Argentina Holidays

Argentina has a lot of holidays compared with the USA and Canada: 15 by law, 16 holiday days once Carnival’s two days are counted, against 11 US federal holidays and 10 for federally regulated workers in Canada. For a traveler, though, the unit that matters is the long weekend, when millions of Argentines travel at once.

Argentina’s national holidays and their dates

Fixed holidays (feriados inamovibles) keep their date, even on a Sunday. Movable holidays (feriados trasladables) slide to a Monday: a Tuesday or Wednesday date moves back to the Monday before, a Thursday or Friday date forward to the Monday after. Since a decree of August 2025, a movable holiday on a weekend may also be shifted to the Friday before or the Monday after, if the government decides so.

The 2026 dates are official. The 2027 column is worked out from the law and Easter (March 28), because the official calendar and next year’s bridge days are not published yet. The law calls October 12 the Day of Respect for Cultural Diversity; the government’s own calendar labels it Día de la Raza. Jewish and Muslim holy days, and April 24 for Armenian Argentines, are non-working days only for those who observe them.

Bridge days: the días no laborables

The government may add up to three días no laborables con fines turísticos a year, always on a Monday or a Friday to stretch a weekend. The law wants them announced 50 days before the year ends; the current set came out in late December, so next year’s may come late too.

Feriado or día no laborable: what actually closes

On a feriado, labor law applies the Sunday rules. Banks and government offices close, and anyone who works is paid double, which is reason enough for a small shop to stay dark.

A día no laborable, such as Holy Thursday or a bridge day, is softer. Working is the employer’s choice, except for banks and insurers, which close along with national and provincial government offices. ATMs, home banking and payment apps keep working. For cash and cards, read our guide to money in Argentina.

Long weekends: how Argentina travels

The law behind these dates is literally the Law of Holidays and Long Weekends, and Argentines use every fin de semana largo. CAME, the Argentine confederation of medium-sized businesses, counted about 3 million tourists over the Carnival weekend in 2026 and 2.85 million over Semana Santa, when Bariloche, Puerto Iguazú, Salta, Mendoza, Mar del Plata and Buenos Aires drew the most.

So book domestic flights and long-distance buses early for any long weekend, and if your dates are flexible, arrive the day after the holiday, not the day before. The buses are good, “much more comfortable than Greyhound,” as Juergen Keller puts it. A full bus is still a full bus.

The big holiday periods

Carnival

Carnival follows Easter, so it lands in February or early March, and in 2026 it was the busiest weekend of the summer. Gualeguaychú in Entre Ríos, where the National Carnival parades run, reached 97% occupancy, and the Quebrada de Humahuaca in Jujuy 95%. For Carnival in the Quebrada de Humahuaca, the room comes first and the itinerary second.

Semana Santa

Autumn, March to May, is dense with dates, and Holy Week is the big one: a non-working Thursday and a Good Friday holiday make a four-day weekend for many. In 2027 Remembrance Day falls on the Wednesday of Holy Week, so many people will be off from Wednesday to Sunday. Mendoza hotels averaged 82% over Easter 2026, so if a Mendoza wine trip falls on these dates, reserve the bodega visits along with the bed.

Christmas and New Year

December 24 and 31 are working days by law, though the government gave its own staff both days off by decree in 2024 and 2025. Schools finish between December 17 and 23, so January and February are the domestic travel season: CAME counted 30.7 million tourists in those two months of 2026, the Atlantic coast around Mar del Plata drawing the biggest crowds. If a family invites you to a holiday asado, clear the afternoon. The late lunch, Juergen says, “goes into evening, without noticing.”

Winter school holidays in July

Independence Day on July 9 opens the winter peak, then the provinces take a two-week school break in three waves:

CAME counted 4.6 million travelers over the July break in 2026. Bariloche led the country at close to 85% occupancy, with Ushuaia next. A ski week in the second half of July means traveling while Buenos Aires province and the capital are on break too.

What the dates remember

May 25 marks the May Revolution of 1810, the start of the break with the Spanish crown; July 9 marks the Congress of Tucumán’s declaration of independence in 1816. March 24 remembers the victims of the military dictatorship that seized power that day in 1976 and ruled until December 1983. April 2 honors the veterans and fallen of the 1982 Falklands War. June 20 is Flag Day, the anniversary of the death of its creator, Manuel Belgrano; the Güemes and San Martín days mark each general’s death, and November 20 recalls the 1845 Battle of Vuelta de Obligado against an Anglo-French fleet on the Paraná River.

Planning around the calendar

A holiday during a city stay usually costs you little more than a closed bank; a long weekend in Bariloche costs you the room you wanted. Spring, September to November, is the quietest stretch of the calendar, with only two holidays, both movable. Leave slack in your trip around Carnival, Easter and July. For seasons, read the best time to visit Argentina; to route around the long weekends, start a custom Argentina trip or go back to our Argentina guide.