Free tool
Egypt Public Holidays 2026 & Working Days Calculator
Every national, Islamic, and Coptic public holiday Egypt observes in 2026, plus a calculator that counts real Egyptian working days for any date range. Built for founders and operators who manage an offshore team and need to plan deadlines around the actual calendar, including the Friday to Saturday weekend.
Working days
247
Productive days for your Egypt hire in this range.
Public holidays
14
13 holidays fall in this range.
Weekend days
104
Egypt's weekend is Friday and Saturday, not Sat-Sun.
Total days
365
Thu, Jan 1 to Thu, Dec 31
| Holiday | Date | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Coptic Christmas | Wed, Jan 7 | Coptic |
| Revolution Day & National Police Day | Sun, Jan 25 | National |
| Eid al-Fitr (estimated) | Fri, Mar 20 to Mon, Mar 23 | Islamic |
| Coptic Easter Sunday | Sun, Apr 12 | Coptic |
| Sham El-Nessim (Spring Festival) | Mon, Apr 13 | National |
| Sinai Liberation Day | Sat, Apr 25 | National |
| Labour Day | Fri, May 1 | National |
| Arafat Day & Eid al-Adha (estimated) | Tue, May 26 to Sat, May 30 | Islamic |
| Islamic New Year (Hijri) (estimated) | Thu, Jun 18 | Islamic |
| June 30 Revolution Day | Tue, Jun 30 | National |
| July 23 Revolution Day | Thu, Jul 23 | National |
| Prophet's Birthday (Mawlid al-Nabi) (estimated) | Tue, Aug 25 | Islamic |
| Armed Forces Day | Tue, Oct 6 | National |
Planning a project timeline around Egyptian holidays is far easier with a dedicated hire who flags their time off in advance. Tell us the role and the hours you need and we will match vetted Egyptian candidates who already plan around your calendar.
Islamic holidays (Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, the Islamic New Year, and the Prophet's Birthday) depend on the official moon sighting and can shift by a day or two. The Egyptian cabinet also commonly moves a mid-week national holiday to the nearest Thursday to create a long weekend. Use this as a planning guide and confirm exact dates with your hire before you commit to a deadline.
Egypt public holidays 2026: full calendar
National, Islamic, and Coptic holidays observed across Egypt. Islamic dates depend on the official moon sighting and may shift by a day or two.
| Holiday | 2026 date | Type | What it means for your team |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coptic Christmas | Wednesday, January 7 | Coptic | Orthodox Christmas. A paid national holiday observed across Egypt, not only by Coptic Christian staff. |
| Revolution Day & National Police Day | Sunday, January 25 | National | Marks the January 25 revolution. Falls on a Sunday in 2026, so it lands on a normal Egyptian working day. |
| Eid al-Fitr (estimated) | Friday, March 20 to Monday, March 23 | Islamic | End of Ramadan. The single longest break of the year, usually three to four paid days. Plan deliverables around it well in advance. |
| Coptic Easter Sunday | Sunday, April 12 | Coptic | Orthodox Easter. Falls on a Sunday and is mainly observed by Coptic Christian staff; the public holiday is the Sham El-Nessim Monday that follows. |
| Sham El-Nessim (Spring Festival) | Monday, April 13 | National | An ancient Egyptian spring festival on the Monday after Coptic Easter. A paid national holiday for everyone, regardless of religion. |
| Sinai Liberation Day | Saturday, April 25 | National | Commemorates the 1982 return of the Sinai. Falls on a Saturday in 2026, which is already part of the Egyptian weekend. |
| Labour Day | Friday, May 1 | National | International Workers' Day. Falls on a Friday in 2026, which is already part of the Egyptian weekend. |
| Arafat Day & Eid al-Adha (estimated) | Tuesday, May 26 to Saturday, May 30 | Islamic | The Feast of the Sacrifice, beginning with Arafat Day. A long multi-day break, typically four paid days plus the weekend around it. |
| Islamic New Year (Hijri) (estimated) | Thursday, June 18 | Islamic | First day of the Islamic year (1 Muharram). A single paid national holiday. |
| June 30 Revolution Day | Tuesday, June 30 | National | Marks the June 30, 2013 events. Falls on a Tuesday in 2026; the cabinet may move it to the nearest Thursday for a long weekend. |
| July 23 Revolution Day | Thursday, July 23 | National | Anniversary of the 1952 revolution. Falls on a Thursday in 2026, which often becomes a four-day weekend with the Friday and Saturday. |
| Prophet's Birthday (Mawlid al-Nabi) (estimated) | Tuesday, August 25 | Islamic | Celebrates the birth of the Prophet Muhammad. A single paid national holiday. |
| Armed Forces Day | Tuesday, October 6 | National | Commemorates the start of the October 1973 war. Falls on a Tuesday in 2026; it may be moved to the nearest Thursday for a long weekend. |
Want to turn this calendar into a budget? Use the Egypt offshore salary calculator or the offshore team cost calculator to size the cost of a hire.
