Arrive in Stockholm on Midsummer Eve, a Friday in late June, and the city may feel unusually calm. It is the day the maypole goes up, and yet it is not a public holiday. Systembolaget, the state-run off-licence, is closed that day all the same, and museums and shops set their own hours. Sweden’s public holidays are set by law, and several eves the law leaves out still bring closures or shorter opening hours at Systembolaget.
National Day and midsummer both fall in June
A June trip can catch both National Day on 6 June and the midsummer weekend. Of the two, midsummer is the bigger event. Apart from Christmas, it is the most important holiday in the Swedish calendar, and many Stockholmers leave for the countryside or the archipelago, which gives the city a noticeably calmer weekend.
You do not have to leave town to join in. At Skansen, the open-air museum on Djurgården, the midsummer celebration lasts three days, from morning to late night. Our guide to midsummer and Swedish traditions explains the maypole, the herring and the dancing.
Systembolaget is closed on public holidays, Midsummer Eve and Christmas Eve
Systembolaget publishes its holiday opening hours each year. Systembolaget’s opening hours for 2026 show that its shops close on each public holiday it lists, from Good Friday to Epiphany, and on Midsummer Eve and Christmas Eve as well. New Year’s Eve and Easter Saturday are short days, with every shop open until 3pm. The days just before midsummer and Christmas run longer, with shops open until at least 7pm, and the schedule warns that local exceptions can occur.
Wine, spirits and beer stronger than 3.5 percent are sold to take away at Systembolaget, while supermarkets may only sell beer up to that strength. Systembolaget does not sell to anyone under 20, so bring ID. If you want a bottle of wine for a midsummer picnic, buy it on the Thursday.
Museums, shops and public transport set their own holiday hours
No national schedule covers museums or ordinary shops. Each sets its own hours, and many museums and attractions in Stockholm close over the midsummer weekend. Visit Stockholm lists some of the museums and attractions that stay open and notes that their hours may be shorter. Check the website of any museum on your list for the exact day, and treat the eve as a closing day until you know otherwise.
Timetables on a red day or an eve can differ from an ordinary weekday, so search each journey for that exact date in the SL app. SL, Stockholm’s public transport operator, covers the app on its English pages. If you are heading out to the islands, our guide to the Stockholm archipelago covers the ferries.
Midsummer Eve, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are not public holidays
Swedes call their public holidays röda dagar, red days. The list is set out in the Public Holidays Act of 1989, and it is short. Midsummer Eve, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are ordinary days under the act. The celebrating happens on the eve: the maypole goes up on Midsummer Eve, not on Midsummer Day. Expect the eve and the holiday after it to feel like one long closure.
Which days are public holidays in Sweden?
Every Sunday counts, including Easter Day and Whit Sunday. So do these days, whichever day of the week they fall on:
- New Year’s Day, 1 January
- Epiphany, 6 January
- Good Friday and Easter Monday
- 1 May
- Ascension Day
- National Day, 6 June
- Midsummer Day
- All Saints’ Day
- Christmas Day, 25 December, and Boxing Day, 26 December
Midsummer Day is always a Saturday between 20 and 26 June, so Midsummer Eve is always the Friday before it, somewhere between 19 and 25 June. The act gives each holiday a date or a date rule and has no rule for moving one, so a holiday that lands on a weekend stays there. Sweden has no equivalent of the British bank holiday that moves to the Monday.
The other moving holidays follow date rules in the same act, useful if your trip falls at another time of year:
- Easter Day is the Sunday nearest after the full moon that falls on or nearest after 21 March.
- Good Friday is the Friday nearest before Easter Day, and Easter Monday is the day after it.
- Ascension Day is the sixth Thursday after Easter Day, and Whit Sunday the seventh Sunday after it.
- All Saints’ Day is the Saturday that falls between 31 October and 6 November.
A holiday weekend in Stockholm works best with the shopping done early
Book accommodation early, buy anything you need from Systembolaget before the eve, and choose one public celebration, such as Skansen, as the centre of the day. For the wider picture of seasons, costs and getting around, see our guide to planning a trip to Sweden.
Last fact-checked: 23 October 2026