Sri Lanka Public Holidays 2027: Poya Days and What Closes

Sri Lanka has 25 public holidays in 2027, of which 12 fall on full moon poya days, according to the 2027 holiday list from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. The government published the schedule in Gazette No. 2493/05, which the Daily Mirror reported on 6 July 2026. For a visitor they matter because liquor shops, bars and banks close on poya days and a few others. Around New Year, buses and trains also fill with Sri Lankans going home. We checked every date and rule below on 3 November 2026.

Key takeaways

• All 12 poya days are bank holidays. In 2026 every poya was also a dry day, when shops and bars could not sell alcohol.
• New Year takes 13 and 14 April 2027, a Tuesday and a Wednesday. In 2026 every liquor outlet closed on both days, apart from approved hotels serving foreign guests, and long-distance transport was busiest before and after.
• Seven holidays fall on a Saturday or Sunday, and the list adds no weekday in their place.
• Some calendar sites still show Vesak as 20 and 21 May. The Central Bank and the gazette report give Wednesday 19 May, with Thursday 20 May also a holiday.
• The 2027 dry-day list had not been published when we checked. The 2026 one came out in February.

Sri Lanka public holidays 2027: the full list

This is the Central Bank’s list as we read it on 3 November 2026. The Type column uses its own letters.

What B, P and M mean

B is a bank holiday, when banks close. The same page notes that every Saturday and Sunday is a bank holiday too. P is a public holiday under the Holidays Act. M is a mercantile holiday, a paid day off for people who work in shops and private offices.

There are eight M days, and a 2018 summary by the law firm D. L. and F. De Saram lists them under the Shop and Office Employees Act. The same summary says poya days are a separate paid holiday under that Act. So a poya day without an M is still a paid day off for staff the Act covers.

Where other calendars differ

Three dates cause most of the confusion, as the sites stood when we checked on 3 November 2026. Calendarlabs and publicholidays.lk, which still calls its 2027 table an estimate, put Medin poya on Sunday 21 March. They also put Vesak on Thursday 20 and Friday 21 May. Timeanddate.com, truecalendar.com and holidaydb.com leave out the day after Vesak, so they count 24 holidays.

The Central Bank and the gazette report agree on 19 May for Vesak. When a calendar disagrees with the Central Bank, use the Central Bank.

What a poya day means for visitors

**Poya** is the Sinhala name for the full moon day, and practising Buddhists go to the temple for religious observance, as Wikipedia’s Poya article explains. The word comes from uposatha, meaning a fast day. A 2004 Sunday Observer essay describes temples crowded with devotees in white who have taken “sil”, the precepts kept on the day. Big temples such as Kelaniya can become “a sea of white”.

Alcohol on poya days

Canada’s travel advice, updated on 2 November 2026, says it is illegal to buy alcohol on poya days and generally on religious holidays. GOV.UK says alcohol is not usually on sale on religious holidays, and that drinking in public on those days could be culturally insensitive.

The Excise Department sets the dry days each year. Its 2026 list, reported by the Daily Mirror on 16 February 2026, had 19 days. It covered every poya, Independence Day, both New Year days, the day after Vesak, Christmas and World Temperance Day on 3 October, which is not a public holiday.

The statement named exemptions for three days: the two New Year days and Christmas Day. On those days, approved hotels could serve alcohol to their own guests. It named no exemption for poya days. We found no 2027 list yet, and if it follows 2026, expect no alcohol on sale on all 12 poya days.

Bigger festivals can mean longer closures. In 2026 the national Vesak festival was held at the end of May, four weeks after the Vesak poya on 1 May. For it, List.lk reported that liquor outlets closed from the evening of 29 May until 1 June.

Meat, casinos and nightclubs

For that 2026 Vesak festival, the Ministry of Public Administration ordered meat shops, slaughterhouses, betting centres, casinos and nightclubs closed for three days, Ada Derana reported. Supermarkets were told to stop selling meat. Wikipedia says the sale of meat is forbidden on poya days in general, though we found no national order for an ordinary poya. Ask your hotel what its kitchen will serve.

Banks, offices and shops

Every poya is a bank and public holiday on the Central Bank list, so banks close. The law firm summary above also makes it a paid day off for shop and office staff. Wikipedia says shops and businesses generally close too. In tourist areas, ask your hotel the day before what will open, and carry enough cash for the day.

Temples and dress

Temples fill up on poya days, as the Sunday Observer essay describes. For a temple visit, GOV.UK’s advice is to keep your shoulders and legs covered and to remove your hat and shoes. It also warns against posing for photos in front of a statue of the Buddha.

Sinhala and Tamil New Year 2027: what shuts

In 2027 the two New Year holidays are 13 April, a Tuesday, and 14 April, a Wednesday. Both carry all three letters, so they are bank, public and mercantile holidays. Our April guide covers the festival itself.

