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🇱🇰 Sri Lanka Public Holidays 2026

Sri Lanka has 25 nationwide public holidays in 2026 — 16 on a weekday and 9 at a weekend. 5 of them fall on a Friday or a Monday, so the weekend beside them runs to three days without using any leave. The full calendar is below, with the date, the weekday and the local name for every holiday, followed by a month-by-month guide to what closes.

Planning around Sri Lanka's holidays

On public holidays, banks, government offices and many businesses in Sri Lanka close, and transport may run on reduced schedules. For remote workers, holidays are a good time to explore — but a poor time to rely on local services or official appointments. Check the dates above before booking visa appointments or important meetings.

Sri Lanka nomad & visa guide →

Public holidays in other countries

🇵🇹 Portugal🇮🇩 Indonesia🇲🇽 Mexico🇬🇪 Georgia🇨🇴 Colombia🇪🇸 Spain🇻🇳 Vietnam🇭🇷 Croatia🇬🇷 Greece🇪🇪 Estonia🇨🇿 Czechia🇭🇺 Hungary

Is today a public holiday in Sri Lanka?

Checked on Wednesday 5 August 2026: no, that day is not a public holiday in Sri Lanka. The next public holiday in Sri Lanka after that date is Prophet's Birthday (නබි නායකතුමාගේ උපන් දිනය) on Wednesday 26 August 2026 — 21 days later. The day after, Thursday 6 August, is not a public holiday either.

The answer above is rechecked against the published Sri Lanka holiday dates every time this page loads, so what it says about today and tomorrow stays current.

The next public holidays in Sri Lanka after 5 August 2026:

  • Prophet's Birthday (නබි නායකතුමාගේ උපන් දිනය) — Wednesday 26 August 2026
  • Nikini Full Moon Poya Day (නිකිණි පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය) — Thursday 27 August 2026
  • Binara Full Moon Poya Day (බිනර පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය) — Saturday 26 September 2026
  • Vap Full Moon Poya Day (වප් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය) — Sunday 25 October 2026
  • Diwali (දීපවාලි උත්සව දිනය) — Sunday 8 November 2026

Sri Lanka public holidays are also called Sri Lanka national holidays or the Sri Lanka holiday calendar. This page is the Sri Lanka holiday calendar for 2026.

🇱🇰 Sri Lanka's public holidays in 2026 at a glance

Sri Lanka has 25 nationwide public holidays in 2026. That puts Sri Lanka 2nd out of the 100 countries we track. The median across those 100 is 13. 16 fall on a weekday and 9 on a Saturday or Sunday. The year opens with Duruthu Full Moon Poya Day on 3 January and closes with Christmas Day on 25 December. April is the busiest month with 4. This list covers holidays observed across the whole country. Many countries add regional or state holidays on top, and whether a given day is paid depends on your employer, so check locally before you book around it.

Sri Lanka public holidays in January 2026

Duruthu Full Moon Poya Day (දුරුතු පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය) on 3 January and Tamil Thai Pongal Day (දෙමළ තෛපොංැලල් දිනය) on 15 January.

Sri Lanka public holidays in February 2026

Nawam Full Moon Poya Day (නවම් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය) on 1 February, Independence Day (නිදහස් සමරු දිනය) on 4 February and Maha Sivarathri Day (මහ සිවරාත්රි දිනය) on 15 February.

Sri Lanka public holidays in March 2026

Medin Full Moon Poya Day (මැදින් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය) on 2 March and Eid al-Fitr (ඊදුල් ෆීතර්) on 21 March.

Sri Lanka public holidays in April 2026

Bak Full Moon Poya Day (බක් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය) on 1 April, Good Friday (මහ සිකුරාදා දිනය) on 3 April, Day Before Sinhala and Tamil New Year (සිංහල හා දෙමළ අලුත් අවුරුදු දිනට පෙර දිනය) on 13 April and Sinhala and Tamil New Year (සිංහල හා දෙමළ අලුත් අවුරුදු දිනය) on 14 April.

Sri Lanka public holidays in May 2026

International Workers' Day; Vesak Full Moon Poya Day (ලොක කම්කරු දිනය; වෙසක් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය) on 1 May, Day Following Vesak Full Moon Poya Day (වෙසක් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනට පසු දිනය) on 2 May, Eid al-Adha (ඊදුල් අල්හා) on 28 May and Adhi Poson Full Moon Poya Day (අධි පොසොන් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය) on 30 May.

Sri Lanka public holidays in June 2026

Poson Full Moon Poya Day (පොසොන් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය) on 29 June.

Sri Lanka public holidays in July 2026

Esala Full Moon Poya Day (ඇසල පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය) on 29 July.

Sri Lanka public holidays in August 2026

Prophet's Birthday (නබි නායකතුමාගේ උපන් දිනය) on 26 August and Nikini Full Moon Poya Day (නිකිණි පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය) on 27 August.

Sri Lanka public holidays in September 2026

Binara Full Moon Poya Day (බිනර පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය) on 26 September.

Sri Lanka public holidays in October 2026

Vap Full Moon Poya Day (වප් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය) on 25 October.

Sri Lanka public holidays in November 2026

Diwali (දීපවාලි උත්සව දිනය) on 8 November and Il Full Moon Poya Day (ඉල් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය) on 24 November.