Why the Egyptian working week catches managers out
The first thing to understand about working with a team in Egypt is the week itself. The Egyptian weekend is Friday and Saturday, and the standard working week runs Sunday through Thursday. Sunday is a normal, full workday in Cairo and Alexandria, while Friday is the main day of rest. Managers who assume a Monday to Friday rhythm end up scheduling calls on a day their hire is off and treating Sunday as dead time when it is actually one of the most productive days of the week.
This is good news once you adjust for it. A team in Egypt is online on Sunday, which means a US or European company gets a head start on the week before its local staff log in on Monday. Work briefed on Thursday afternoon can be picked up Sunday morning Egypt time and ready when the home office returns. The calculator above already builds the Friday to Saturday weekend into every count, so the working-day figure you see reflects the real Egyptian calendar rather than a Western one.
The second thing to understand is that Egypt blends three holiday traditions. National holidays mark events like the January 25 and July 23 revolutions and Armed Forces Day. Islamic holidays such as Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha follow the lunar calendar. Coptic Christian dates like Coptic Christmas and the Sham El-Nessim spring festival add a third layer. Put together, that is around 13 public holidays a year, a few of which cluster into long multi-day breaks. Knowing where those breaks fall is the difference between a timeline that holds and one that quietly slips.
The two big breaks: Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha
Most of the year, Egyptian public holidays are single days that barely dent a schedule. The two exceptions are the Eids, and they deserve real planning. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan and is the single longest break of the year, usually three to four paid days that often join with the weekend to form a week away. In 2026 it is expected around March 20 to 23. Eid al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice, follows in late May, expected around May 26 to 30, and is similarly long.
Ramadan itself matters even though it is not a public holiday. In 2026 it runs for most of the month before Eid al-Fitr, roughly mid-February to mid-March. During Ramadan many Egyptian staff work shorter or shifted hours, with energy highest earlier in the day. This is normal and easy to plan for: keep the workload steady, avoid scheduling a brutal crunch in the final Ramadan week, and expect the period right around Eid al-Fitr to be quiet.
The practical rule is simple. If you have a hard launch or a major deadline, place it either comfortably before Ramadan or after Eid al-Fitr, not in the middle. Do the same around late May for Eid al-Adha. Because the Islamic dates depend on a moon sighting and can move by a day or two, confirm the exact Eid dates with your hire a few weeks out rather than locking a deadline to a forecast. The calculator above shows exactly how many working days a given month loses to these breaks so you can adjust scope honestly instead of discovering the gap late.
How to plan an offshore project around the Egyptian calendar
- Map the quarter first. Drop your project start and end dates into the calculator and read the working-day count. That number, not the raw calendar span, is what you actually have to work with.
- Flag the long breaks early. Mark Eid al-Fitr in March and Eid al-Adha in late May on your shared calendar, and treat the surrounding days as low-capacity.
- Respect the Friday to Saturday weekend. Schedule standups, reviews, and live calls on Sunday through Thursday. Use Sunday as a genuine working day, because for your Egypt hire it is one.
