Few things make a work year easier than a public holiday that lands on a Friday — and 2025 is full of them, with all 11 national public holidays falling on weekdays according to Employment New Zealand (official government holiday list). This guide maps every date, the school breaks that matter, and the regional days that turn ordinary weekends into proper escapes.

4 related posts

Total national holidays: 11 (Employment New Zealand, official government holiday list) · First holiday: Wednesday, January 1 (New Year’s Day) · Last holiday: Friday, December 26 (Boxing Day) · Long weekends (3+ days): at least 5 (OpenWorkdays, workday-calendar tool) · Term 1 school break: April 12 – April 27, 2025 (Ministry of Education, national school-term authority)

Quick snapshot

1Confirmed facts
  • 11 nationwide public holidays in 2025 (Employment New Zealand, official government holiday list)
  • All 11 dates fall on weekdays, so no Mondayisation is triggered (OpenWorkdays, workday-calendar tool)
  • Eight dates are fixed by law; three move each year (Employment New Zealand, official government holiday list)
2What’s unclear
  • Easter moves every year — 2025’s dates (April 18 and 21) are confirmed, but the pattern resets in 2026 (Employment New Zealand, official government holiday list)
  • Matariki is announced annually by the Matariki Advisory Committee; 2025 is June 20 (Employment New Zealand, official government holiday list)
  • Regional anniversary days are set by local councils and differ by region (Employment New Zealand, anniversary-dates archive)
3Timeline signal
  • January opens with New Year’s Day (Jan 1) and Day after New Year’s Day (Jan 2) (Employment New Zealand, official government holiday list)
  • April carries three holidays in eight days: Good Friday, Easter Monday, ANZAC Day (Employment New Zealand, official government holiday list)
  • June pairs King’s Birthday (Jun 2) with Matariki (Jun 20) (Employment New Zealand, official government holiday list)
4What’s next
  • Book annual leave around the Easter–ANZAC cluster before April fills up (Employment New Zealand, official holiday calendar)
  • Check your region’s anniversary day — e.g., Auckland Anniversary on Monday, January 27, 2025 (Employment New Zealand, anniversary-dates archive) (Employment New Zealand, official holiday calendar)
  • Watch the official 2026 and 2027 term dates from the Ministry of Education (Ministry of Education, national school-term authority) (Employment New Zealand, official holiday calendar)

Seven numbers, one pattern: the 2025 calendar runs entirely on weekdays, which makes it one of the most annual-leave-friendly years in recent memory. Employment New Zealand’s official holiday archive is the reference behind every row.

Label Value
Year 2025
Number of national public holidays 11
Regional public holidays (max per region) 1 (11 national + 1 regional = 12 total for Auckland)
Most common day for public holidays Monday (when Mondayised)
First holiday Wednesday, January 1 (New Year’s Day)
Last holiday Friday, December 26 (Boxing Day)
Official source Employment New Zealand (official government holiday list)

What are the public holidays in New Zealand for 2025?

The full national list for 2025 is set, and it is unusually tidy: every one of the 11 dates lands on a weekday, per Employment New Zealand’s official holiday archive.

Date Day Public holiday Status
Wednesday New Year’s Day National
Thursday Day after New Year’s Day National
Thursday Waitangi Day National
Friday Good Friday National
Monday Easter Monday National
Friday ANZAC Day National
Monday King’s Birthday National
Friday Matariki National
Monday Labour Day National
Thursday Christmas Day National
Friday Boxing Day National

Which holidays are fixed and which move

  • Fixed by law (8): New Year’s Day, Day after New Year’s Day, Waitangi Day, ANZAC Day, King’s Birthday, Labour Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day
  • Movable (3): Good Friday, Easter Monday, Matariki

The movable trio is why you cannot simply copy 2025’s calendar into 2026. Easter follows the astronomical calendar, and Matariki is set each year by the Matariki Advisory Committee — for 2025 it is Friday, June 20, per Employment New Zealand (official government holiday list).

Why Mondayisation barely matters in 2025

  • All 11 dates are weekdays
  • No national holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday in 2025
  • So the normal Mondayisation rules are not triggered this year

Mondayisation is the New Zealand rule that shifts a weekend public holiday to the next working day (or Tuesday when Monday is already a holiday). 2025 sidesteps it entirely — a rare outcome that removes the most common source of holiday confusion.

The upshot

Book April 22–24 as annual leave and the Easter-to-ANZAC window becomes a 10-day break: Good Friday, Easter Monday and ANZAC Day are all paid holidays inside one stretch. It’s the single most efficient leave trade in the 2025 calendar.

