Last updated: 29 May 2026 · Easter Sunday 2027: Sunday 28 March 2027
Easter Sunday 2027 falls on Sunday 28 March 2027 — one of the earlier Easters of the decade. Good Friday is Friday 26 March 2027 and Easter Monday is Monday 29 March 2027, both UK bank holidays. Scroll down for the live countdown, the UK Easter dates for the next ten years, the full Holy Week timetable for 2027, and the most-asked questions about Easter.
Why is Easter 2027 so early? Easter is a “moveable feast” — its date follows the lunar cycle rather than the solar calendar. Easter Sunday is always the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after 21 March (the ecclesiastical spring equinox). In 2027 the qualifying full moon falls on Saturday 27 March, so Easter Sunday lands the very next day. The earliest possible Easter is 22 March and the latest is 25 April; 2027 is near the early end of that range.
This guide is updated regularly and covers: a live countdown to Easter Sunday 2027, the bank-holiday dates across the UK, a 10-year Easter date table so you can plan ahead (or look back), the full Holy Week ladder for 2027, the annual-leave hack that turns four days off into a ten-day Easter break, and detailed answers to the questions people ask most about Easter in Britain.
When is Easter 2027?
Easter Sunday 2027 is Sunday 28 March 2027. Good Friday falls on Friday 26 March 2027 and Easter Monday on Monday 29 March 2027 — both UK bank holidays — so most of the UK has a four-day weekend from Friday 26 to Monday 29 March. Orthodox Easter 2027 is later, on Sunday 2 May 2027.
| Easter 2027 | Date |
|---|---|
| Good Friday | Friday 26 March 2027 |
| Easter Sunday | Sunday 28 March 2027 |
| Easter Monday | Monday 29 March 2027 |
UK Easter dates, 2025 to 2034
Easter shifts each year because it’s tied to the moon. The table below lists Easter Sunday plus the two UK bank holidays (Good Friday and Easter Monday) for the next ten years.
| Year | Good Friday | Easter Sunday | Easter Monday |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Fri 18 April | Sun 20 April | Mon 21 April |
| 2026 | Fri 3 April | Sun 5 April | Mon 6 April |
| 2027 | Fri 26 March | Sun 28 March | Mon 29 March |
| 2028 | Fri 14 April | Sun 16 April | Mon 17 April |
| 2029 | Fri 30 March | Sun 1 April | Mon 2 April |
| 2030 | Fri 19 April | Sun 21 April | Mon 22 April |
| 2031 | Fri 11 April | Sun 13 April | Mon 14 April |
| 2032 | Fri 26 March | Sun 28 March | Mon 29 March |
| 2033 | Fri 15 April | Sun 17 April | Mon 18 April |
| 2034 | Fri 7 April | Sun 9 April | Mon 10 April |
Note for Scotland: Good Friday is a bank holiday, but Easter Monday is treated as a local holiday in some Scottish council areas rather than a statutory one. Schools in Scotland typically close for Easter regardless. Northern Ireland also gets St Patrick’s Day on 17 March.
Holy Week 2027 — full day-by-day timetable
Holy Week is the final week of Lent and the most significant week in the Christian calendar. In 2027 it runs from Sunday 21 March to Saturday 27 March, with Easter Sunday immediately after.
- Palm Sunday — Sunday 21 March 2027. Commemorates Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem. Many UK churches distribute palm crosses.
- Holy Monday — Monday 22 March 2027. The cleansing of the temple.
- Holy Tuesday — Tuesday 23 March 2027. Jesus’s teachings in the temple.
- Holy Wednesday (Spy Wednesday) — Wednesday 24 March 2027. Traditionally remembers Judas Iscariot’s agreement to betray Jesus.
- Maundy Thursday — Thursday 25 March 2027. The Last Supper. In the UK, the Royal Maundy service takes place at a different cathedral each year, with the monarch distributing Maundy money.
- Good Friday — Friday 26 March 2027. The crucifixion. A UK bank holiday across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
- Holy Saturday — Saturday 27 March 2027. The day Jesus lay in the tomb. Many churches hold an Easter Vigil after dark.
