North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, has its own public holiday calendar and school holiday schedule. These are the 2026 windows where the fewest vacation days buy the most consecutive time off, computed from NRW's actual holiday data.
Open the interactive plannerBridge day · Best school holiday match
December 24 – December 27
4 days off — 1 vacation days used.
Public holidays: Erster Weihnachtstag and Zweiter Weihnachtstag
School holidays: Christmas Holidays
Take these days off: Dec 24
Week block
December 25 – January 3
10 days off — 4 vacation days used.
Public holidays: Erster Weihnachtstag, Zweiter Weihnachtstag, and Neujahr
School holidays: Christmas Holidays
Take these days off: Dec 28, Dec 29, Dec 30, and Dec 31
Week block
December 19 – December 27
9 days off — 4 vacation days used.
Public holidays: Erster Weihnachtstag and Zweiter Weihnachtstag
School holidays: Christmas Holidays
Take these days off: Dec 21, Dec 22, Dec 23, and Dec 24
Week block
December 24 – January 3
11 days off — 5 vacation days used.
Public holidays: Erster Weihnachtstag, Zweiter Weihnachtstag, and Neujahr
School holidays: Christmas Holidays
Take these days off: Dec 24, Dec 28, Dec 29, Dec 30, and Dec 31
Week block
December 25 – January 4
11 days off — 5 vacation days used.
Public holidays: Erster Weihnachtstag, Zweiter Weihnachtstag, and Neujahr
School holidays: Christmas Holidays
Take these days off: Dec 28, Dec 29, Dec 30, Dec 31, and Jan 4
Extended break
December 23 – January 3
12 days off — 6 vacation days used.
Public holidays: Erster Weihnachtstag, Zweiter Weihnachtstag, and Neujahr
School holidays: Christmas Holidays
Take these days off: Dec 23, Dec 24, Dec 28, Dec 29, Dec 30, and Dec 31
Extended break
December 25 – January 5
12 days off — 6 vacation days used.
Public holidays: Erster Weihnachtstag, Zweiter Weihnachtstag, and Neujahr
School holidays: Christmas Holidays
Take these days off: Dec 28, Dec 29, Dec 30, Dec 31, Jan 4, and Jan 5
Extended break
December 19 – January 3
16 days off — 8 vacation days used.
Public holidays: Erster Weihnachtstag, Zweiter Weihnachtstag, and Neujahr
School holidays: Christmas Holidays
Take these days off: Dec 21, Dec 22, Dec 23, Dec 24, Dec 28, Dec 29, Dec 30, and Dec 31
Extended break
December 18 – January 3
17 days off — 9 vacation days used.
Public holidays: Erster Weihnachtstag, Zweiter Weihnachtstag, and Neujahr
School holidays: Christmas Holidays
Take these days off: Dec 18, Dec 21, Dec 22, Dec 23, Dec 24, Dec 28, Dec 29, Dec 30, and Dec 31
Extended break
December 25 – January 10
17 days off — 9 vacation days used.
Public holidays: Erster Weihnachtstag, Zweiter Weihnachtstag, and Neujahr
School holidays: Christmas Holidays
Take these days off: Dec 28, Dec 29, Dec 30, Dec 31, Jan 4, Jan 5, Jan 6, Jan 7, and Jan 8