New Zealand Public Holidays 2026
New Zealand has 11 national public holidays in 2026, starting with New Year's Day on 1 January 2026 and ending with Boxing Day on 26 December 2026, observed on Monday 28 December 2026. Two holidays move this year: ANZAC Day falls on 25 April 2026 but the day off is taken on Monday 27 April 2026. It is counted once, on the day observed.
| Holiday | Date | Weekday | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | Thursday | Public holiday | |
| Day after New Year's Day | Friday | Public holiday | |
| Waitangi Day | Friday | Public holiday | |
| Good Friday | Friday | Public holiday | |
| Easter Monday | Monday | Public holiday | |
| ANZAC Day | in lieu of | Monday | Public holidayMoved |
| King's Birthday | Monday | Public holiday | |
| Matariki | Friday | Public holiday | |
| Labour Day | Monday | Public holiday | |
| Christmas Day | Friday | Public holiday | |
| Boxing Day | in lieu of | Monday | Public holidayMoved |
- 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 last full review of the dataset behind the New Zealand calendar. No correction specific to New Zealand has been needed since.
- Source
- date-holidays open dataset (ISC and CC BY 3.0), with no corrections needed for New Zealand.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.
Expect the most closures around April (3 holidays), so schedule deliveries and appointments with that in mind. None of them falls on a weekend in 2026, so every holiday adds a genuine weekday off. The table below lists every New Zealand public holiday for 2026 with its exact date and the weekday it falls on, so you can see the long weekends at a glance. Regional and local observances are excluded, so what you see are the holidays recognised across New Zealand.
Frequently asked questions
How many public holidays does New Zealand have in 2026?
New Zealand has 11 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, observed on Monday 28 December 2026.
What is the first public holiday of 2026 in New Zealand?
The first public holiday of 2026 is New Year's Day, which falls on 1 January 2026.
When is New Year celebrated in New Zealand in 2026?
In 2026, New Year's Day in New Zealand is on 1 January 2026.
Which 2026 holidays in New Zealand are moved to another day?
2 are: ANZAC Day, which falls on 25 April 2026 but is taken on Monday 27 April 2026 and Boxing Day, which falls on 26 December 2026 but is taken on Monday 28 December 2026. A moved holiday is one holiday with a shifted day off, not two holidays, so it is counted once here. Sites that list both the weekend date and its replacement report a higher total than the official calendar does.
Are regional holidays included for New Zealand?
No. This calendar lists national public holidays only, so it stays consistent across countries. Holidays that apply to just part of New Zealand are listed separately on the New Zealand holiday hub, together with the anniversary day regions that observe them.
Do the New Zealand holiday dates change from 2026 to the next year?
Some of them do. Five of the 11 holidays in 2026 sit on a moving rule (linked to easter, set weekday of the month and announced per year), 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 Good Friday on 3 April 2026, Easter Monday on 6 April 2026 and King's Birthday on 1 June 2026, plus 2 more.
How far ahead is the New Zealand 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. No corrections to the underlying dataset were needed for New Zealand.
Which New Zealand 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 New Zealand holiday hub breaks that down: which holidays are fixed, which move and why, and which ones are observed in certain regions only. To compare New Zealand with other countries in the same year, see the 2026 worldwide overview.
Other years for New Zealand
Planning further ahead or looking back? Compare the New Zealand public holiday calendar across years:
Plan around the New Zealand 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 on their own, and where a single day of leave turns a holiday into a four day break. That is on the New Zealand long weekends page for 2026, alongside how many working days 2026 actually has once weekends and holidays come out. The same figures are available as JSON, and the dates as a calendar file.