In 2026 the Excise Department closed all liquor outlets across the island on 13 and 14 April, Ada Derana reported. News 1st said alcohol was allowed only for foreign guests staying at approved three-star or higher hotels with valid licences and at licensed special boutique villas.

The bigger effect is on transport. Before New Year 2026, the Transport Board planned about 250 extra buses a day on long-distance routes from 9 to 13 April, Ada Derana said. Sri Lanka Railways added special trains on the Coastal, Northern and Main lines.

On 14 April itself, buses and trains were cut back because fewer people were travelling, although express and intercity trains ran as usual, according to Ada Derana. The return rush started on 15 April. News 1st reported extra buses until 20 April and special trains until 19 April.

For a visitor, that means booking any long road or rail journey well ahead for the days just before and after 13 and 14 April. On the holiday itself, expect fewer buses and trains.

Eid and other dates set by the moon

The two Eid holidays follow the Islamic lunar calendar. Eid-ul-Fitr is the first day of Shawwal, and its date depends on the crescent moon being sighted, as Ada Derana explains. In 2026 the Colombo Grand Mosque, the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama and the Department of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs announced Saturday 21 March just two days before. That matched the date on the Central Bank’s 2026 list.

For 2027 the list gives Wednesday 10 March and Monday 17 May. Treat both as planned dates and look for the moon-sighting news a day or two before. Poya days also follow the moon, but the gazette publishes them in advance, so their dates are already fixed.

Long weekends in 2027

We worked these out from the Central Bank table. A bridge day is a normal working day between a holiday and a weekend: it is our suggestion and not a holiday.

That gives nine three-day weekends with no leave needed. Seven holidays fall on a weekend: Navam poya, Mahasivarathri, May Day, Esala poya, Milad-Un-Nabi, Ill poya and Christmas Day. The list gives no replacement days for them.

What the 2027 holidays mean for your trip

Ada Derana says the Adam’s Peak pilgrim season runs from Unduwap poya in December to Vesak in May, with its peak at Medin poya. In 2027 Medin falls on Monday 22 March, after a weekend, so plan a climb for another date if you want a quieter path. Our Adam’s Peak guide has the details. The Navam poya on 20 February and its perahera are in our February guide.

April to June has New Year, then Vesak on 19 May, which our May guide covers. Poson on 18 June draws devotees to Anuradhapura, the 2004 Sunday Observer essay says, and our June guide explains it.

July to September is Perahera season in Kandy. The Temple of the Tooth announces the dates, and no 2027 dates were out when we checked. The two full moons in play are Esala on Sunday 18 July and Nikini on Monday 16 August. In 2026 the main procession was due to begin on 18 August and end on 27 August, the Nikini poya, according to the Sunday Times. Our festivals guide covers how to see the procession.

October to December ends with Christmas on a Saturday. Our Christmas guide covers churches and the festive week.

Holidays left in 2026

If you are travelling before the end of 2026, the Central Bank’s 2026 list shows four more holidays before the year ends.

The dry-day column comes from the Excise Department’s 2026 list. Unduwap on 23 December should also open the next Adam’s Peak season, if the pattern Ada Derana describes holds.

Questions about Sri Lanka public holidays

Can tourists drink alcohol on a poya day?

Buying alcohol is illegal on poya days, according to Canada’s travel advice. The 2026 dry-day list named hotel exemptions only for New Year and Christmas, so ask your hotel before you plan a drink.

Are banks open on poya days?

No. Every poya is a bank holiday on the Central Bank list, and so is every Saturday and Sunday. Plan cash for runs of closed days, such as Saturday 14 to Monday 16 August 2027.

How many poya days are there in 2027?

Twelve, one each month. The 2026 list had 13, because an extra Adhi Poson poya fell on 30 May 2026.

Is a holiday moved when it falls on a weekend?

Not on the 2027 list. Seven holidays fall on a Saturday or Sunday, Christmas among them, and the list shows no replacement weekday.

Is 1 January a public holiday in Sri Lanka?

No. It is not on the 2027 list, which starts with Thai Pongal on 15 January. Sri Lanka’s own new year comes in April.

Plan your dates around the holidays

If a poya, New Year or a long weekend falls in the middle of your trip, send us your dates. Tell us which evenings you would like a drink with dinner and which days you need a train seat, and we can check them against the list.

We read the Central Bank lists, the gazette report, the 2026 dry-day list, the travel advisories and the news reports linked above on 3 November 2026. The 2027 dry days and the Kandy Perahera dates were not yet published, and Eid can move with the moon, so check again in the week you travel.

Top photo: pilgrims on their way to the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, January 2013. Photo: Ji-Elle, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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Gayan Weerasinghe

Gayan Weerasinghe writes and updates the Sri Lanka travel guides on Oura Travel. His updated guides are checked against primary sources, from the Department of Meteorology and Sri Lanka Railways to the Department of Wildlife Conservation, every drive is timed on a route planner, and each fact carries the date it was last checked.