How public holiday days off work
Under Article 154 of Bulgaria’s Labour Code, fixed public holidays that fall on a Saturday or Sunday are followed by a day off on the first working day afterwards. The Easter holidays are not compensated in this way.
In 2026, this rule provides substitute days off on Monday, 25 May for Culture and Literacy Day, Monday, 7 September for Unification Day, and Monday, 28 December for the Second Day of Christmas.
The Council of Ministers can also declare one-off non-working days. Friday, 2 January 2026 is an extra day off under Decision No. 808 of 19 November 2025. By contrast, 1 November is a non-attendance day only for educational institutions, not a general public day off.
The longest holiday breaks in 2026
Christmas provides the longest continuous break: five days from Thursday, 24 December to Monday, 28 December. This combines the Christmas public holidays, the weekend and the substitute day off for 26 December.
New Year brings four consecutive days off from Thursday, 1 January to Sunday, 4 January, thanks to the one-off holiday on 2 January. Orthodox Easter also provides a four-day break, from Good Friday on 10 April through Easter Monday on 13 April. Easter Sunday falls on 12 April.
Shorter, three-day breaks fall around Labour Day, Culture and Literacy Day and Unification Day. These are useful holiday periods to consider when planning time away without adding annual leave.
Using leave to bridge a holiday
Two single working days sit between a weekend and a Tuesday public holiday: Monday, 2 March before Liberation Day, and Monday, 21 September before Independence Day. Taking one day of leave on either Monday creates a longer uninterrupted break.
St George’s Day and Army Day falls on Wednesday, 6 May. It is an official day off, but does not form one of the calendar’s consecutive long breaks.
Working days and hours
For a standard Monday-to-Friday working week of eight hours a day, 2026 has 248 working days, equivalent to 1,984 working hours, and 117 days off in total.
May has the fewest working days: 18, or 144 hours, alongside 13 days off. July has the most, with 23 working days and 184 hours. June and October each have 22 working days.
The calculations follow the Labour Code. The calendar is updated if the Council of Ministers declares additional non-working days.