October) and Reformation Day (31 October) are Tuesdays: taking the Monday before as a bridge day gives 4 days off each. Christmas falls on Monday and Tuesday; with 3 days of leave from 27 to 29 December you get 10 days off until New Year's Day.

Select your actual working days, e.g. Mon–Thu. Holidays on your days off then do not save a vacation day, and there is no compensation for them, because only working time that is lost due to the holiday is paid (§ 2 of the Continued Remuneration Act, EntgFG). New bridges appear instead: with a Mon–Thu week, Ascension Day (Thursday) is already a long weekend without leave. The leave entitlement is converted: the statutory minimum is 24 Werktage for 6 working days a week, i.e. 20 days for 5 and 16 days for 4 working days (§ 3 Federal Leave Act, BUrlG).

In principle yes: the employee's wishes must be taken into account when the timing of leave is set (§ 7(1) Federal Leave Act). The employer may only refuse if urgent operational needs or the leave requests of other employees who deserve priority on social grounds stand in the way, such as parents of school-age children during school holidays. Since bridge days are popular, it pays to apply early. If there is a works council, the company can also set bridge days as a company closure; the works council has a say in this (§ 87(1) no. 5 Works Constitution Act).

Some holidays only apply in parts of a state: Assumption Day (15 August) in Bavarian municipalities with a predominantly Catholic population, Corpus Christi in some municipalities of Saxony and Thuringia, and the Augsburg Peace Festival (8 August) only in the city of Augsburg. The calculator shows them but only counts them if you choose "Count the regional holidays of my town". It never counts the Augsburg Peace Festival for all of Bavaria. In Saarland, Assumption Day is a state-wide holiday. Your municipality can tell you whether your town is included.

No, 24 and 31 December are not statutory public holidays, and the calculator treats them as normal working days. Many employers give the whole or half the day off, often under a collective agreement or a works agreement. In the German public sector, employees are usually released from work with pay on both days under the collective agreement (TVöD, § 6(3)). If you have Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve off, you need correspondingly fewer vacation days for the Christmas bridge.