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Public holidays in Sri Lanka

26 nationwide public holidays in 2026. Banks, post offices and most shops close — plan transport and bookings around these dates.

202520262027

Here are all 26 nationwide public holidays in Sri Lanka for 2026, with dates, local names and the next one coming up. Use them to plan around bank closures, transport changes and long weekends.

Next up
26
Sep
Binara Full Moon Poya Day
බිනර පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය · Nationwide · falls on a Sat
in 1 day

All 2026 holidays

1
Jan
New Year's Day
නව වසර · Thu
Nationwide
3
Jan
Duruthu Full Moon Poya Day
දුරුතු පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය · Sat
Nationwide
15
Jan
Tamil Thai Pongal Day
දෙමළ තෛ පොංගල් දිනය · Thu
Nationwide
1
Feb
Navam Full Moon Poya Day
නවම් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය · Sun
Nationwide
4
Feb
National Day
ජාතික දිනය · Wed
Nationwide
15
Feb
Mahasivarathri Day
මහා ශිවරාත්‍රී දිනය · Sun
Nationwide
2
Mar
Madin Full Moon Poya Day
මැදින් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය · Mon
Nationwide
21
Mar
Id-Ul-Fitr (Ramazan Festival Day)
ඊදුල් ෆිතර් (රාමසාන් උත්සව දිනය) · Sat
Nationwide
1
Apr
Bak Full Moon Poya Day
බක් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය · Wed
Nationwide
3
Apr
Good Friday
මහ සිකුරාදා · Fri
Nationwide
13
Apr
Day before Sinhala and Tamil New Year
සිංහල හා දෙමළ අලුත් අවුරුදු පූර්ව දිනය · Mon
Nationwide
14
Apr
Sinhala and Tamil New Year
සිංහල හා දෙමළ අලුත් අවුරුද්ද · Tue
Nationwide
1
May
Labour Day and Vesak Full Moon Poya Day
කම්කරු දිනය සහ වෙසක් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය · Fri
Nationwide
2
May
Day following Vesak Full Moon Poya Day
වෙසක් පෝය දිනට පසු දිනය · Sat
Nationwide
28
May
Id-Ul-Alha (Hadji Festival Day)
ඊදුල් අල්හා (හජ්ජි උත්සව දිනය) · Thu
Nationwide
30
May
Adhi Poson Full Moon Poya Day
අධි පොසොන් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය · Sat
Nationwide
29
Jun
Poson Full Moon Poya Day
පොසොන් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය · Mon
Nationwide
29
Jul
Esala Full Moon Poya Day
ඇසළ පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය · Wed
Nationwide
26
Aug
Milad-Un-Nabi (Holy Prophet's Birthday)
මිලාද්-උන්-නබි (නබි නායකතුමාගේ උපන් දිනය) · Wed
Nationwide
27
Aug
Nikini Full Moon Poya Day
නිකිණි පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය · Thu
Nationwide
26
Sep
Binara Full Moon Poya DayNext
බිනර පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය · Sat
Nationwide
25
Oct
Vap Full Moon Poya Day
වප් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය · Sun
Nationwide
8
Nov
Deepavali Festival Day
දීපවාලි උත්සව දිනය · Sun
Nationwide
24
Nov
Il Full Moon Poya Day
ඉල් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය · Tue
Nationwide
23
Dec
Unduvap Full Moon Poya Day
උඳුවප් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය · Wed
Nationwide
25
Dec
Christmas Day
නත්තල් දිනය · Fri
Nationwide

2026 calendar & bridge days

Every public holiday is marked below. If you work in this country, turn on bridge days: a single workday booked off next to a holiday turns it and the weekend into a long break.

Public holidayBridge dayWeekendToday
January
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
February
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
March
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
April
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
May
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
June
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
July
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
August
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
September
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
October
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
November
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
December
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

Best bridge days

  • 5
    days off
    1 Wed – Sun, Apr 5
    Take Thu, Apr 2 off
    for 1 day of leave
  • 5
    days off
    26 Wed – Sun, Aug 30
    Take Fri, Aug 28 off
    for 1 day of leave
  • 5
    days off
    23 Wed – Sun, Dec 27
    Take Thu, Dec 24 off
    for 1 day of leave
  • 4
    days off
    1 Thu – Sun, Jan 4
    Take Fri, Jan 2 off
    for 1 day of leave
  • 4
    days off
    15 Thu – Sun, Jan 18
    Take Fri, Jan 16 off
    for 1 day of leave
  • 4
    days off
    28 Thu – Sun, May 31
    Take Fri, May 29 off
    for 1 day of leave
  • 4
    days off
    21 Sat – Tue, Nov 24
    Take Mon, Nov 23 off
    for 1 day of leave
  • 6
    days off
    22 Sat – Thu, Aug 27
    Take 24 Mon – Tue, Aug 25 off
    for 2 days of leave
Good to know

When a public holiday lands midweek, many people “bridge” the gap to the weekend — expect quieter cities and busier roads around the long weekend.

Sri Lanka country overviewPower & plugs in Sri Lanka

Public holiday FAQ

Sri Lanka has 26 nationwide public holidays in 2026. Some regions add their own local holidays on top, so the total where you're travelling can be higher.

Travelling around a holiday?

We'll flag closures and long weekends that overlap your trip dates.

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Holiday data from date-holidays, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Islamic holidays depend on a moon sighting and are approximate — they may shift by a day.