Public holiday and days of observance Vienna, Austria

Austria is one of the more confusing countries when it comes to public holidays and school vacations. Whilst there are many which will doubtlessly be familiar to you, there are also holidays which either shift depending on what region of Austria you live in or even outright don’t take place there. So here’s is a quick summary of the major national and school holidays so that you know when to relax.

Public holidays in Austria

*The dates are for the year 2020.

It’s good to remember a few key details when it comes to Austrian holidays. First is that many businesses, banks, shops, restaurants and other services may be closed so it pays to search for their opening hours. Second is the regional character of Austria which results in two holidays (Saint Rupert’s Day and Saint Leopold’s Day) to be celebrated only in certain regions (Salzburg and Vienna respectively). Thirdly, the public transport during public holidays follows the same timetables as it would during weekends which means that it might take you longer to get anywhere.

School holidays in Austria

School holidays are a bit more complicated in Austria as they’re even more dependent on what region you’re in. The following are the same regardless of the region: Christmas Holidays (Dec 23rd to Jan 6th), Easter Holidays (Apr 4th to Apr 14th), and Whitsun Holiday (May 30th to Jun 2nd). But it only gets more complicated from here. The Spring Holiday takes place between Feb 3rd and Feb 8th in Vienna and Lower-Austria but in Burgenland, Carinthia, Salzburgerland, Tyrol, and Vorarlberg it’s a week later and in Upper Austria and Steiermark it’s moved week later still. The Summer Holidays are similar but are not divided along the same lines. Burgenland, Lower-Austria and Vienna begin the Summer Holidays on July 4th and end on Sep 6th whilst the rest of Austria begins and ends a week later.

Days of observance in Austria

If you don’t know, days of observance happen when a public holiday falls on a specific date which happens to be a weekend. This means that the date will be “observed” on a workday instead so as to preserve the day off work. Austria, however, does not shift its holidays in such a manner. There is an oddity, however, as the Immaculate Conception day is technically a statutory holiday which means that the employer does not have to pay their employee for a day off work even though, according to Austrian law, the employer must give the day off work to the employee who chooses to celebrate the holiday.