Belgium has ten official public holidays a year. On these days, banks, post offices, government offices and schools close by law or sector agreement. Supermarkets, shops and restaurants are not legally required to close — many do anyway, but a visitor cannot assume it.
What are Belgium’s ten public holidays, and what closes on each?
The list is short and fixed. It comes from the Law of 4 January 1974 on public holidays, which sets the days private-sector employees have a legal right not to work. Four of the ten move each year, because they are tied to Easter.
| Holiday | Date | 2025 date (check current year) | Fixed or movable |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | 1 January | 1 January | Fixed |
| Easter Monday | Day after Easter Sunday | 21 April | Movable |
| Labour Day | 1 May | 1 May | Fixed |
| Ascension Day | 39 days after Easter | 29 May | Movable |
| Whit Monday | Day after Pentecost | 9 June | Movable |
| Belgian National Day | 21 July | 21 July | Fixed |
| Assumption | 15 August | 15 August | Fixed |
| All Saints’ Day | 1 November | 1 November | Fixed |
| Armistice Day | 11 November | 11 November | Fixed |
| Christmas Day | 25 December | 25 December | Fixed |
The federal government’s own information portal, belgium.be, publishes the current-year dates for the movable four. Check it before planning around Easter or Pentecost, since the gap between them shifts every year.
Which closures are legally required, and which are just customary?
This is the distinction that actually matters for a visitor, and it splits into two tiers.
Legally closed, no exceptions: banks, by sector-wide collective agreement; post offices operated by bpost; federal, regional and communal government administration; public schools. These institutions do not open on any of the ten dates above, full stop.
Customarily closed, but not required to be: supermarkets, independent shops, cafés, restaurants and most private businesses. The 1974 law gives employees the right to the day off. It does not order a shopfront to shut. An owner-run bakery, a family restaurant, or a shop that stays fully staffed on a rota can legally open on Christmas Day if it chooses to.
In practice, most small shops close anyway, because the owner is also the only employee. Larger chains sometimes stay open with reduced hours, particularly in tourist-heavy parts of the city center. There is no single answer for “supermarkets” as a category. Check the individual chain’s own site for holiday hours rather than assuming a blanket closure.
Retail opening hours generally, separate from public holidays, sit under different rules again — the Federal Public Service Economy regulates Sunday and evening trading. Its own guidance, at economie.fgov.be, is the source for that separate question.
What about 11 July and 27 September — are those public holidays too?
No. They are community holidays, and the distinction is real, not just bureaucratic.
11 July marks the Feast of the Flemish Community. 27 September marks the holiday of the French Community (Fête de la Communauté française / Communautair feestdag). Neither is on the federal list of ten. Neither gives private-sector employees a legal right to the day off nationwide.
What they DO close is narrower and specific: institutions run by that community. In Brussels, this plays out along language lines rather than geography. Flemish-language schools and Flemish Community services in Brussels close on 11 July. French-language schools and French Community services close on 27 September. A Dutch-medium school and a French-medium school two streets apart can be on different calendars in the same week.
Federal and regional administration, banks, and bpost are unaffected by either date. They follow the ten-holiday list only. A private shop owner can open normally on both days, and most do.
The distinction between language and identity in Brussels runs deeper than holiday dates — see Bilingual Brussels: Which Language to Use, and When It Matters for how it shapes signage, service and daily administration.
Do museums close on public holidays?
Each museum sets its own policy, and there is no citywide rule. Some close on 1 January and 25 December only. Others follow a longer list. None of this is standardized across institutions, so the museum’s own site is the only reliable source for a specific date.
Public holidays are a separate question from the weekly closures that trip up more visitors. Most Brussels museums are shut on Mondays regardless of the date — a pattern covered in What Shuts in Brussels on Mondays, and How to Plan Around It. A number are also free on specific days of the month, detailed in Which Brussels Museums Are Free, and On Which Days.
If a public holiday falls on a Monday — Easter Monday and Whit Monday always do — check both rules together before planning a museum visit around that date.
What happens when a holiday falls on a Sunday or Monday?
Belgian law does not automatically hand private-sector staff a substitute day off when a holiday lands on a Sunday. Some sectors provide one through their own collective agreement. Others don’t.
For a visitor this mostly changes nothing, since Sunday closures already look similar to public holiday closures — most shops are shut either way. The overlap and the difference are both covered in What Is Open in Brussels on a Sunday, and What Is Shut.
One fixed point survives every calendar entry on this page. The Jeu de Balle / Vossenplein flea market, in the Marolles / Marollen, opens every single morning of the year, holidays included.
Where to check the current list
Confirm exact dates for the movable holidays, and any given year’s public-sector guidance, directly on belgium.be, the federal government’s official information service. For retail-specific opening rules, the Federal Public Service Economy is the regulator of record. Community-holiday details for Flemish or French Community institutions are published by each community’s own administration.
Broader planning questions — currency, tipping norms, how the transit system’s fare zones work — sit in the Planning & Practicalities archive. Museum-specific closure patterns are gathered in the Museums & Galleries archive.
Details on how this site sources and checks its claims, including this one, are set out on the About page.
Access Brussels is an independent guide written from published, checkable sources. We have not visited the places described here and we do not publish personal recommendations or invented ‘local favorites’ — where something is singled out as notable, we say who says so. Opening times, fares, closures and prices change at short notice, so treat everything here as a starting point and confirm with the museum, operator or venue directly before building a day around it. We give no advice on visas, insurance, health or safety; use your own government’s official guidance for those.
Featured image: Photo by Alex Sirac, source, BY