Kenya Public Holidays 2026
Kenya has 12 national public holidays in 2026, starting with New Year's Day on 1 January 2026 and ending with Boxing Day on 26 December 2026. Two well placed days of leave buy 8 days away from work in 2026, because two holidays sit exactly one working day from a weekend.
| Holiday | Date | Weekday | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Year's DayMwaka mpya | Thursday | Public holiday | |
| End of Ramadan (Eid al-Fitr)Idd-ul-Fitr | Friday | Public holiday | |
| Good FridayIjumaa Kuu | Friday | Public holiday | |
| Easter MondayJumatatu ya Pasaka | Monday | Public holiday | |
| Labour Day | Friday | Public holiday | |
| Feast of the Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha)Idd-ul-Azha | Wednesday | Public holiday | |
| Madaraka DaySiku ya Madaraka | Monday | Public holiday | |
| Mazingira Day | SaturdayWeekend | Public holiday | |
| Mashujaa DaySiku ya Mashujaa | Tuesday | Public holiday | |
| Jamhuri DaySiku ya Jamhuri | SaturdayWeekend | Public holiday | |
| Christmas DayKrismasi | Friday | Public holiday | |
| Boxing Day | SaturdayWeekend | Public holiday |
- Status
- Set in lawThe calendar is set in standing law rather than announced year by year, so 2026 needs no separate publication.
- Last verified
- The newest check behind a Kenya entry, against the source named in the corrections log.
- Source
- date-holidays open dataset (ISC and CC BY 3.0), with 2 corrections applied to Kenya. See what we changed.Always confirm official dates with a local authority before booking travel. How these calendars are built. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will check it.
December is the densest month for holidays, which tends to shape travel and shopping patterns. Three of them fall on a Saturday or Sunday in 2026, which is worth checking if you are counting on days off from work. Use the table below to see each 2026 holiday in Kenya, when it happens and which day of the week it lands on. We track national holidays only, leaving out regional variations, so the list stays consistent and easy to compare with other countries.
Frequently asked questions
How many public holidays does Kenya have in 2026?
Kenya has 12 national public holidays in 2026. The first is New Year's Day on 1 January 2026 and the last is Boxing Day on 26 December 2026.
What is the first public holiday of 2026 in Kenya?
The first public holiday of 2026 is New Year's Day, which falls on 1 January 2026.
When is New Year celebrated in Kenya in 2026?
In 2026, New Year's Day in Kenya is on 1 January 2026.
Are regional holidays included for Kenya?
No. This calendar lists national public holidays only, so it stays consistent across countries. Holidays that apply to just part of Kenya are listed separately on the Kenya holiday hub, together with the regions that observe them.
Do the Kenya holiday dates change from 2026 to the next year?
Some of them do. Four of the 12 holidays in 2026 sit on a moving rule (islamic (hijri) calendar and linked to easter), so their date has to be recalculated for every year. The rest keep the same calendar date and only change weekday. Moving ones this year include End of Ramadan (Eid al-Fitr) on 20 March 2026, Good Friday on 3 April 2026 and Easter Monday on 6 April 2026, plus 1 more.
How far ahead is the Kenya calendar actually fixed?
Through 2027. The holidays are set in law rather than announced year by year, so the dates repeat predictably. What can still change is a law amendment, a one-off holiday declared for a national event, and the exact day of any holiday on the Islamic calendar, which is confirmed by moon sighting. This table also applies 2 corrections to the underlying open dataset, each checked against the legislation. The full list with sources is on the Kenya holiday hub.
Which Kenya holidays are regional, and which move?
The table above is the national calendar for 2026. Some holidays keep the same date every year while others are tied to Easter, to a lunar calendar or to a named weekday, and some parts of the country add their own days off. The Kenya holiday hub breaks that down: which holidays are fixed, which move and why, and which ones are observed in certain regions only. To compare Kenya with other countries in the same year, see the 2026 worldwide overview.
Other years for Kenya
Planning further ahead or looking back? Compare the Kenya public holiday calendar across years:
Plan around the Kenya 2026 calendar
Knowing the dates is half the question. The other half is what they add up to: which of them create a long weekend and how many working days the year leaves. The 2026 worldwide overview compares every country on holiday count and weekend overlap, and the country index ranks all 44 of them. The same figures are available as JSON, and the dates as a calendar file.