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Holiday planning 2025 " Use your holiday wisely! ✓

In 2025, there will once again be numerous opportunities to make the most of your holiday time by making clever use of public holidays and bridging days. Clever planning with ZEP leads to a wealth of additional free time - we'll show you how!
Holiday planning 2025 " Use your holiday wisely! ✓

Are you currently planning your 2025 holiday? Plan your holiday cleverly and maximise your days off! By making strategic use of public holidays and bridging days, you can make the most of your valuable free time. In 2025, Easter and the Christmas period in particular offer excellent opportunities to enjoy a long break with just a few days' holiday. Find out when you should cleverly plan your holiday days to have up to sixteen days off in a row.

Table of contents - What you can expect:

Public holidays 2025
How to turn 24 days of holiday into 55
Holiday planning with ZEP


These are the bridge days in 2025

Use the bridging days for your 2025 holiday planning to cleverly extend your days off! With clever planning, you can more than double your days off and make the most of your holiday. Depending on the federal state, there are numerous public holidays available to you, between which you can make optimum use of bridging days. Easter and Christmas in particular offer you the opportunity to take up to 16 days off in a row with just a few days' holiday:

Public holidays 2025

Public holidays 2025

More time off with less holiday: the best bridging days for 24 days' holiday entitlement

With 24 days of holiday a year, you can more than double your days off in 2025 by making clever use of public holidays and bridging days - provided you work from Monday to Friday and have the weekends off anyway.

Your holiday planning for 55 days off look:

Period Public holidays Holiday days Days off Used holiday days
28 December 2024 - 1 January 2025 New Year (1 January, Wednesday) 30 and 31 December 2024 5 days 2
12 April - 27 April 2025 Good Friday (18 April, Friday)
Easter Monday (21 April, Monday)
14 to 17 April
22 to 25 April
16 days 8
1 May - 4 May 2025 Labour Day (1 May, Thursday) 2 May 4 days 1
29 May - 1 June 2025 Ascension Day (29 May, Thursday) 30 May 4 days 1
7 June - 15 June 2025 Whit Monday (9 June, Monday) 10 to 13 June 9 days 4
2 October - 5 October 2025 Day of German Unity (3 October, Friday) 2 October 4 days 1
20 December 2025 - 1 January 2026 Christmas (25 and 26 December, Thursday and Friday)
New Year (1 January 2026, Thursday)
22, 23, 24, 29, 30, 31 December 13 days 6

With this plan, you use 23 days of holiday and receive a total of 55 days off. This leaves you with 1 day of holiday at your disposal.

Holiday planning 2025: These differences apply depending on the federal state

Depending on which federal state you live or work in, additional public holidays and bridging days can have a significant impact on your planning. Take advantage of the regional peculiarities to use your holiday days more effectively and get more out of your free time. Here you will find an overview of the regional public holidays for each federal state:

Federal state Public holidays Date
Bavaria Three kings 06.01.25 (Monday)
Corpus Christi 19.06.25 (Thursday)
Assumption of the Virgin Mary (in Catholic areas) 15.08.25 (Friday)
All Saints' Day 01.11.25 (Saturday)
Baden-Württemberg Three kings 06.01.25 (Monday)
Corpus Christi 19.06.25 (Thursday)
All Saints' Day 01.11.25 (Saturday)
Berlin International Women's Day 08.03.25 (Saturday)
Brandenburg Easter Sunday 20.04.25 (Sunday)
Reformation Day 31.10.25 (Friday)
Bremen Reformation Day 31.10.25 (Friday)
Hesse Corpus Christi 19.06.25 (Thursday)
Hamburg Reformation Day 31.10.25 (Friday)
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania International Women's Day 08.03.25 (Saturday)
Reformation Day 31.10.25 (Friday)
Rhineland-Palatinate Corpus Christi 19.06.25 (Thursday)
All Saints' Day 01.11.25 (Saturday)
Saxony-Anhalt Three kings 06.01.25 (Monday)
Reformation Day 31.10.25 (Friday)
Saxony Reformation Day 31.10.25 (Friday)
Day of Prayer and Repentance 19.11.25 (Wednesday)
Saarland Corpus Christi 19.06.25 (Thursday)
Assumption of the Virgin Mary 15.08.25 (Friday)
All Saints' Day 01.11.25 (Saturday)
Schleswig-Holstein Reformation Day 31.10.25 (Friday)
Thuringia World Children's Day 20.09.25 (Saturday)
Reformation Day 31.10.25 (Friday)
North Rhine-Westphalia Corpus Christi 19.06.25 (Thursday)
All Saints' Day 01.11.25 (Saturday)
Lower Saxony Reformation Day 31.10.25 (Friday)

These long weekends are worth it in 2025!