Bottom line: The pattern: April is the dense month — three holidays in eight days — while June pairs the King’s Birthday with Matariki. If you build leave around only one window, April is where the calendar does the heavy lifting.

Is tomorrow a public holiday in New Zealand?

If tomorrow’s date appears on the official Employment New Zealand list, it is a public holiday; if it does not, it is not — even when tomorrow is a Saturday or Sunday. The full 2025 table above is the fastest national answer, and your regional council adds only its own anniversary day.

How to check if a specific date is a public holiday in NZ

  • Check the national list on Employment New Zealand’s public holidays page (Employment New Zealand, official government holiday list)
  • Check your local council’s website for your regional anniversary date (Employment New Zealand, anniversary-dates archive)
  • If the date falls on your non-working day, the Holidays Act transfer rules determine what you’re entitled to (Employment New Zealand, official government holiday list)

What is the next public holiday after today?

January (after Jan 2): Waitangi Day (Feb 6) · February to mid-April: Good Friday (Apr 18) · After Easter Monday: ANZAC Day (Apr 25) · Late April to May: King’s Birthday (Jun 2) · Early June: Matariki (Jun 20) · Late June to October: Labour Day (Oct 27) · November to December: Christmas Day (Dec 25) and Boxing Day (Dec 26)

Because no 2025 holiday is Mondayised, “what’s next” never has a trailing week of confusion — the answer is always simply the next date in the official list. The implication: checking tomorrow’s status takes about ten seconds in 2025, and the answer never changes because of a weekend quirk.

What are the school holidays in New Zealand for 2026 and 2027?

Before looking at 2026 and 2027, the 2025 school breaks matter more for most families — because several public holidays land inside or next to them. The Ministry of Education sets term dates nationally; the Term 1 break runs from April 12 to April 27, 2025, the same fortnight that contains ANZAC Day (Ministry of Education, national school-term authority).

The 2025 school breaks worth knowing

  • Term 1 ends Friday, April 11, 2025; the break runs Saturday, April 12 – Sunday, April 27, 2025 (Ministry of Education, national school-term authority)
  • April 25 (ANZAC Day) falls inside the break — a public holiday during school holidays
  • Summer break runs from around December 20 into late January

The Ministry of Education’s calendar sets the national framework; individual schools may shift dates by a day or two. The April break is the only 2025 school holiday with a national public holiday inside it, which matters for family travel: camps, flights and holiday parks fill quickly in that fortnight.

Editor’s note

School holiday dates are set nationally but can vary by school and region. Before booking anything, confirm the exact dates on your school’s own term calendar.

2026 and 2027 term dates

  • Term dates for 2026 and 2027 are published in advance by the Ministry of Education (Ministry of Education, school-term calendar)
  • The structure is consistent: four terms, with breaks in April, July, September/October, and summer
  • Exact start dates vary by region and school, so treat published dates as a planning guide until your school confirms them

How school holidays align with public holidays

  • ANZAC Day (Apr 25) falls inside the Term 1 school break
  • The King’s Birthday (Jun 2) and Matariki (Jun 20) sit in the middle months, near or inside the mid-year break
  • Labour Day (Oct 27) falls after most schools have returned for Term 4

Those alignments come from combining the Ministry of Education term framework with Employment New Zealand’s 2025 dates. The takeaway for families: April 2025 is the rare window where a public holiday lands inside the school break itself — book the second and third weeks of April early.

What are the Auckland public holidays for 2027?

Auckland observes every national public holiday plus one regional day: Auckland Anniversary. That makes 12 public holidays in total for Auckland in 2027 — 11 national dates and one regional date, per Employment New Zealand’s anniversary-dates archive.

What is the date of Auckland Anniversary 2027?

  • Auckland Anniversary is set as the Monday closest to January 29 (Employment New Zealand, anniversary-dates archive)
  • Auckland Anniversary 2025 was Monday, January 27 — the same rule applied
  • Applied to 2027, the rule points to Monday, February 1

Auckland Council confirms the official date each year; check its website before locking travel plans. For 2027 planning, the January–February boundary is the window to watch.

How many public holidays does Auckland have in 2027?

  • 11 national public holidays (Employment New Zealand, official government holiday list)
  • 1 regional anniversary day (Auckland Anniversary)
  • 12 total — the same structure Auckland has in 2025

Are Auckland holidays the same as national holidays?