- Confirm moveable dates. A few weeks before each Islamic holiday, ask your hire to confirm the official dates so your milestones line up with reality.
- Build a small buffer into March and May. The two Eid months carry the most time off. A couple of buffer days in those windows keeps a timeline realistic without padding the rest of the year.
For the time-of-day side of planning, pair this calendar with the Egypt time zone overlap planner, which shows how many live hours you share with a hire in Cairo each day. Between the two you can plan both which days and which hours your offshore team is available.
Holidays are not a reason to avoid hiring from Egypt
Every country has a holiday calendar, and Egypt's is not unusually long. The United States, United Kingdom, and most of Europe land in a similar range once you count public holidays and statutory leave. What makes Egypt easy to work with is the wide time zone overlap, the Sunday working day that gives Western teams a head start, and the fact that a dedicated hire flags their time off in advance rather than disappearing without warning.
When you hire through Hire Nile, the fully loaded monthly cost already reflects a normal working calendar, so a public holiday is not a surprise charge. You get a vetted, English-fluent professional who plans around your deadlines and tells you well ahead of Eid when they will be away. To see the cost side of that picture, the salary calculator compares an Egypt hire against an in-house one, and why teams hire from Egypt covers the wider case for the region. If you are weighing how to engage the hire, the contractor vs employee calculator breaks down each model.
Frequently asked questions
What are the public holidays in Egypt in 2026?
Egypt observes around 13 public holidays in 2026, blending national, Islamic, and Coptic Christian dates. They include Coptic Christmas on January 7, Revolution Day on January 25, Eid al-Fitr around March 20 to 23, Sham El-Nessim on April 13, Sinai Liberation Day on April 25, Labour Day on May 1, Eid al-Adha around May 26 to 30, the Islamic New Year around June 18, the June 30 Revolution, the July 23 Revolution, the Prophet's Birthday around August 25, and Armed Forces Day on October 6.
What days are the weekend in Egypt?
The Egyptian weekend is Friday and Saturday, not Saturday and Sunday. The standard working week runs Sunday through Thursday. This trips up a lot of Western managers: Sunday is a normal workday in Egypt, while Friday is the main day off. The working days calculator on this page already accounts for the Friday to Saturday weekend.
How many working days are there in Egypt in 2026?
After removing the Friday and Saturday weekends and public holidays, 2026 has roughly 245 to 250 Egyptian working days, depending on how the moveable Islamic holidays land and whether the cabinet shifts any mid-week national holidays to a Thursday. Use the calculator above to count working days for any specific range you care about, such as a quarter or a single project window.
Do Islamic holiday dates in Egypt change?
Yes. Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, the Islamic New Year, and the Prophet's Birthday follow the lunar Hijri calendar and are confirmed by an official moon sighting, so the exact dates can move forward or back by a day or two from any forecast. Treat the Islamic dates on this page as close estimates and confirm them with your hire as each holiday approaches.
How should I plan a project around Ramadan and Eid in Egypt?
Ramadan in 2026 runs for most of the month before Eid al-Fitr, roughly mid-February to mid-March. During Ramadan many Egyptian staff work slightly shorter or shifted hours, and Eid al-Fitr itself is the longest break of the year. Schedule heavy launches and hard deadlines either well before Ramadan or after Eid al-Fitr, build a few buffer days into any March timeline, and confirm your hire's exact Eid dates early.
Does a holiday cost me anything when I hire through Hire Nile?
Public holidays and paid time off are standard parts of employing anyone, in Egypt or anywhere else. With a Hire Nile placement the fully loaded monthly cost already accounts for a normal working calendar, so a public holiday is not a surprise line item. Your hire flags their time off in advance, which makes planning around the calendar straightforward.
Ready to build a team that plans around your calendar?
The calendar tells you when your team is off. We help you build the team. Send a role brief and Hire Nile will share vetted Egyptian candidates with real rates, usually within a few business days, each one ready to plan their work around your deadlines.