- Easter Sunday — Sunday 28 March 2027. The resurrection. The most important day in the Christian year.
- Easter Monday — Monday 29 March 2027. A UK bank holiday (statutory in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; local in parts of Scotland).
UK school Easter holidays 2027
Most UK schools take a two-week break around Easter, but the exact dates vary by nation, local authority and academy trust. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the 2027 Easter break typically brackets the bank-holiday weekend itself (Good Friday 26 March and Easter Monday 29 March). In Scotland the Easter spring break usually starts after Good Friday and runs into mid-April.
Here’s the typical pattern by UK nation for Easter 2027. Use it as a planning starting point — always confirm with your child’s school or local authority before booking travel or annual leave.
| Nation | Typical Easter break 2027 | Length |
|---|---|---|
| England | Fri 26 March – Fri 9 April 2027 | ~2 weeks |
| Wales | Mon 29 March – Fri 9 April 2027 | ~2 weeks |
| Northern Ireland | Mon 29 March – Tue 6 April 2027 | ~1–1.5 weeks |
| Scotland | Mon 5 April – Fri 16 April 2027 (spring break) | ~2 weeks |
To get the confirmed dates for your area, enter your postcode at gov.uk/school-term-holiday-dates or visit your local council’s school-term page directly. Independent schools and academy trusts often break a few days earlier or later than the local authority pattern, so always confirm if you’re locking in travel.
If you’re trying to maximise your time off around the school break, the next section explains how four days of annual leave turn the 2027 Easter bank-holiday weekend into a ten-day stretch.
Easter 2027 annual leave hack — turn 4 days off into 10
Because Easter 2027 has bank holidays on Friday 26 March and Monday 29 March, four days of annual leave can give you a ten-day Easter break.
Book Monday 22 March to Thursday 25 March 2027 as annual leave (4 days) and you’ll be off from Saturday 20 March to Monday 29 March — a ten-day stretch.
- Sat 20 March 2027 — weekend
- Sun 21 March 2027 — weekend (Palm Sunday)
- Mon 22 March 2027 — annual leave (1 of 4)
- Tue 23 March 2027 — annual leave (2 of 4)
- Wed 24 March 2027 — annual leave (3 of 4)
- Thu 25 March 2027 — annual leave (4 of 4) (Maundy Thursday)
- Fri 26 March 2027 — Good Friday bank holiday
- Sat 27 March 2027 — weekend (Holy Saturday)
- Sun 28 March 2027 — weekend (Easter Sunday)
- Mon 29 March 2027 — Easter Monday bank holiday
The 16-day Easter break. If you have more flexibility, book eight days of annual leave — Monday 22 March to Thursday 25 March and Tuesday 30 March to Friday 2 April — and you’ll be off from Saturday 20 March to Sunday 4 April 2027 (16 days). Useful if you’re booking a longer holiday or have school-age children whose Easter holidays span both weeks.
UK school Easter holidays in 2027 will broadly run the two weeks bracketing Easter Sunday, typically Friday 26 March to Sunday 11 April depending on the local authority and academy trust. Independent schools often break a few days earlier.
How long until Easter 2027 in weeks, months, sleeps and working days?
The countdown widget at the top of this page shows the live day count. Below is the same wait expressed in friendlier units — useful whether you’re planning annual leave, counting down with the kids, or just curious. These numbers update each time the page loads, so they’re always accurate.
That's 197 days until Easter Sunday on 28th March 2027 — or 28 weeks, just over 6 months, or 197 sleeps if you're counting down with the kids. If you work a standard Monday-to-Friday week, that's about 140 working days still to go.
What to do at Easter 2027
Looking for inspiration to make the most of the Easter break? These suggestions from across the UK combine family fun, heritage and outdoor adventure:
Staying at home for the break? The Easter weekend is the traditional cut-off for the year’s rose prune — our guide to when to prune roses in the UK has the timing by type. Heading for the coast with the dog instead? See our pick of dog-friendly holiday cottages by the sea.
