Six Vacation Days Can Turn Christmas and New Year into a 16-Day Break in Latvia
The 2026 year-end calendar in Latvia lets employees get nine or 11 consecutive days off with three vacation days, or 16 with six. This applies to those working the standard five-day week.
Employees in Latvia can significantly extend their Christmas and New Year rest this year by choosing vacation days wisely. Christmas holidays in 2026 begin on a Thursday, and New Year's Eve also falls on a Thursday, so a few vacation days can turn a four-day break into nine, 11 or even 16 consecutive days off. This applies to people working a standard five-day week, Monday to Friday.
How the holiday calendar works
The law "On Holidays, Commemorative and Celebratory Days" designates 24, 25, 26 and 31 December as public holidays, while 1 January is New Year's Day. This year 24 December is a Thursday, 25 December a Friday, 26 December a Saturday and 27 December a Sunday. That gives four days off in a row without using any leave.
Because 26 December falls on a Saturday, no extra day off is granted on Monday. The law automatically moves the day off to the next working day only when 4 May, the final day of the Latvian Song and Dance Festival, or 18 November falls on a Saturday or Sunday.
Three options
If the employer agrees to split vacation into separate days, an employee can take 21, 22 and 23 December. The break then runs from 19 to 27 December – nine days in a row.
Taking leave on 28, 29 and 30 December makes the period from 24 December to 3 January 2027 free – 11 days. Around the New Year, 31 December and 1 January are holidays, while 2 and 3 January are the weekend.
Taking all six days – 21, 22, 23, 28, 29 and 30 December – frees the whole stretch from 19 December to 3 January, or 16 days.
Other conditions
No working-day transfers are set for the end of 2026; the Cabinet of Ministers' order on transfers applied only to 2 January and 22 June. The days before holidays, 23 and 30 December, are shortened working days: working time is reduced by one hour unless a contract provides for even shorter hours.
The calendar does not apply to shift work, continuous production, healthcare, retail and other sectors where schedules may differ. The Labour Law allows work on holidays when continuous operations must be ensured, with appropriate compensation.
