Holy Week and Easter 2027

Why people travel then

Easter is the oldest Christian feast, and Holy Week, the seven days from Palm Sunday, is when Christian cities put their faith on the street. Seville’s brotherhoods carry gilded floats through the night, Rome follows the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum, and in Jerusalem pilgrims walk the Via Dolorosa on Good Friday.

Western and Orthodox churches calculate Easter differently, and in 2027 the dates are five weeks apart: 28 March and 2 May. That gives two chances to see Jerusalem in Holy Week, and Orthodox Easter in Greece, with its midnight candles and Easter lamb, comes after the Western crowds have gone home.

What you will see on the routes

• Seville Historic Walk: Cathedral, Alcázar and Triana

  Semana Santa runs from 21 to 28 March 2027. About 70 brotherhoods process from their churches to the cathedral, and the night of Holy Thursday into Good Friday (La Madrugá) is the high point. Expect streets around the cathedral to be closed for hours.

• Jerusalem: A Walk Through the Old City's Four Quarters

  Palm Sunday’s procession comes down the Mount of Olives and in through the Lions’ Gate; on Good Friday the Via Dolorosa is packed with pilgrims carrying crosses. Orthodox Holy Saturday (1 May) brings the Holy Fire ceremony at the Holy Sepulchre, with police barriers across the Christian Quarter.

• Granada on Foot: the Alhambra, the Albaicín and Sacromonte

  Granada’s Holy Week is smaller than Seville’s and more dramatic in places: on Holy Wednesday the Gypsy Christ is carried up to Sacromonte by the light of bonfires.

• Florence Historic Center: The Renaissance on Foot

  On Easter Sunday morning Florence holds the Scoppio del Carro: a cart of fireworks is lit from the cathedral altar in front of the Duomo. Arrive early for a place on the piazza.

• Rome Historic Center: Ancient Rome to the Baroque Heart

  The Pope leads the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum on Good Friday night and celebrates Easter Mass in St Peter’s Square. Tickets for papal Masses are free from the Prefecture of the Papal Household; never pay a reseller.

• Mount Olympus — Prionia to Mytikas, the Home of the Gods

  Orthodox Easter (2 May) is Greece’s biggest feast. Spend Holy Saturday night in Litochoro, the trailhead town, for the midnight candles, then hike the lower trail on Easter Monday; the summit is usually still under snow in early May.

How it changes travel

• Public holidays: Good Friday and Easter Monday (26 and 29 March) in the UK, Germany and much of Europe; Holy Thursday and Good Friday in most of Spain; Orthodox Good Friday and Easter Monday (30 April and 3 May) in Greece and Cyprus.
• Seville’s hotels often double or triple their prices in Holy Week and sell out months ahead; seats on the official procession route are sold by the brotherhoods’ council and rarely come free.
• In Israel, Orthodox Holy Week 2027 starts just as Pesach ends (28 April), so Jerusalem and the Galilee stay busy for two weeks in a row.

Travel window: 19 March to 3 May 2027. Two separate peaks five weeks apart: Western Holy Week (21 to 29 March) and Orthodox Holy Week (25 April to 3 May).