Easter weekend cooking and family-day ideas
Easter Sunday lunch brings out the best of British seasonal cooking — spring lamb, new-season vegetables, hot cross buns toasted with butter, and a Simnel cake for the centrepiece — and Easter morning itself is made for soft-boiled eggs and soldiers, timed by size with our dippy egg timer (or, if you prefer them poached, the poached egg timer). Here’s what to read next from across Saturday and Sunday:
- Traditional hot cross buns recipe — soft, spiced and fruited, with the flour-paste cross, make-ahead and freezing notes. The Good Friday classic, made from scratch.
- Traditional Simnel cake recipe — the light marzipan fruit cake of Mothering Sunday and Easter, with eleven balls for the eleven faithful apostles, plus its proper history.
- Mrs Robin’s fruit cake — a forgiving boiled fruit cake from Linda’s family recipe book and a close cousin of Simnel cake.
- Weekend farmers’ market directory — find your nearest UK farmers’ market for spring lamb, seasonal vegetables, fresh eggs and home-baked hot cross buns in the run-up to the Easter weekend.
- Easton Farm Park, Suffolk — lambing season runs from late February through April, making this Suffolk working farm a brilliant Easter family day out.
- Wimpole Estate, Cambridgeshire — a National Trust farm and country house with an Easter trail and a working walled garden.
- Is National Trust family membership worth it? — work out the maths before booking a string of Easter-weekend property visits.
Coming back for Easter 2026 or Easter 2028?
If you’ve landed here looking for a different year, the table above has the dates. As a quick summary:
- Easter 2026 was Sunday 5 April 2026. Good Friday: 3 April 2026. Easter Monday: 6 April 2026.
- Easter 2028 falls on Sunday 16 April 2028. Good Friday: 14 April 2028. Easter Monday: 17 April 2028.
- Easter 2029 falls on Sunday 1 April 2029 — that year, Easter Sunday coincides with April Fool’s Day.
We update this page through the year so the countdown and “last updated” date stay current.
Frequently asked questions about Easter
When is Easter Sunday 2027?
Easter Sunday 2027 falls on Sunday 28 March 2027. That makes it one of the earlier Easters of the decade — only 2024 (31 March) and 2032 (28 March again) come close. Good Friday is Friday 26 March 2027 and Easter Monday is Monday 29 March 2027. Both are recognised UK bank holidays across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and (with caveats) Scotland, giving most workers a four-day weekend from Friday to Monday. The live countdown at the top of this page shows the exact number of days from today.
How many days until Easter 2027?
The exact number of days between today and Easter Sunday 2027 is shown in the live countdown at the top of this page — it updates whenever you refresh, so there’s no need to do the maths yourself. If you want to plan further ahead: Easter Sunday 2028 falls on Sunday 16 April 2028, and Easter Sunday 2026 was Sunday 5 April 2026. We update this page every few months so the dates stay accurate and the countdown stays in sync.
Why does the date of Easter change each year?
Easter is a “moveable feast” — its date follows the lunar calendar rather than the solar one. The rule, set by the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, is that Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after 21 March (the ecclesiastical spring equinox). Because the lunar cycle of roughly 29.5 days doesn’t align with the 12-month calendar, Easter can land anywhere between 22 March and 25 April. The UK uses the Western (Gregorian) calculation; the Orthodox Easter date is often different.
Which days around Easter 2027 are UK bank holidays?
Two days are official UK bank holidays at Easter 2027: Good Friday on Friday 26 March 2027 and Easter Monday on Monday 29 March 2027. Both apply across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland recognises Good Friday but Easter Monday is treated as a local holiday in some Scottish council areas rather than a statutory one. Easter Sunday itself (28 March 2027) is not a UK bank holiday because it always falls on a Sunday. Schools across the UK typically close for around two weeks spanning the Easter weekend.
What’s open on Good Friday and Easter Sunday?
Most large supermarkets stay open on Good Friday with normal Saturday hours, though some close earlier. Easter Sunday is treated differently: in England and Wales, the Sunday Trading Act restricts large shops over 280 m² to a maximum of six continuous trading hours between 10 am and 6 pm — and on Easter Sunday specifically, large stores must close entirely. Small shops, petrol stations and pharmacies can trade normally. Pubs, restaurants, cinemas and most family attractions stay open across the long weekend. Easter Monday operates with Sunday-like hours for many large retailers.
