Good Friday 2026 falls on Friday 3 April, two days before Easter Sunday on 5 April. It’s a bank holiday in every UK nation — the only Easter-period holiday Scotland shares with the rest of the UK.
Why the date moves every year
Unlike fixed-date holidays such as Christmas or St Andrew’s Day, Good Friday’s date depends entirely on when Easter falls, and Easter itself isn’t fixed to the calendar. The rule, set at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, defines Easter Sunday as the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox (21 March). That lunar-based calculation is why Easter — and Good Friday two days before it — can land anywhere between 22 March and 25 April depending on the year. In 2026, that calculation places Easter Sunday on 5 April, making Good Friday 3 April.
The Easter weekend in full
| Date | Day | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 3 April | Friday | Good Friday — bank holiday, all UK |
| 5 April | Sunday | Easter Sunday — not a bank holiday |
| 6 April | Monday | Easter Monday — bank holiday in England, Wales, Northern Ireland only |
Good Friday commemorates the crucifixion in the Christian calendar and is observed as a bank holiday across all four nations — including Scotland, which is otherwise the one UK nation that doesn’t take Easter Monday off. That makes the 2026 Easter weekend a four-day break (Friday to Monday) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but effectively just the Friday off in Scotland, since Saturday and Sunday were weekend days anyway and Monday is a normal working day there.
Planning around it
Good Friday to Easter Monday is one of the busiest UK travel weekends of the year, on a par with the August bank holidays. Because the date shifts annually, it’s worth checking each year rather than assuming — in some years Easter falls in late March and clashes directly with the end of the financial year; in 2026 it sits comfortably in early April, clear of that overlap.
For the full four-nation 2026 calendar, see 2026 bank holidays UK.