Public holidays in Monaco

Twelve, the number Act No. 798 of 1966 lists. Eleven fall on a weekday. The Assumption, on Saturday 15 August, is the exception: the act moves a holiday only when it falls on a Sunday, so a Saturday holiday gives no day in its place. All Saints' Day, which fell on Sunday 1 November, is kept on Monday 2 November instead.

It is the feast of Saint Devota, the patron saint of Monaco and of Corsica. Tradition has her martyred in Corsica around 303 and her body carried by boat to Les Gaumates, now in Monaco, guided by a dove through a storm. Since 1874 a fishing boat has been burnt outside the Église Sainte Dévote on the evening of 26 January, followed by fireworks over Port Hercule. The next day brings a mass and a procession of her relics.

Custom lets the reigning prince choose the date, and earlier princes often picked the feast of the saint they were named after. Rainier III chose 19 November, the day of Saint Rainier. His successor broke the habit by keeping it rather than moving to 15 November, the feast of Saint Albert, and 19 November is also the day of his official accession. The French name, La Fête du Prince, means the Prince's feast.

For six of the twelve the Monday after becomes the day off: New Year's Day, 1 May, the Assumption, All Saints' Day, the Prince's Day and Christmas Day. All Saints' Day took Monday 2 November in 2026, and the Assumption takes Monday 16 August in 2027. The Immaculate Conception moves to 9 December. Saint Devota's Day and the four Easter-bound days are not in the rule; the Easter days never fall on a Sunday anyway. A Saturday holiday is not moved at all.

No. The 1966 act gives Easter a single day off, the Monday, and Good Friday and Holy Saturday are ordinary working days, marked by the Church but not by the law. Easter Monday fell on 6 April in 2026 and falls on 29 March in 2027, both times closing a three-day weekend with no leave taken.

Five come without leave: Easter from 4 to 6 April, 1 to 3 May, Whitsun from 23 to 25 May, 31 October to 2 November and Christmas from 25 to 27 December. Four more open with a day of leave on a Friday, after the Thursday holidays: 2 January, 15 May after Ascension, 5 June after Corpus Christi and 20 November after National Day. A Monday of leave on 26 January or 7 December joins the weekend to Saint Devota or the Immaculate Conception.

Not as a rule. The law makes the twelve days obligatory rest days for every employee, and a firm that needs staff on one has to consult the staff representatives, or the employees themselves, and then ask the Labour Inspector for an exemption. Those who do work are paid for the day or given a paid day of leave in its place.

Ascension falls on Thursday 6 May, Whit Monday on Monday 17 May and Corpus Christi on Thursday 27 May, all three following Easter Sunday on 28 March. Together with Easter Monday on 29 March they make four of the twelve holidays that change date every year; the other eight keep theirs.