Sri Lanka public holidays in December 2026

Unduvap Full Moon Poya Day (උඳුවප් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය) on 23 December and Christmas Day (නත්තල් උත්සව දිනය) on 25 December.

Long weekends and bridge days in Sri Lanka in 2026

On 5 occasions in 2026 a Sri Lanka holiday lands on a Friday or a Monday, which turns the adjoining weekend into a three-day break with no leave used at all. Another 4 fall exactly one day away from the weekend, so a single day of leave buys four days off.

Every Sri Lanka public holiday in 2026

Show the full 2026 calendar as a table
Public holidays in Sri Lanka in 2026
DateDayHolidayLocal name
3 JanuarySaturdayDuruthu Full Moon Poya Dayදුරුතු පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය
15 JanuaryThursdayTamil Thai Pongal Dayදෙමළ තෛපොංැලල් දිනය
1 FebruarySundayNawam Full Moon Poya Dayනවම් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය
4 FebruaryWednesdayIndependence Dayනිදහස් සමරු දිනය
15 FebruarySundayMaha Sivarathri Dayමහ සිවරාත්රි දිනය
2 MarchMondayMedin Full Moon Poya Dayමැදින් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය
21 MarchSaturdayEid al-Fitrඊදුල් ෆීතර්
1 AprilWednesdayBak Full Moon Poya Dayබක් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය
3 AprilFridayGood Fridayමහ සිකුරාදා දිනය
13 AprilMondayDay Before Sinhala and Tamil New Yearසිංහල හා දෙමළ අලුත් අවුරුදු දිනට පෙර දිනය
14 AprilTuesdaySinhala and Tamil New Yearසිංහල හා දෙමළ අලුත් අවුරුදු දිනය
1 MayFridayInternational Workers' Day; Vesak Full Moon Poya Dayලොක කම්කරු දිනය; වෙසක් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය
2 MaySaturdayDay Following Vesak Full Moon Poya Dayවෙසක් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනට පසු දිනය
28 MayThursdayEid al-Adhaඊදුල් අල්හා
30 MaySaturdayAdhi Poson Full Moon Poya Dayඅධි පොසොන් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය
29 JuneMondayPoson Full Moon Poya Dayපොසොන් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය
29 JulyWednesdayEsala Full Moon Poya Dayඇසල පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය
26 AugustWednesdayProphet's Birthdayනබි නායකතුමාගේ උපන් දිනය
27 AugustThursdayNikini Full Moon Poya Dayනිකිණි පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය
26 SeptemberSaturdayBinara Full Moon Poya Dayබිනර පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය
25 OctoberSundayVap Full Moon Poya Dayවප් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය
8 NovemberSundayDiwaliදීපවාලි උත්සව දිනය
24 NovemberTuesdayIl Full Moon Poya Dayඉල් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය
23 DecemberWednesdayUnduvap Full Moon Poya Dayඋඳුවප් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය
25 DecemberFridayChristmas Dayනත්තල් උත්සව දිනය

Sri Lanka public holidays — common questions

How many public holidays does Sri Lanka have in 2026?

Sri Lanka has 25 nationwide public holidays in 2026, 16 of which fall on a weekday. The count covers days observed across the whole country; regional and state holidays are not included, and whether a day is paid depends on the employer.

When is the first public holiday of 2026 in Sri Lanka?

It is Duruthu Full Moon Poya Day on 3 January, a Saturday. The last is Christmas Day on 25 December.

Which Sri Lanka holidays create a long weekend in 2026?

Medin Full Moon Poya Day (Monday, 2 March), Good Friday (Friday, 3 April), International Workers' Day; Vesak Full Moon Poya Day and Day Following Vesak Full Moon Poya Day (1 May–2 May), Poson Full Moon Poya Day (Monday, 29 June) and Christmas Day (Friday, 25 December) fall on a Friday or a Monday, so the weekend beside them runs to three days without using any leave.

Do businesses close on public holidays in Sri Lanka?

Banks, government offices and schools generally close on national public holidays in Sri Lanka, while shops, restaurants and transport often run reduced hours rather than shutting entirely. If you are working remotely from Sri Lanka, expect slower replies from local suppliers and government services on these dates.

What actually closes on a public holiday in Sri Lanka

The working week in Sri Lanka runs Monday to Friday, with the weekend on Saturday and Sunday. On a nationwide public holiday, banks, government offices, schools and most post offices close for the day.

Supermarkets, shopping malls and tourist attractions usually stay open, often on shorter hours, and public transport typically drops to a reduced, weekend-style timetable. Restaurants and hotels generally carry on as normal.

In 2026, 16 of the 25 public holidays fall on a working day — those are the dates when closures actually affect banks, offices and deliveries. The other 9 land on the weekend, when most of this is closed anyway.

The public holidays listed on this page apply nationwide in Sri Lanka — the national calendar we track has no region-only public holidays.

Which 2026 holidays fall on a weekend — and whether Sri Lanka moves them

9 of Sri Lanka’s 25 public holidays land on the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) in 2026:

Sri Lanka does not usually move a holiday that falls on the weekend: there is no automatic day off in lieu, so a weekend holiday is simply absorbed. Worth checking before you plan leave around one.

Sri Lanka public holidays 2027

Sri Lanka’s 2027 holiday dates depend on the lunar calendar and are confirmed by government gazette during 2026, so we don’t list them until they are official. The 2026 calendar above is complete; this page will carry the 2027 dates as soon as they are published.

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