Holidays & Festivals

London:

Holidays:
In England, public holidays include New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day (first Mon in May), spring and summer bank holidays (last Mon in May and Aug, respectively), Christmas Day, and Boxing Day (Dec 26).

Festivals:
London is not naturally a festival city. It’s simply too large to get into the spirit – Royal funerals seem to be the obvious exception. Many of the best events capitalize on the river, though, and throughout the year innumerable individual festivals and festivities enliven other parts of the city. Some are important dates in the social calendar: the Chelsea Flower Show, Wimbledon, the Proms, Boat Race and Notting Hill Carnival, all in their different ways are enjoyed by ardent fans and are also annual occasions unique to the city. Whatever the time of year, in this city there’s always likely to be some kind of celebration of something going on near you.

Paris:

Holidays:
Holidays in France are known as jours fériés. Shops and banks are closed, as well as many (but not all) restaurants and museums. Major holidays include January 1 (New Year's Day), Easter, Ascension Day (40 days after Easter), Pentecost (seventh Sun after Easter), May 1 (May Day), May 8 (VE Day), July 14 (Bastille Day), August 15 (Assumption of the Virgin Mary), November 1 (All Saints' Day), November 11 (Armistice Day), and December 25 (Christmas).

Festivals:
From Christmas, Chopin and cinema to raï music, Chinese New Year and Gay Pride, somewhere in Paris something is almost always being celebrated. Cultural festivals in the city are especially good and often give an opportunity to experience an enormous range of Parisian, French and international music or cinema, sometimes for free.

Rome:

Holidays:
Offices and shops in Italy are closed on the following national holidays: January 1 (New Year's Day), Easter Monday, April 25 (Liberation Day), May 1 (Labor Day), August 15 (Assumption of the Virgin), November 1 (All Saints' Day), December 8 (Feast of the Immaculate Conception), December 25 (Christmas Day), and December 26 (Santo Stefano). Many offices and business also close on June 29, for the feast day of Sts. Peter and Paul, the city's patron saints.

Festivals:
Rome is, together with Milan, the city where most cultural events such as exhibitions, concerts and shows take place in Italy. Whether it’s the Roma Jazz Festival or the Donna Sotto le Stelle, the annual Roman appointment with high fashion, where creations by the most famous fashion designers are modeled on a catwalk in a truly magnificent setting: on the Spanish Steps in Piazza di Spagna, you are likely to indulge in a local Roman event.