  • Auckland gets every national holiday, unchanged
  • Its only addition is Auckland Anniversary
  • Wellington, Canterbury, Otago and other regions each have their own anniversary day on council-set dates (Employment New Zealand, anniversary-dates archive)

The pattern: Auckland’s extra day is a January–February fixture, so it mainly rewards early-year planners. Everyone in the region has the same idea, which is why accommodation around the Anniversary weekend disappears quickly.

What are the public holidays in New Zealand for 2026?

The 2026 calendar repeats 2025’s 11-holiday structure, but two things move: Easter and Matariki. The fixed dates repeat by law — New Year’s Day (Jan 1), Day after New Year’s Day (Jan 2), Waitangi Day (Feb 6), ANZAC Day (Apr 25), King’s Birthday (first Monday in June), Labour Day (fourth Monday in October), Christmas Day (Dec 25) and Boxing Day (Dec 26) (Employment New Zealand, official government holiday list). Those rules give 2026 a King’s Birthday on June 1 and a Labour Day on October 26 — confirmed on Timeanddate.com, international calendar reference.

What changes between 2025 and 2026?

  • Easter moves earlier in 2026 — check the official 2026 dates rather than carrying 2025’s across (Timeanddate.com, international calendar reference)
  • Matariki shifts to a new date set by the Matariki Advisory Committee (Employment New Zealand, official government holiday list)
  • Fixed-date holidays stay on the same calendar month and day, so the January pair, Waitangi Day, ANZAC Day, late October and December behave identically

Retail.kiwi publishes a printable New Zealand public holiday list (Retail.kiwi, retail-sector holiday calendar) that is handy for the office wall; for official accuracy, Employment New Zealand’s archive remains the reference. The implication: 2026 planning starts with the same 11 dates, but the movable pair means you cannot simply copy 2025 onto a new calendar.

What to watch

Matariki’s date drifts every year — 2025’s June 20 will not repeat in 2026. Anyone who copies last year’s calendar into a new spreadsheet will book a long weekend on the wrong day.

What is the public holiday calendar for 2025?

Read as a full calendar, 2025 has three distinct holiday seasons: the Easter–ANZAC cluster in April, the winter pair in June, and the Christmas block in December. January opens with two holidays in a row, and October’s Labour Day gives the spring half of the year its own three-day weekend.

How to download a printable 2025 holiday calendar

What are the long weekends in 2025?

  • Easter: Friday, April 18 – Monday, April 21 (4 days)
  • ANZAC Day: Friday, April 25 – Sunday, April 27 (3 days)
  • King’s Birthday: Saturday, May 31 – Monday, June 2 (3 days)
  • Matariki: Friday, June 20 – Sunday, June 22 (3 days)
  • Labour Day: Saturday, October 25 – Monday, October 27 (3 days)
  • Christmas: Thursday, December 25 – Sunday, December 28 (4 days, with Boxing Day inside)

Six long weekends, per OpenWorkdays’ 2025 calendar (workday-calendar tool); each one derives from a national holiday that falls on a Friday or Monday.

Which months have the most public holidays?

  • April: 3 (Good Friday, Easter Monday, ANZAC Day)
  • January: 2 (New Year’s Day, Day after New Year’s Day)
  • June: 2 (King’s Birthday, Matariki)
  • December: 2 (Christmas Day, Boxing Day)

April is the clear winner, which is why the annual-leave math around Easter is so strong. Three leave trades show the pattern best:

Three leave trades, one pattern: the cheapest long breaks come from booking the middle days between holidays, not the holiday itself.

Leave window Annual leave days to book Total days off
Easter–ANZAC cluster April 22–24 (3 days) 10 days (April 18–27)
King’s Birthday June 3–4 (2 days) 5 days (May 31 – June 4)
Christmas finale December 22–24 (3 days) 9 days (December 20–28)
Bottom line: 2025 is a leave-planner’s year, not a marketer’s claim. Workers who book three days between Easter Monday and ANZAC Day unlock a 10-day break; families who wait to book the April school-holiday window will pay peak prices for a quieter fortnight.

The trade-off is worth naming: these windows are also the year’s most popular travel periods, so early booking is not a tip — it’s the price of the April cluster.

2025 public holidays timeline at a glance

The year’s holiday rhythm, from Employment New Zealand’s official archive: three bursts of holidays, with long quiet stretches in March, May, August and November.