For varied holiday planning in 2025, there are not only long holiday periods, but also numerous long weekends. These are perfect for short breaks, wellness weekends or city breaks. With just a few days' holiday, you can extend your weekends and make the most of your free time. We have listed all the long weekends for you here so that you can organise your plans in the best possible way:

Period Duration in days Relevant federal states
4 - 6 January 2025 3 days BW, BY and ST
18 - 21 April 2025 4 days All
1 - 4 May 2025 4 days All
29 May - 1 June 2025 4 days All
19 - 22 June 2025 4 days BW, BY, HE, NRW, RP and SL
15 - 17 August 2025 3 days BY and SL
3 - 5 October 2025 3 days All
31 October - 2 November 2025 3 days BB, HB, HH, MV, NI, ST, SH and TH
25 - 28 December 2025 4 days All
1 - 4 January 2026 4 days All

Tool for perfect holiday planning

Holiday planning can often be a challenge, but with the right software, manually completed holiday requests are finally a thing of the past. With the ZEP module Overtime, Absences & Holidays you can keep an eye on the optimal times for your holidays. And: With the creation of the holiday calendar in the master data, you are guaranteed not to miss any important dates. In addition, you can see in ZEP how much of the unused holiday from the previous year is still left. This way you won't lose any holiday days. And how do you apply for days off?

Quite simply: digitally! In ZEP, click on the day you want off, enter the reason for your absence (in this case, paid holiday) and the holiday request is sent digitally to the person responsible for approving it. There's no need to fill in manual holiday requests, no more paperwork and you can take your well-deserved holiday faster!

Digital support for your holiday planning 2025

Software such as ZEP can be very helpful in optimising your holiday planning for 2025 so that you don't miss any of the dates mentioned above. This is because you can easily store the public holidays that are relevant for your federal state in the master data so that you always have an overview of when the best time for holidays is. This setting is per company, Department and employee - depending on where the employee is based or what regulations you have in your company.

ZEP can also help with this, Remaining leave from the previous year so that you don't forget it. Finally, as already described, our software makes it easy to submit holiday requests, which simplifies the entire process of your holiday planning. Holiday planning greatly facilitated.

Conclusion

With well thought-out holiday planning for 2025, you can maximise your free time and enjoy up to 55 days off with just 24 days of holiday. There are great opportunities to extend your time off, especially around public holidays such as Easter and Christmas. Pay attention to the specific public holidays in your federal state to make your planning even more targeted.

Take advantage of the many long weekends for relaxing short trips or simply to unwind. And make planning easier with digital tools like ZEP, which will help you never miss a day off and manage your holiday requests efficiently. With these tips, you can make sure you get the most out of your holiday and enjoy your time off to the full in 2025.

FAQ

Do I have to plan my holiday for the whole year?

It is not essential to plan your holiday for the whole year in advance. However, early planning can help to secure the best periods for your time off and ensure that you can make the most of your desired bridging days and public holidays. What's more, the earlier you plan your holiday schedule, the better your employer will be able to plan its Resource planning without penalising one party in the end.

Can my employer refuse my holiday request on a bridge day?

Yes, your employer can refuse a holiday request on a bridging day if operational reasons or a high number of holiday requests make this necessary. However, they must observe the general labour law requirements and fair justifications.

What are bridge days?

Bridge days are days that fall between a public holiday and a weekend and are often used as an opportunity to plan extended time off. These days offer the opportunity to create longer periods of time off through targeted holiday planning.

Tanja Hartmann CEP

Tanja Hartmann

Content Marketing Manager at ZEP

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