How many days are there in Lent?
Lent traditionally lasts 40 days — mirroring the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness — beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday. In 2027, Lent begins on Wednesday 10 February 2027 and ends on Saturday 27 March 2027. If you count the days between Ash Wednesday and Holy Saturday you actually get 46 days, because the six Sundays during Lent are technically excluded from the fast (each Sunday is considered a “little Easter” celebrating the resurrection).
What is Easter and what does it celebrate?
Easter is the most important festival in the Christian calendar. It celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, which Christians believe happened three days after his crucifixion on Good Friday. The story is recorded in all four Gospels of the New Testament. For many Christians, Easter Sunday is the culmination of Holy Week — a period of remembrance running from Palm Sunday through Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Beyond its religious meaning, Easter has become a wider cultural celebration in the UK, marked with chocolate eggs, hot cross buns, family roasts and spring outings.
What is Holy Week, and what are its key days?
Holy Week is the final week of Lent, running from Palm Sunday to Holy Saturday and immediately preceding Easter Sunday. In 2027 it runs from Sunday 21 March to Saturday 27 March. The key days are: Palm Sunday (Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem); Maundy Thursday (the Last Supper, Thursday 25 March 2027); Good Friday (the crucifixion, Friday 26 March 2027); Holy Saturday (the day Jesus lay in the tomb, Saturday 27 March 2027); and Easter Sunday itself (the resurrection, Sunday 28 March 2027). Many UK churches mark each day with special services and processions.
What colours represent Easter?
Easter’s traditional liturgical colours are purple, white and gold. Purple is worn through Lent for penitence and reflection. White and gold replace purple from Easter Sunday onwards to symbolise resurrection, joy and new life — many churches keep this scheme through the 50 days of Eastertide until Pentecost. In wider Easter culture, pastels — soft yellows, pinks, blues and greens — are now associated with the spring season, daffodils, baby chicks and decorated eggs.
Is Easter a pagan holiday?
This is a common myth. The claim that Easter is “really” a repurposed pagan festival, often linked to the Anglo-Saxon goddess Ēostre, comes from a single passing reference by the 8th-century monk Bede — and modern historians treat it cautiously. Easter’s date, its name (Pesach / Passover in most non-English languages, e.g. Pâques in French), and its theology all derive directly from the Jewish Passover. Some seasonal symbols — eggs, hares, spring flowers — have older fertility associations, but Easter as a Christian festival has been observed in unbroken tradition since the 1st century AD.
Also see:
- UK bank holidays — GOV.UK, Government Digital Service, UK Government. https://www.gov.uk/bank-holidays
- Encyclopedia Britannica — “Easter: Christian Festival.” https://www.britannica.com/topic/Easter-holiday
Questions about Easter or feedback on this page? Please leave the details below and check back for updates.
When are the UK school Easter holidays in 2027?
Most UK schools take a two-week Easter break in 2027, but the exact dates vary by nation and local authority. In England the typical pattern is Friday 26 March to Friday 9 April 2027; Wales usually follows the English pattern; Northern Ireland often takes around 8 to 10 days from Monday 29 March; and in Scotland the spring break typically runs Monday 5 April to Friday 16 April 2027, starting after Good Friday. Independent schools and academy trusts may differ — always confirm with your school. For dates by postcode, visit gov.uk/school-term-holiday-dates.
How much annual leave do I need for a ten-day Easter break in 2027?
Just four days. Book Monday 22 March to Thursday 25 March 2027 as annual leave, and the two UK bank holidays (Good Friday 26 March and Easter Monday 29 March) combine with the weekends either side to give you ten consecutive days off — Saturday 20 March through Monday 29 March. If your employer allows more flexibility, eight days of leave (Mon 22 – Thu 25 March and Tue 30 March – Fri 2 April) stretches the same trick into a sixteen-day Easter break running Saturday 20 March to Sunday 4 April 2027.