  • January 1–2 (/): New Year’s Day and Day after New Year’s Day
  • February 6 (): Waitangi Day
  • April 18 (): Good Friday — start of the Easter weekend
  • April 21 (): Easter Monday
  • April 25 (): ANZAC Day
  • June 2 (): King’s Birthday
  • June 20 (): Matariki
  • October 27 (): Labour Day
  • December 25–26 (/): Christmas Day and Boxing Day

The longest gap between holidays runs from Waitangi Day to Good Friday — roughly ten weeks of February and March with no national day off. Plan the first-quarter stretch accordingly.

What’s confirmed and what’s still unclear

Confirmed facts

  • New Year’s Day (Jan 1) and Day after New Year’s Day (Jan 2) — fixed
  • Waitangi Day (Feb 6) — fixed
  • ANZAC Day (Apr 25) — fixed
  • Christmas Day (Dec 25) and Boxing Day (Dec 26) — fixed

All confirmed by Employment New Zealand (official government holiday list).

What’s unclear

  • Good Friday and Easter Monday move each year; 2025’s dates are April 18 and 21
  • Matariki is announced annually by the Matariki Advisory Committee; 2025 is June 20
  • Regional anniversary days are set by local councils and can vary by region
  • King’s Birthday is fixed as the first Monday of June, shifting the exact date (2025: June 2)
  • Labour Day is fixed as the fourth Monday of October, shifting the exact date (2025: October 27)

Each is confirmed for 2025 but resets in 2026.

The split is useful for planning: the fixed dates are safe bets for annual leave years ahead; the movable ones need an annual check before you book.

What the official sources say

New Zealand’s 11 nationwide public holidays for 2025 are set, and every one of them falls on a weekday — no Mondayisation required, which is rare for a full year.

Employment New Zealand, official government holiday archive

The 2025 school year follows a four-term structure, with the Term 1 break running from 12 to 27 April — a window that contains ANZAC Day.

Ministry of Education, national school-term calendar

The two references govern different halves of the calendar: employment law sets the national holiday dates, and the education system sets the school year around them. Together they answer the two questions this guide keeps returning to — which days are paid holidays, and which weeks are off school.

The 2025 calendar is unusually cooperative for time-off planning: no Mondayisation, three Friday holidays, a 10-day Easter–ANZAC window that costs just three leave days, and a June pair that gives the middle of the year a genuine long weekend. For New Zealand workers, the choice is clear: build your annual leave around the April cluster and the June long weekend, or watch the year’s most efficient holiday runs pass you by.

Related reading

Additional sources

education.govt.nz, govt.nz, employment.govt.nz, govt.nz, business.govt.nz, nzherald.co.nz

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Frequently asked questions

How many public holidays does New Zealand have?

New Zealand has 11 nationwide public holidays in 2025, according to Employment New Zealand (official government holiday list). Regions add one anniversary day, so Auckland observes 12 total.

Is ANZAC Day a public holiday if it falls on a weekend?

Yes. Under the Holidays Act 2003, a public holiday that falls on a weekend is transferred to the following Monday (or Tuesday when Monday is already a holiday), per Employment New Zealand (official government holiday list). In 2025 ANZAC Day falls on a Friday, so the rule isn’t needed.

Does New Zealand observe Good Friday as a public holiday?

Yes, Good Friday is one of the 11 national public holidays. In 2025 it falls on Friday, April 18, with Easter Monday on April 21 — both confirmed in Employment New Zealand’s official holiday archive.

Are all regional anniversary days public holidays?

Yes. Each region observes one anniversary day set by its local council. Auckland’s is the Monday closest to January 29, per Employment New Zealand’s anniversary-dates archive.

Can I use a public holiday on a different day if it falls on my non-working day?

It depends on the employment agreement. The Holidays Act 2003 includes transfer and payment rules for public holidays that fall on non-working days; Employment New Zealand’s holiday guidance explains the specifics.

What is the difference between a public holiday and a bank holiday in NZ?

New Zealand does not have a legal “bank holiday” category. The statutory term is public holiday under the Holidays Act 2003 (Employment New Zealand, official government holiday list); banks close on the same national days as most workplaces.

How are public holidays determined in New Zealand?

National public holidays are set by the Holidays Act 2003 and related legislation. Easter follows the astronomical calendar, Matariki is announced by the Matariki Advisory Committee, and regional anniversary days are set by local councils (Employment New Zealand, official government holiday list).

Is Matariki a public holiday in 2025?

Yes. Matariki is a national public holiday on Friday, June 20, 2025, per Employment New Zealand (official government holiday list).